Here is a brief look at today's top political and election stories, starting with some polling news:

"Obama Gaining Support While Edwards Is Slipping" (Aaron Gould Sheinin, The State) The latest Winthrop/ETV poll for South Carolina shows Hillary Clinton with a double-digit lead over Barack Obama, but with 30% of voters undecided, Clinton's lead is less dominant than it appears. As for native John Edwards, stuck at 9%, the poll is bad news for someone who won the primary in 2004.

"Thompson Edging Romney For GOP Lead in SC" (Aaron Gould Sheinin, The State) Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney are in a statistical dead heat in the latest Winthrop/ETV poll, though Fred has the slight edge 17.9% to Giuliani's and Romney's 16.5%.

"Poll Finds GOP in Worse Shape Than Ever" (David Paul Kuhn, The Politico) A Pew Research poll finds that only 36% of Republicans think their party is doing an "excellent or good job," a decline of 25 points since 2004.

"Obama Envisions New Iran Approach" (Michael Gordon and Jeff Zeleny, New York Times) Promising "aggressive personal diplomacy," Barack Obama laid out his vision for how his administration would deal with the mullahs. The Obama plan includes, in part, a promise to Iran not to engage in "regime change" if the Iranians cooperated on nuclear issues and, you know, stopped meddling in Iraq.

"Romney Sets Himself Apart in Opposition to Gay Marriage" (M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News) Speaking at Luther College in Iowa, Mitt Romney drew some boos from the crowd over his support of a federal marriage amendment. Undeterred, Romney pointed out that he's the only GOP candidate who supports the amendment, which is true -- if you don't include Mike Huckabee.

"Clinton Dons a 1960s-Era Anti-War Cloak" (Seth Gitell, New York Sun) A fun story on Wellesley College's most famous alumna returning, with great color added by reporter Gitell. In her speech, Clinton compared her candidacy to that of Sen. Eugene McCarthy's.

"John Edwards to Barack Obama: Step Aside!" (Michael Saul, New York Daily News) A short but interesting story on how the Edwards folks are arguing that the real battle in the Democratic primary is between Clinton and their guy, not Obama.

"'New Democrat' Says Center Still Holds" (Michael Mishak, Las Vegas Sun) Seemingly sidelined by the major Democratic candidates, the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, once the favored policy home of Bill Clinton, insists that it will continue to influence a party all but consumed by the far left.

"Issue of Illegal Immigration is a Quandary For Democrats" (Perry Bacon and Anne Kornblut, Washington Post) There's a reason Hillary Clinton hedged on her answer to Tim Russert Tuesday night about handing out driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Hint: Most Americans are against it.

"Thompson Questions Clinton's Diplomacy" (Kathleen Hennessey, Associated Press) Not content to let Rudy Giuliani have all the fun bashing Hillary, Fred Thompson jumped in and hit the Democratic frontrunner on her diplomatic skills.

Get these and today's other election stories at RCP's Politics and Elections page.