Good Thursday morning. Washington is about to feel like a ghost town. Here's what those who remain are watching today:

-- The House and Senate are done on the floor this year, with only a few committee meetings to go. The House has officially closed the first session of Congress, while the Senate will hold pro forma sessions in order to prevent the President from making recess appointments. President Bush today swears in James Peake as Secretary of Veterans' Affairs, the first physician and the first general to serve in the post. Later, Bush visits Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

-- The most attention some candidates get is as they are leaving the ranks of their opponents. That's certainly the case with Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, the anti-illegal immigration hardliner whose message never caught on despite his position being widely accepted in the GOP field. Tancredo is set to drop out of the presidential race today during a press conference in Des Moines, the Denver Post reports. Tancredo is working the phones with other presidential campaigns, trying to win commitments from others to take up his cause, the Rocky Mountain News reports. In recent days, two top Tancredo allies -- fellow immigration hardliner Rep. Steve King and Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist -- have announced their support for other candidates.

-- It's safe to guess that Tancredo will probably not offer his backing to Rudy Giuliani, whose record on immigration is less than stellar. Giuliani will miss the news conference, though he will head back to New York today after being hospitalized overnight with flu-like symptoms. Yesterday just wasn't Giuliani's day: Earlier, his plane had experienced mechanical problems, and instead of a quick hop to a campaign stop, Giuliani had to drive, the LA Times reports. Oh, and he fell 13 points from the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll into a tie with Mitt Romney, at 20%, for the national lead. Anyone ready to stick a fork in the one-time front-runner?

-- Speaking of those on the decline, Fred Thompson has given up on New Hampshire and is now aiming for a third-place finish in Iowa, the New York Times writes. And while many have called him lazy, most recently Politico's Roger Simon, Thompson actually has a busy schedule planned for the first part of his Iowa bus tour, which will be interrupted only by Christmas Day in Virginia before the caucuses. Is that enough to make up for a campaign that is, to be generous, lackluster. Thompson once finished second in national polls; he languishes in fifth place in the latest RCP Average. The latest RCP Iowa Average shows his goal of 3rd place is attainable, but only because Mike Huckabee and Romney are still the only two candidates to break double digits (a pretty remarkable statement just two weeks out).

-- On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton knows that politics is not like war: Two enemies, generally, are better than one. However unlikely the scenario is, Clinton would love to see John Edwards outperform Barack Obama, primarily because Obama has the resources to continue while Edwards, it is thought, does not, and would fizzle after a strong Iowa performance. Edwards' campaign, not surprisingly, takes issue with that notion, and a new memo headed to the media soon attempts to lay out the case that the former Senator is running a national campaign (TPM's Sargent has a sneak peek). Among the statistics: The campaign claims eight times more organizers on the ground in New Hampshire than they had in 2004, along with 22 states that will hold their nominating contests on February 5 in which Edwards has political advisers. The Edwards message: Be careful what you wish for.

-- Edwards and Thompson each have something to celebrate, though. Des Moines Register columnist David Yepsen thinks both have the ability to sneak up on the front-runners in the last few weeks. Edwards' rural strategy, and the backing of First Lady Mari Culver, have Yepsen buying up his stock, while Thompson's aggressive bus tour -- during which he will visit 54 of Iowa's 99 counties -- and new backing from western Iowa Congressman Steve King has Yepsen enthusiastic about Thompson's chances.

-- USA Today's Fredreka Schouten gives a grander overview to something Politics Nation has been watching lately: Third-party groups have spent more than $2 million on the presidential race since November 1, records show. Along with EMILY's List and AFSCME, backing Hillary Clinton, and Club for Growth, beating up on Mike Huckabee, other groups have picked their candidates as well: Caucus4Priorities is spending hundreds of thousands to back John Edwards, Common Sense Issues has big plans in mind as it works for Huckabee. The groups are only just beginning to sharpen their knives in advance of the general election.

-- Earned Media Of The Day: We recently wrote about a group called Democratic Courage, a liberal organization taking on Hillary Clinton and, potentially, another candidate. The group has sunk thousands of dollars into convincing Iowa voters to pick another, stronger voice (many accuse it of being a stalking horse for Edwards), but the most attention it's gotten has come from a television ad that cost just $2,500 to air. The ad, which shows a cardboard cutout of Clinton tumbling away after a gust of wind, was picked up by National Public Radio and newspapers in Newark, San Jose and Boston, and the Wall Street Journal put the spot on its website, reports the Wall Street Journal (everyone's an ombudsman).

-- Today On The Trail: Tom Tancredo holds his announcement in Des Moines. Fred Thompson's bus tour rolls through Carroll, Denison, Atlantic, Missouri Valley and Council Bluffs. Mitt Romney is in Indianola, Fort Dodge, Orange City and Council Bluffs, while Mike Huckabee stop is Marshalltown, Dike, Waterloo, Manchester and Cedar Rapids. And Ron Paul heads to Plymouth and Berlin, New Hampshire.

-- On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is in Grundy Center, Tipton, Centerville and Burlington. John Edwards holds pre-caucus events in Council Bluffs, Le Mars and Sioux City, while Bill Richardson campaigns in Waverly, Oelwein, Independence, Cedar Rapids and Waterloo. Chris Dodd is in Council Bluffs and Des Moines and Joe Biden stops in Sioux City, Mason City, Webster City and Marion. Barack Obama has New Hampshire to himself, with events planned in Exeter, Portsmouth and Rochester.