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All year long, Hillary Clinton has dominated the campaign conversation on the talk airwaves. And last week, signs that the Democratic battle for president might be tightening had many hosts talking up the idea of a Clinton swoon. Plus, Michael Savage on steroids. (Talking about them, not taking them.)

Thanks to Mitt Romney’s big speech on his Mormon faith, the presidential race was the biggest story of the week in the talk universe last week. And while the new intelligence report on Iran sparked a lively debate, the CIA’s destruction of two terror interrogation tapes didn’t generate much interest.

Planted questions, the B-word, and an embarrassing indictment were all fodder for journalists covering the revved up race for the White House last week. In Pakistan, a national crisis turns personal in the media. And cable news’ favorite celebrity defendant.

Thanks in part to the Democrats’ spirited debate in Philadelphia, last week was the biggest week of the year for the presidential campaign in the universe of radio and cable talk shows. The main course was the Democratic front runner who got carved up by hosts and pundits of various political stripes.

While the rest of the media were focused on private security contractors in Iraq last week, the cable and radio talk hosts spent their time continuing to argue over a controversial phrase by Rush Limbaugh. Plus, another remnant of the Anna Nicole Smith saga makes the top-10 list.

Yes, newsmakers like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton were major topics in talk media last week. But it was two of the hosts themselves, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly, who inspired some of the most passion.

It was a week of fires, storms and floods in the U.S. and a changing of the guard in some of this nation’s closest European allies. But even so, the news was dominated by a new twist on an old story. This time, part of the raging debate over what to do in Iraq was an intramural affair between Republicans.

The talk shows were not shy about picking winners and (especially) losers at last week’s Republican face-off in California. And while the sex scandal involving a D.C. escort service managed to divide the talk hosts along ideological lines, a former CIA director’s book tour actually achieved the rare feat of bringing them together.

The endless parade of Anna Nicole Smith legal proceedings was still a source of fascination for the cable talk hosts last week. But their radio counterparts opted for another favored subject—and it was open season on the 2008 campaign season.