It's Monday of the shortest week of the year. Kick back, relax, push the work aside and check out what Washington's watching today:

-- The Hill is dark, as both the House and Senate are on Thanksgiving recess. They're not back for two full weeks, meaning the sprint on spending bills is going to be intense. Even the Bush Administration seems to be totally on vacation: the President is in Richmond and Charles City, Virginia; acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner is in Italy; Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez is on a trip to Colombia, his second in a month; and Henry Paulsen of the Treasury Department is in Ghana.

-- This weekend saw a feisty Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton duking it out over ... Bob Novak? The conservative columnist claimed, in a weekend report, that Clinton backers were saying their candidate has the goods on Obama but has decided against dropping the bombshell. Obama virtually sprinted to a microphone, and the two campaigns spent Saturday sending out dueling statements before Clinton's camp denied having anything to do with the report. Andrew Malcolm has the long list of backs and forths, and one important lesson we learn from the incident: Like Clinton, the first time someone throws a pebble at Obama, he's coming back with a boulder. Looks like that new rapid response team is working already.

-- The increasing infighting between Democratic front-runners is leading some to wonder whether the party will produce a wounded nominee, writes the Des Moines Register. But to some, the increasingly sharp exchanges help candidates sharpen their message. Attacks have worked in some cases, like 1980, when George H.W. Bush beat Ronald Reagan's "voodoo economics" in Iowa. In other cases, most notably in 2004, attacks can fatally wound candidates, as Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt found out.

-- Speaking of scandals, Washington was buzzing late last week about phone calls made to a number of voters in Iowa and New Hampshire that purportedly slammed Mitt Romney and Mormonism. No one has claimed responsibility; in fact, the three most likely suspects, Teams Giuliani, Thompson and McCain, have all issued strong denials, and McCain went as far as seeking an investigation from the New Hampshire Attorney General. The fingers of blame are circling backwards now, and Romney's camp, or someone near it, is becoming a target of suspicion.

-- Campaign ads are flying around these days as time grows short. Barack Obama is launching a new spot in Iowa, focusing on jobs and middle class tax cuts. Mitt Romney's latest spot stays on his family-focused message. And Rudy Giuliani begins his second ad of the year, this one focusing on leadership. But Mike Huckabee takes the cake with his first spot, featuring none other than legendary martial artist Chuck Norris. The ad is only costing Huckabee's campaign $60,000, according to a fundraising email, but the spot will be the talk of the town for days. It comes, not coincidentally, as Huckabee's poll numbers in Iowa have shot up, and during a spell in which he won't return to the state for up to two weeks. With an absence like that, paid media is a good way to consolidate new supporters.

-- John McCain gets some important backing today as he's joined in Boston by former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean Sr. Kean, who chaired the September 11th Commission, lends more gravitas to the campaign with the most GOP foreign policy credentials. Adding to those credentials, while most candidates are home for Thanksgiving, McCain is likely to be in Iraq, as final details are being worked out, NBC News reports. Meanwhile, he told reporters on the Straight Talk Express this weekend that, should he become the GOP nominee, he'll reject Secret Service protection and limit it as much as possible should he win the White House.

-- Remember David Vitter? The Louisiana Senator had some little run-ins with a DC Madam's employees six times between 1999 and 2001, and now that Deborah Jeane Palfrey is heading to trial for her business' exploits, she wants former clients, Vitter included, to testify on her behalf. Vitter received a subpoena last Tuesday, Mary Ann Akers reports. Vitter isn't up until 2010, but combining Palfrey and another woman, in New Orleans and now the pages of Hustler Magazine, few would be surprised if Vitter faces a very tough re-election fight in three years, or if he decides not to run at all. Speaking of Hustler, Larry Flynt, who's backing Dennis Kucinich this year, maintains that he has a few more GOP sex scandals up his sleeve.

-- Head Fake Of The Day: He hasn't showed up there in a few days, but Rudy Giuliani is making his presence known in Iowa, reports Adam Nagourney. The campaign has started running more radio ads and robo-calls and dropping mailing pieces, all after virtually ignoring the state in the previous nine months of the year. If Giuliani showed up in one of the top three places on caucus night, his campaign would get a big boost heading into New Hampshire, where he's concentrated more of his fire in recent months. Along with a surging Huckabee, Giuliani's new attention to Iowa is bad news for Mitt Romney.

-- Today On The Trail: Clinton is in Knoxville, Waterloo, Vinton and Tama, Iowa. John Edwards has scheduled stops in Davenport, Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, all with singers Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne. Obama makes appearances in Clarion and Fort Dodge, Iowa, while Joe Biden is in Iowa City and Chris Dodd is at Drake University outside of Des Moines. Bill Richardson, deciding to be different, heads to Massachusetts and New Hampshire today.

-- On the GOP side, Giuliani is in Texas today and holds a press conference in McAllen this morning. Ron Paul heads to Pahrump, Nevada, for an event with local Republicans. Mitt Romney is fundraising in Boise and Seattle and will meet the press in both cities, while John McCain announces Kean's endorsement in Boston after a stop in Nashua. Later, McCain heads to Philadelphia for events at a charter school and at the University of Pennsylvania. Thompson, meanwhile, hits Kenner, Louisiana and the New Orleans Airport, followed by two stops in Jackson, Mississippi.