HALPERIN'S TAKE ON IOWA AND NEW HAMPSHIRE AND THE RACE

The best holiday gifts the candidates have already received:

Hillary Clinton: The newly engaged Edwards-Obama fight.
John Edwards: 527 group and union love (unless it backfires).
Rudy Giuliani: The hazy memories of the Romney family.
Mike Huckabee: The newly engaged McCain-Romney fight.
John McCain: Sunday's Boston Globe poll and town meeting story.
Barack Obama: It is still a change election.
Mitt Romney: His consultants found him a good positive-negative balance in Iowa.
Fred Thompson: An Iowa third is his for the taking, and some good press clips (finally).