FixCam: Week In Preview

It's that time again. The Fix's Week in Preview -- where we give you the news and events you need to know to prepare for the political week to come.

The big event this week is tomorrow's Republican presidential debate in Dearborn, Michigan. It's the first time on the debate stage for former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) and a chance for the Tennessean to turn around what -- to date -- has been a listless effort. (We'll be liveblogging the debate, which starts at 4 p.m. ET on CNBC, right here at The Fix.)

With the Senate in recess, the Democratic presidential candidates are touring the early states. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) is in the midst of a four-day swing through Iowa even as a new Des Moines Register poll shows her leading Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) in the state. Obama will spend today and tomorrow in New Hampshire -- where the Independent vote will be crucial to his chances -- with a series of town halls.