As the Tete a Tete Turns.

FT.com / World - Clinton in fight to hold off Obama: "Mr Obama is now in a statistical dead heat with Mrs Clinton and John Edwards in Iowa, which holds the critical first nominating caucus on 3 January. But Mrs Clinton was only briefly in the lead in Iowa, which has always been her weakest state, and began the campaign this year in third place with Mr Edwards having a clear head start. “It did not seem credible a few weeks ago when everyone was saying Hillary has this locked up, and it isn’t credible now to say that she’s foundering,” said Bill Galston, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, who has played a prominent role in previous Democratic campaigns. “The truth has always been somewhere in between.” Taken in isolation, few of Mrs Clinton’s recent mis-steps stand out as egregious. She was judged to have lost the most recent presidential debate, in Philadelphia two weeks ago, when she gave a waffling response to a question about whether illegal immigrants should be permitted driver’s licences. Mrs Clinton’s equivocation fed into the perception that she is afraid to take risks by offending any portion of the Democratic primary electorate, which includes both Hispanics – most notably in Nevada, which holds the second caucus in mid-January – but also moderate Democrats who are concerned about the scale of illegal immigration."
Obama Stands By Support For Spitzer Plan - Politics on The Huffington Post: "'Obama said in the debate he supported it and he's standing by it,' an aide to the Senator told the Huffington Post. 'He supported a similar bill in the state senate as a law enforcement measure.' Obama's backing stands in stark contrast to the position taken by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, whose campaign now cites the issue as a basic policy difference between the two Democratic frontrunners. Earlier today, Clinton applauded Spitzer's decision to take the measure off the table. 'As president, I will not support driver's licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration, including border security and fixing our broken system,' she said in a statement. Spitzer's withdrawal of the hotly-contested proposal, and Clinton's subsequent support of his decision, sparked a fierce back-and-forth between the two leading Democratic presidential candidates. This afternoon, Obama's spokesman Bill Burton pressed the perception that Clinton is reluctant to take tough stances on this and other issues."

Two good people being forced to compete in a Las Vegas boxing match. I wonder which owrks best ... "Rope a Dope" or "Float like a Butterfly, sting like a Bee?"

Where is Howard Cossel these days?