BETTENDORF, IOWA -- Good Wednesday morning. Politics Nation is an American League fan (though not as extreme as some people), so we're not purists, but replay in Major League Baseball? That's a pretty slippery slope. Here's what Washington is watching today:

-- The House and Senate today will hold a joint meeting to hear from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is in the middle of his first official visit to the U.S. The Senate will then consider the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill conference report. A story line Democrats must be thrilled about: In the ongoing battle over federal spending, a category into which Republicans hoped to lump SCHIP, the House voted overwhelmingly to override President Bush's veto of the Water Resources Development Act, a margin that is expected to be repeated in the Senate. How effective is an argument if a majority of your caucus votes against it? That's a question the GOP will have to wrestle with as funding battles continue.

-- Democrats waking up after election day have reason to be happy. The party reclaimed the Kentucky Governor's mansion and the Virginia State Senate and held on to the New Jersey Senate. For full results of the races we were watching, click here. Chris Cillizza offers his take here.

-- In the special election to replace the late Rep. Paul Gillmor, in Northwest Ohio's 5th Congressional District, State Rep. Bob Latta appears to have fended off a tough fight from State Sen. Steve Buehrer in the Republican primary. The race at times was spectacularly nasty, with Buehrer and Latta trading personal barbs and the Club for Growth weighing in heavily on Buehrer's behalf. Latta will likely cruise to a win in the December 11 runoff against Democrat Robin Weirauch, who ran against Gillmor in 2004 and 2006.

-- Here in Bettendorf, Barack Obama plans to outline his path to reclaiming the American dream. In a town hall meeting last night in Cedar Rapids, Obama was not asked about rival Hillary Clinton, but he took the opportunity to offer distinctions between the two anyway. This morning, Obama will offer a similar critique. "We're not going to reclaim that dream unless we put an end to the politics of polarization and division that is holding this country back; unless we stand up to the corporate lobbyists that have stood in the way of progress; unless we have leadership that doesn't just tell people what they want to hear -- but tells everyone what they need to know. That's the change we need," Obama plans to say, per excerpts provided by the campaign. Look for Obama to continue drawing more marked distinctions with Clinton throughout the day, and at virtually every campaign stop he makes in Iowa.

-- The Cedar Rapids event was somewhat marred when the candidate showed up almost an hour after the advertised 7 p.m. start time. Obama isn't the only candidate to leave a crowd waiting. Rudy Giuliani has faced complaints about his on-time record. One reporter suggested to Politics Nation that Obama was so late it merited a story, and another, the New York Times' Jeff Zeleny, reported that story. Being late once will probably have little effect on the campaign, but if it becomes a pattern, Iowa voters, who take the character part of a candidate notoriously seriously, will likely take note.

-- A sign for the Mike Huckabee campaign: He's beginning to be attacked by candidates and prominent officials on the Republican side, including more than just the Club for Growth. That's both good and bad for the former governor. Good, because it means he's reached a point where other candidates see him as a threat. Bad, because he doesn't necessarily have the money to respond. "I like him and he certainly is somebody who can give a stemwinder, but I have learned so many things about his waffling positions," said top conservative Paul Weyrich, who announced his support for Mitt Romney last week. Funny, isn't that the same thing some were saying about Romney?

-- Elsewhere in the GOP, Rudy Giuliani today wins the backing of Christian conservative patriarch Pat Robertson. Robertson is a huge get for the mayor, who has had problems with social conservatives. Speculation mounted earlier this week that the nod might come from Sen. Sam Brownback, the former presidential candidate with whom Giuliani met two weeks ago. The campaign shot down that rumor, and the big surprise today is that Brownback will instead announce his support for John McCain in Dubuque, Iowa. Brownback had something of a following in Iowa, and McCain had already picked up several top Brownback aides in the state. The move is another step toward McCain making a serious play for the Hawkeye State.

-- Finally on the GOP side, Fred Thompson appears to be making a real effort, counteracting a long-held image as a lazy campaigner. Thompson, campaigning yesterday in South Carolina, took shots at Romney for spending his own money on ads in the state. "Governor, you can't buy South Carolina," Thompson said, per Jonathan Martin. "You can't even rent South Carolina." The comments came the same day Thompson launched his first campaign ads of the cycle and in the middle of what has been Thompson's most grueling campaign week to date, with stops in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Tennessee, writes the Post's Michael Shear. Thompson will be in Iowa next week as his campaign begins to resemble the intensity of the rest of the field.

-- Study Guide Of The Day: USA Today posts a definite must-read for any political junkie as they run down the "what's at stake" question for all 50 states. Read, remember, then wow your friends at cocktail parties.

-- Today On The Trail: Obama delivers his speech in Bettendorf, then holds town hall meetings in Muscatine and Burlington before ending his day in Fort Madison, Iowa. John Edwards addresses the Politics & Eggs crowd in Bedford, New Hampshire, then holds a town hall in Amherst. Hillary Clinton campaigns today in Peterborough and Nashua.

-- On the GOP side, Mike Huckabee is in Cedar Falls, Waterloo and Vinton, Iowa. Mitt Romney is in Columbia and Hilton Head, South Carolina, while Fred Thompson hits Greenville before attending the Country Music Awards in Nashville. Rudy Giuliani gets that endorsement in Washington before campaigning in West Columbia, South Carolina. And John McCain campaigns in Livonia, Michigan, before talking with the press in Grand Rapids.