MANCHESTER, NH -- Good Wednesday morning. Yesterday's temperature in the Granite State topped out at 26 degrees. Let's see if we can't do a little better today, alright? Here's what Washingtonians are watching today:

-- The Senate continues work on a fix to the Alternative Minimum Tax. They'd better hurry; the IRS estimates that millions of returns will be delayed as they reprogram computers, and that number is growing by the day. The House is in session today and tomorrow. President Bush is in Omaha today for health care meetings and a fundraising reception for former Governor and Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns' Senate campaign. Meanwhile, CNN reports President Bush will try for some form of peace agreement in his last year in the White House. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe confirmed today that Bush will head to the Middle East in January, but declined to give details. Israeli television reported yesterday that Bush will stop there, Bush's first trip to Israel as president.

-- Mitt Romney doesn't need this: As he makes his way toward Texas A&M to deliver "the speech," the Boston Globe reports a landscaping company, which Romney has previously gotten in trouble for hiring, again used illegal immigrants to tend the governor's mansion in Belmont. The campaign issued a statement yesterday confirming the company had been fired for failing to meet a condition Romney laid out for giving them another shot. But company owner Ricardo Saenz, the Globe reports, disputes that assertion, saying Romney never made a big deal of the illegal immigrants working his lawn. How embarrassing is the story going to become? It's almost guaranteed to come up at this weekend's Univision debate in Miami.

-- Log Cabin Republicans are not alone in disliking Romney. The group ran several effective advertisements earlier this year criticizing Romney for flip-flopping on gay rights, and now the Republican Majority for Choice is joining in, NBC/NJ's Erin McPike reports. The group has sent around a flier Romney issued during his 2002 governor's race with this key phrase: "Mitt has always supported a woman's right to choose. Mitt is a strong supporter of women's rights and has promised to protect a woman's right to choose." Why do these groups dislike Romney, who is probably less conservative on their issues than some other Republican front-runners? One theory: Nominating or electing a candidate who once supported gay rights and choice but has since reverted is more damaging to those causes than nominating or electing a candidate who has always opposed them.

-- Three Vanderbilt University professors find evidence that bias against Mormons is both more prevalent and more deeply-held than bias against women or African-Americans. The internet survey, conducted in mid-November, surveyed 1,200 respondents and an oversample of 600 born again Southerners, showed that among evangelicals, Mormons are seen in the same light as atheists. But the survey has good news for Romney: When people know he is Mormon, they react better than when they are informed by someone else. And while stereotypes against Mormons can hurt Romney's candidacy, positive messages that dispel those stereotypes work, the survey found.

-- Speaking of big headaches, here's one: Mike Huckabee's meteoric rise has been fueled in large part by his wit and charm, some excellent debate performances and unimpeachable credentials on issues important to social conservatives. Some have suggested that the governor simply doesn't have the policy background other candidates possess, and they may be right: Asked yesterday in Des Moines to comment on the recently-released National Intelligence Estimate suggesting Iran's nuclear weapons program was halted in 2003, Huckabee said he hadn't heard about it and wasn't familiar with its contents. And the story is only getting bigger, as Huckabee made his comments during an on the record dinner with reporters. Look for reporters to quiz him on all manner of topics, and while a day off might hurt, one spent brushing up on policy would likely prove beneficial in avoiding future gaffes.

-- For Republicans, as Mitt Romney is about to find out, illegal immigration is a deal-breaking issue. For Democrats, it's an issue they would just rather go away. But it popped up in Iowa at a National Public Radio debate yesterday, and debate moderators pressed them hard. Whether illegal immigration is an issue that can swing an election, despite the vitriol it inspires in voters, is a big question: Republicans would like to say it is, though none can point to a race in 2006 that turned on the issue. Still, as Charles Mahtesian told RCP, the issue has leaped from a border state concern to something people consider in Georgia and New England. Might it become an even more important issue in the future? Democrats have to hope not. The party has yet to come to grips with its positions, or how to explain them to voters in a coherent way.

-- Have any doubt that Hillary Clinton would inspire an unprecedented amount of independent expenditures and involvement by third-party groups -- both for and against her -- should she pull off the Democratic nomination? Just take a look at how the money is being spent already: In the last seven days, about $148,000 has been spent by outside groups on Clinton's bid. She's won backing from AFSCME, which bought up $31,000 in television time in Iowa, and EMILY's List. And conservative groups like RightMarch.com and the Life and Liberty PAC are spending heavily against her. Just one other candidate has seen third party spending on his behalf. If she wins the nomination, watch out for the rise of 501(c)(4) groups, 527 groups and others bent on helping Clinton win or lose. Nonprofits are already becoming a force in primaries, as John Solomon and Matthew Mosk write today.

-- Skeptic Of The Day: Does Antonin Scalia think O.J. Simpson got away with murder? It sure sounds like it, judging from comments he made during oral arguments yesterday. Like the case of Allen Snyder, a Louisianan sent to death row for killing his wife, Simpson's was "a case where a man killed his wife and then feigned mental illness with his escape escapade." The Swamp was there, incredulous but amused.

-- Today On The Trail: Hillary Clinton is giving a major economic speech at the NASDAQ in New York while Barack Obama addresses voters at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa. Obama then rallies in Cedar Falls and holds a town hall meeting with students in Waverly. Bill Richardson is in Washington, while Chris Dodd has events scheduled in Boone, Pella and Oskaloosa, Iowa. On the GOP side, John McCain is in Manchester with Boston Red Sox ace Curt Schilling, Fred Thompson makes stops in Pickens, Anderson and Lexington, South Carolina, and Mitt Romney holds finance events in Louisiana and Texas before his big speech tomorrow.