Happy Friday morning. Here's what Washington is watching today:

-- The House is off until Tuesday, but the Senate is enjoying its last vacation day before coming back on Monday. The DNC meets in Vienna to hear from the presidential contenders today, and President Bush participates in World AIDS Day events in Mount Airy, Maryland.

-- Righty blogs are going insane over this week's CNN/YouTube debate, but they're about to go ape over another story: Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha, whose transformation into a dove on the war merited massive news coverage and cult status among the liberal netroots, is just back from Iraq. Watch out, netroots: Murtha thinks there's progress in Iraq. "I think the surge is working," he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The government remains dysfunctional, Murtha said, but he is encouraged by successes in Anbar province. Sit back and wait for conservative bloggers to jump all over this one.

-- Setting the media's tongues a-waggin', Barack Obama has already sat down with New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg over a cup of coffee this morning, Marc Ambinder reports. Hillary Clinton can't pick Bloomberg as a vice presidential nominee, given that the two are from the same state, but Mr. Obama of Illinois certainly can. Is Bloomberg's flirtation with everything presidential just ego or is it really some form of interest in a race? We doubt even Bloomberg aides know.

-- Obama's campaign is treading carefully around a PAC donation story that exploded this week, threatening to tarnish the candidate's goody two-shoes image on campaign finance reform. Now, John Solomon reports, Obama strategist Steve Hildebrand was consulted about donations the PAC was to make to politicians in early states, according to attorney Bob Bauer, who represents both the campaign and the PAC. Hildebrand worked for the PAC last year and is now Obama's deputy campaign manager. The mini-scandal isn't Watergate, but when a candidate sets him or herself up as above reproach, any reproach brings them back to earth hard and fast.

-- On the Republican side, Rudy Giuliani is undergoing some of the same scrutiny Obama faces. After a report from Politico's Ben Smith highlighting police bills paid by obscure New York agencies in order to protect Giuliani, the candidate has gone out of his way to push back. Giuliani called the report a "political hit job," though Politico chief John Harris points out the candidate has not disputed any major part of the story. The mayor's aides blamed faceless bureaucrats for any improper billing, Smith reports today, but why have the candidate himself get so worked up? Sensitivity to attack breeds suspicion. Oh, and the New York Times hits Rudy for flubbing statistics, a charge Mitt Romney and Democrats have made repeatedly.

-- Morning coverage of coffee with Obama and Bloomberg is bordering on obsessive on MSNBC, but the man of the moment is still Mike Huckabee (actually, this is his second or third moment by now, isn't it?). Huckabee heads to New Hampshire today to play guitar with a school band and work some of the magic he's used in Iowa. John DiStaso's headline says it all: "Iowa's 'hot ticket' headed here." How rare is it for New Hampshire voters to actually be excited to see a presidential candidate? Then again, maybe they just fear Chuck Norris. In all seriousness, few think Huckabee can do well anywhere beyond Iowa. If he catches fire in the Granite State, his stock could rise very quickly.

-- No one likes Mitt Romney. We're not talking about voters, plenty of them like him. But other candidates aim their shots at Romney all the time, and even the Log Cabin Republicans are going after him. The group has ads on television hitting Romney, and in the run-up to New Hampshire, where Romney still has a big lead, they're on radio, NBC/NJ's Erin McPike reports. Why go after someone who's not terribly vitriolic about gays? LCR thinks Romney's conversion to an anti-gay rights position does their cause more harm than nominating someone who's always been anti-gay. Romney picked up a big endorsement yesterday, winning over David Keene of the American Conservative Union, but his enemies are by no means staying silent.

-- Head-Scratcher Of The Day: The NRCC is spending a reasonable amount of money to defend open seats in Ohio and Virginia, both of which are up in special elections. The race to replace the late Rep. Paul Gillmor, in Ohio, is taking place in a district that voted for President Bush by 21 points, and the NRCC has cut an ad and funded a poll, to the tune of about $11,000. In Virginia's First District, the NRCC has spent about $39,000 to hold the seat of the late Rep. Jo Ann Davis. The committee is seriously in the hole financially, and Democrats aren't making a huge play for either seat. So why spend the money? Do Republicans worry about a closer than expected contest that only fans the "GOP dead in the water" stories?

-- Today On The Trail: Mitt Romney holds meetings in Cedar Rapids and Dubuque while Rudy GIuliani campaigns in Okatie, South Carolina and Boca Raton. Mike Huckabee gives a speech in Concord then plays guitar with the Tilton school rock band before meeting voters in Bow. Tom Tancredo is in New Hampshire, while Duncan Hunter is in South Carolina, and Fred Thompson, along with wife Jeri, will appear on Larry King Live. John McCain campaigns in North Myrtle Beach and Seabrook, South Carolina.

-- On the Democratic side, six candidates are in Vienna for the DNC meeting, while Obama gets his photo op with Bloomberg. Edwards and Chris Dodd attend the first annual Culver-Judge holiday party in West Des Moines tonight.