2008 US Presidential Election.

BOSTON - Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has had an epiphany on abortion — not once, but twice.

The first time was when Romney was a young man in the 1960s and his brother-in-law’s sister — an engaged-to-be-married teen who became pregnant — died in a botched illegal abortion.

Roughly three decades later, while campaigning for the Senate in 1994, Romney described that tragedy as the event that triggered his conclusion that regardless of personal beliefs, abortion should be safe and legal.

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WASHINGTON - Two bloggers hired recently by Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards were criticized Tuesday by a Catholic group for posts they had written elsewhere on the Internet.

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, demanded that Edwards fire Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan.

“John Edwards is a decent man who has had his campaign tarnished by two anti-Catholic, vulgar, trash-talking bigots,” Donohue wrote in a statement. “He has no choice but to fire them immediately.”

The Edwards campaign declined to comment. McEwan and Marcotte did not respond to e-mails requesting a response.

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MANCHESTER, N.H. - New Hampshire residents likely to vote in the Republican presidential primary a year from now think more highly of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani than any of his rivals, a poll released Tuesday shows.

Giuliani’s net favorability rating — the proportion of people viewing him favorably minus the proportion viewing him unfavorably — was 56 percent, well ahead of Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), 32 percent, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, 26 percent, in the University of New Hampshire poll for WMUR-TV in Manchester.

“He’s the lesser-known candidate, but he has that rock star quality,” poll director Andy Smith said of Giuliani. “He has a charisma that was built after 9-11.”

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WASHINGTON - Republican Mitt Romney will formally announce his candidacy for president next week in Michigan, his native state and an important early test for the GOP nomination, campaign aides said Tuesday.

The former one-term Massachusetts governor will make his announcement Feb. 13, and then will visit Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina — the first states to hold 2008 contests.

He will return to Boston two days later, where he will hold what his campaign is calling “a unity event” with supporters, aides said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plans were not public.

The announcement had been expected.

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CHARLESTON, S.C. - Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani will deliver the commencement address at The Citadel in the pivotal primary state of South Carolina, the military college announced Tuesday.

The former New York City mayor was asked to speak to graduates on May 5 “because of his leadership in the wake of the terrorist attacks on New York in September 2001,” the school said in a news release.

Giuliani visited South Carolina last weekend, which will hold the first Republican primary in the South.

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Mike Huckabee, the recently retired governor of Arkansas and prospective candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, admitted Tuesday during a press breakfast in Washington, D.C., that he is not currently in the top tier of GOP White House contenders.

CQ Politics

It’s a frequent conundrum of presidential politics: hopefuls who insist on being coy about their plans to officially announce their candidacies, even when it’s perfectly obvious that they will do so.

CQ Politics

The following are breakdowns of the current and potential candidates for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations in 2008. The lists for each party are divided into the following categories: officially announced candidates, possible candidates who have formed “exploratory” campaign…

CQ Politics

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) has moved a step closer to officially enter the 2008 race for the White House, but polling in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination remains little changed. Giuliani attracts 27% of the vote, down from 29% a week ago. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that Senator John McCain (news, bio, voting record)’s (R) support has held steady at 19% among Likely GOP Primary voters.

Rasmussen Reports releases updated polling data on the Republican nominating contest every Tuesday. Results for the Democrats are updated on Mondays.

While Giuliani and McCain remain in the top two slots, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) dropped a few points and now is favored by 13%. Trailing Gingrich is former Massachusetts Mitt Romney (R) at 9% and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) at 4%.

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