Notice rising politician, moderate (4)
I believe the answer is:
damp
'moderate' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'notice rising politician' is the wordplay.
'notice' becomes 'ad'.
'rising' says the letters should be written in reverse (going up in a down clue).
'politician' becomes 'mp'.
'ad' written backwards gives 'da'.
'da'+'mp'='DAMP'
(Other definitions for damp that I've seen before include "Rising -, TV sitcom" , "Moisture" , "soggy" , "Slightly moist" , "Clammy" .)