Okay, it looks like one big news org is finally getting a little bit tough with John McCain. The New York Times has just posted a piece pointing out that many of the advisers he's hired -- from his ad men to his senior aides -- are people McCain's aggressively faulted in the past for launching political attacks that he said at the time were over the line. More after the jump.

Read more »

Because you all want to know how the Dem Presidential candidates did at the DNC's Winter Meeting today, we've compiled some highlights! We've got videos of the best moments lodged by Hillary, Obama, Kucinich, the whole bunch. To watch them, click here.

Read more »

Election Central has learned that Hillary Clinton has just bagged another of John Kerry's top fundraisers: Robert Zimmerman, a Long Island businessman and Democratic National Committeeman from New York who's one of the top Dem fundraisers in New York City and the country.

"We have an extraordinary field of candidates," Zimmerman told Election Central. "But without question, Hillary Clinton understands the challenges of Presidential campaigns. She has the leadership qualities we need in a President. It's an endorsement made from the heart and soul."

Zimmerman is a big catch for Clinton. One of the most prolific Dem fundraisers of the last two Presidential elections, he raised over $1 million for Kerry in 2004, and a similar amount for Al Gore in 2000. Like other Kerry fundraisers, he was aggressively wooed by the rival campaigns. Two weeks ago Kerry decided not to run.

As the field developed, Zimmerman deliberated between candidates and listened to their pitches for a couple weeks, finally deciding on Hillary.

"She's the most electable Democrat of the entire field," Zimmerman said. "She's the most electable Democrat since Bill Clinton."

Since Kerry opted not to run, his top donors have been picking and choosing between rival campaigns. As Election Central reported recently, Kerry's New York finance chairman, Hassan Nemazee, recently threw his lot in with Clinton. Meanwhile, Barack Obama picked up the backing of two other Kerry donors, Florida trial lawyer Kirk Wagar and California venture capitalist Mark Gorenberg.

Here is a tally of which Senators are where on GOP Senator John Warner's anti-escalation resolution, according to various sources:

Senators endorsing or indicating support for Warner’s resolution:

• Carl Levin, D-Mich.

• Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del.

• Susan Collins, R-Maine

• Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

• Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.

• Ben Nelson, D-Neb.

• Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine

• Norm Coleman, R-Minn.

• Gordon H. Smith, R-Ore.

• Sam Brownback, R-Kan.

• Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.

• Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Minority Leader

• Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.

• Thad Cochron, R-Miss.

• Pete Domenici, R-N.M.

• Jim Inhofe, R-Okla.

• Pat Roberts, R-Kans.

• John McCain, R-Ariz.

• Joseph I. Lieberman, I-Conn.

• Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

• Wayne Allard, R-Colo.

• David Vitter, R-La.

• Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

• Mike Enzi, R-Wyo.

• Larry Craig, R-Idaho

• Ted Stevens, R-Alaska

• Judd Gregg, R-N.H.

• John Cornyn, R-Texas

• Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

• Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.

• Russ Feingold, D-Wis.

• Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn.

Note: We're told that Barack Obama's office is studying the Warner resolution to see if it jibes with the recent legislation he introduced to bring all combat brigades home by March 2008.

We'll be updating as new info becomes available. The magic number in order to avoid a fillibuster is 60 Senators.

Update: We're told that Senators Patrick Leahy and Robert Byrd -- who might be expected to find themselves wanting a stronger measure -- are both undecided and are studying the measure.

Here's some video of Hillary Clinton (who did vote to give President Bush the authority to go to war) telling the Democratic National Committee's Winter Meeting that she wouldn't have started the Iraq war if she'd been President. Oh, and she added one other little tidbit: "If we in Congress don't end this war before January 2009, as President, I will." View it here.

Strong words indeed. Thoughts, anyone?

Harry Reid's office has just weighed in on the key judgments from the National Intelligence Estimate painting a grim picture of Iraq that were released this morning:

"Today's unclassified summary of the Iraq NIE paints a sobering picture, and gives the American people another glimpse of reality about the situation in Iraq that has never accompanied this Administration's rhetoric. While I look forward to receiving a full briefing from the intelligence community on the NIE next Tuesday, I do not see anything so far in the report that suggests the President's new plan is a winning strategy that protects America's national interest. Rather this NIE appears to be the latest in a long line of bleak assessments by foreign policy and military experts indicating the President's plan is flawed and failing. This conclusion is shared by a bipartisan group of Congress and an overwhelming majority of Americans.

"Whether it is the Vice President's refusal to acknowledge any problems in Iraq or the latest disclosure that the President's escalation plan could require the deployment of nearly 50,000 additional military personnel, this Administration has clearly lost its way. The American people and the Congress must put America's national security back on the right track.

"Next week the Senate will begin work on a bipartisan resolution expressing disapproval for the President's misguided plan to send more troops to Iraq. This will serve as the first real debate on the President's flawed Iraq war policy since the war began nearly four years ago. Congress will at long last have an opportunity to send a strong message to the President that a change of course is needed. We hope the Senate Republican leadership will permit Congress to do what the American people expect."

Rudy Giuliani is raising a lot of cash in an unlikely place for a candidate as socially liberal as himself: Texas.

