A round-up of this morning's must-read stories.

CLINTON BRACES FOR SECOND LOSS; UNION, SENATORS MAY BACK OBAMA (Jackie Calmes, Wall Street Journal) 
The road may get harder immediately after New Hampshire. The all-important Culinary Workers union in Nevada, the next state to vote on Jan. 19, is considering backing Sen. Obama a day after a New Hampshire win, say some high-ranking Democrats. The support of the state's largest union by far would virtually hand him a victory in the labor-dominated caucuses there, Democrats say. And the Clinton campaign is considering effectively ceding South Carolina, which votes a week later. Her once-strong support in the state's large black population eroded and Sen. Obama opened a big lead in polls after Iowa's caucus results energized many blacks with the prospect that a man of their race stands a realistic chance of being nominated.

MCCAIN AND OBAMA (David Brooks, New York Times)
Both Barack Obama and John McCain attract independents. Both have a candor that appeals to voters and media-types alike. Both ask their audiences to serve a cause greater than self-interest. Both offer a politics that is grand and inspiring. But they are very different men. Their policies obviously conflict, but their skills, world views and moral philosophies set them apart, too. One man celebrates communitarian virtues like unity, the other classical virtues like honor.

More: McCain and Obama Take Early Leads (New Hampshire Union Leader)

MCCAIN WELCOMES THE MEDIA'S RENEWED INTEREST (Michael Calderone, Politico)
When John McCain’s presidential campaign got unhinged last summer — with the departures of top advisers, low poll numbers and financial woes — political reporters began to sound more like obituary writers. The Mac, they wrote, would never be back. Of course, political narratives change. And now that McCain has risen to the top of New Hampshire primary polls, print and television media all-stars are flocking to events across the Granite State. Even a few veterans of his 2000 campaign have climbed aboard. 

For example: The Guy With the Bus Is on a Roll (Dana Milbank, Washington Post). Sample line: "Ladies and gentlemen, John McCain is back."

NATIONAL FOCUS POSES CHALLENGE FOR OBAMA (Alec MacGillis, Washington Post) 
For Obama supporters around the country, the question becomes: Where next? Can the campaign, with all its momentum, hold its own in a nationwide fight for delegates against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), who despite her current troubles still has most of the Democratic establishment behind her? With so little time available, and so many fewer opportunities for personal contact, can he win over voters in states in which he has until recently lagged far behind Clinton in the polls?

WIDE OPEN RACE MAY BE ROMNEY'S SAVIOR (Michael Finnegan and James Rainey, Los Angeles Times) 
Political observers said Romney needed to clarify his profile, lest he join a short list of Republican hopefuls -- including then-Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas in 1996 -- who had substantial campaign war chests and organizations but failed to spark the imagination of voters. Yet some political observers said the wide-open nature of the GOP primaries meant that Romney could still recover, even if he does not win New Hampshire. History has shown that candidates have needed to win in Iowa or New Hampshire to capture party nominations, though there are a few exceptions, such as then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton in 1992. Presidential election scholar David Crockett said he thought the 2008 GOP contest was so wide open that it could be another exception to the rule. 

FORMER GOVERNOR IS RUNNING ON A NATIONAL STRATEGY (Joe Mathews, Los Angeles Times)
He has reduced his daily schedule -- on some days he had just one public event. He has yet to hold a town hall or take a question from the public. Available to the media several times a day in Iowa, he has held a single news conference in New Hampshire. Here, in the home of retail politics, Huckabee's campaign has instead gone national. He has spoken more to voters across the country, with as many as half a dozen national television appearances a day. He talks often of his prospects in big states such as Florida (which votes Jan. 29) and California, one of 23 states holding primaries or caucuses Feb. 5. He spends much of the rest of his days either running or in meetings behind closed doors. Huckabee is trying to turn his seat-of-the-pants campaign into a real organization. Staffers are being hired. Money is being frantically raised. The campaign has set a goal of raising $1 million over the Internet by Thursday. As of early Monday, it was about $400,000 short.