On this day in 1860 South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union. Now for today's top election stories, starting with two polls:

"Ahead of Iowa, GOP Race is Wide Open" (John Harwood, Wall Street Journal) With the new WSJ/NBC News poll, Rudy Giuliani finds himself in danger of losing his frontrunner status. The Huckabee surge shows national potential, as the former governor has climbed nine points since November to capture the No. 2 spot.

"Surging Huckabee Takes Lead in Iowa Over Romney" (Jon Cohen and Chris Cillizza, Washington Post) Meanwhile, in Iowa, Huckabee opened up an eight-point lead over Mitt Romney in the new Washington Post/ABC News poll, which shows a two-man race to the finish.

"As Voting Nears, Romney Shifts Political Narrative" (Michael Luo, New York Times) In legalese, Romney is busy giving his closing argument, emphasizing to Iowa voters his business roots over his conservative credentials -- when the two don't overlap. It's a theme of competence that carries with it a mild rebuke of the Bush years.

"Clinton Toeing the Line of Campaign Negativity" (Peter Nicholas, Los Angeles Times) It's all about "suggesting" certain things about her closest rival for Hillary Clinton these days. Careful to avoid a full-assault on Obama's past Clinton nevertheless is making the case that with her Democrats will get a candidate whose past history and skeletons have been vetted for years, reducing the effectiveness of a GOP smear campaign in the general election.

"Polls Show McCain Gains" (Garry Rayno, New Hampshire Union Leader) Who would have thought six months ago that the second-best story of the primary season would be John McCain's return from the dead? Aside from Huckabee's surge, McCain's rise in New Hampshire, where he needs to win, shows just how open-ended the GOP race is right now.

"Poll: Oprah's Obama Support Driving Away Younger Women" (Christy Hoppe, Dallas Morning News) It was the conventional wisdom that Oprah Winfrey's support of Obama would send women in droves to the Illinois senator's side. And in some ways it did. But a new poll shows that perhaps there was a backlash against Obama from younger women and women older than 65, who were turned off by Oprah "stepping out her pew" to campaign.

"Kerrey Apologizes to Obama Over Remark" (Nedra Pickler, Associated Press) Former Sen. Bob Kerrey, who while endorsing Clinton mentioned Obama's middle name, Hussein, and Muslim background, sent an email of apology to Obama's campaign yesterday. Initially, Kerrey tried to explain that he meant no offense and that his remarks were intended to be laudatory of Obama, but with news stories questioning comments Clinton supporters have made regarding Obama's past starting to hurt the campaign, Kerrey offered a full apology.

"Huckabee Defends Granting Clemencies" (Lisa Rossi, Des Moines Register) With Romney attacking his record of granting clemencies as governor, Huckabee defended himself yesterday and fired back at Romney for refusing to grant a clemency to a Bronze Star recipient.

"Tancredo to Abandon Presidential Bid" (George Merritt, Associated Press) Two weeks away from the Iowa Caucuses, Rep. Tom Tancredo, who campaign on the immigration issue, is scheduled to withdraw from the race later today.

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