The House Chronicle reports that Giuliani held a fundraiser in Houston last night with an elite group of 100 guests at $2,100 a seat. The paper notes that Giuliani has been successfully outraising John McCain in the state — he pulled in $124,050 there in the last quarter, while McCainm — whose relationship with President Bush and his backers have been icy at best — netted a mere $14,150.

In other Rudy news, he also got a stamp of approval from a very conservative pol: Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace, who hosted the event and describes himself as "a strong hard right wing when it comes to social issues." Wallace suggested that Giuliani's best shot at appealing to conservatives was his electability in a general election: "I think that Rudy Giuliani appeals to a broader universe of people throughout the United States."

Of course, not all Texas activists are as pleased about the pro-choice, pro-gay Rudy. Cathie Adams, director of the Texas Eagle Forum, a conservative group based in Dallas, told the Chronicle that Rudy is a "nonstarter" in Texas largely because of his support of gun control, gay rights and abortion rights. "He doesn't hold Texas views and Texas standards. We are a conservative state."

The White House announced today that President Bush formally signed the House Page Board Revision Act of 2007, which reforms the Page Board in the aftermath of the Mark Foley scandal. The law expands the board's membership to a balanced partisan makeup of three Democrats and three Republicans, plus one parent of a page and one former page. Considering the Republicans had to spend the last month of last year's campaign answering for the Foley scandal and how Rep. Ron Shimkus, R-IL, kept it secret from other board members when he was Chairman, there was an urge by both parties to make sure nothing like this happens again.

So Hillary Clinton is on board with GOP Senator John Warner's compromise resolution against escalation. Buried in today's Times piece on the maneuvering over the resolutions is this:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York and a leading presidential contender, said that while she did not support all the provisions in the resolution, she would support it. “It makes the point, which is important,” she said. “We’re trying to get the attention of this president, to change course.”

As of now, Dem Senators Russell Feingold and Chris Dodd have come out against the resolution. We'll be updating you throughout the day on who falls where on this.

Hillary Clinton's fundraisers have their work cut out for them -- she's asking them to raise at least $1 million each, today's New York Times reports. The paper claims such a pace would be "record-setting" -- it's 10 times the amount that President Bush's "Pioneers" were asked to raise in 2000. The overall goal, advisers tell the paper, is to raise $75 million in 2007 -- $15 million of it in New York alone. We'll have more on this in a bit.

Here's a quick tally of the cash on hand some of the Dem Presidential candidates have as they enter the first lap of Campaign 2008:

* Hillary Clinton: $11 million

* Chris Dodd: $5 million

* Joe Biden: $3 million

* Barack Obama: $500,000

Hillary's advantage is due to the fact that her cash on hand was carried over from the account she used for her Senate reelection campaign, which raised (and spent) enormous sums. The first report on what her Presidential campaign has raised is due out on March 31. Meanwhile, we're looking for a number on what John Edwards has on hand and will share it when we have it.

Senator Tim Johnson is continuing to recover from emergency brain surgery -- and is now reading and talking, according to a press release put out by Johnson's office.

“Senator Johnson is using limited full sentences and is initiating conversation with his family and therapists,” said Philip Marion, MD, Medical Director for the Department of Rehabilitative Medicine at George Washington University hospital, where Johnson has been doing speech therapy at the inpatient rehabilitation unit this week.

"Simply put, he is reading," Dr. Marion continued. "The test showed that he is comprehending written material and successfully following written commands. When it comes to rehabilitation, each patient’s recovery is unique but Senator Johnson continues to impress us with his progress during his daily therapy sessions.”

The bi-partisan anti-escalation resolution being championed by GOP Senator John Warner appeared to gain momentum today, as two Senators who'd earlier backed a tougher measure announced that they'd support Warner's resolution.

The New York Times has just reported that Dem Senator Joe Biden and GOP Senator Chuck Hagel have agreed to back Warner's measure; Dem Senator Carl Levin agreed to back it last night. It's also backed by GOP Senator Susan Collins and Dem Ben Nelson.

The Democratic leadership of the Senate, which is hoping to push through a condemnation of the escalation with broad bipartisan support, has decided to use the Warner proposal as a "the basis for the debate that will unfold next week, though Republicans could still raise procedural obstacles," the paper reports.

Nonetheless, the measure has drawn opposition from one Dem Presidential candidate, Senator Chris Dodd, who denounced the resolution because it "does not explicitly oppose the escalation, it doesn’t contemplate the phased redeployment from Iraq and all but gives the ‘power of the purse’ to the executive branch."

We have a copy of the resolution for you in our TPM Document Collection.

Update: Two key Senators have just taken a position on the resolution. A spokesperson for Jim Webb tells TPM's Paul Kiel that he's "inclined to support it."

And Russ Feingold says no dice.

Here are the latest updates on the movements of the Presidential candidates:

* Hillary Clinton and John Edwards are scheduled to be at tonight's AIPAC fundraiser in New York, looking for support with Jewish activists.

* Barack Obama's new finance chair, Penny Pritzker, has a problem that some Democratic activists might find objectionable: She donated $2,000 to President Bush's reelection.

* Mitt Romney has announced the support of former Senator Jim Talent, R-MO, who lost reelection last year due in part to his opposition to embryonic stem-cell research.

* John McCain has received the endorsements of three Cuban-American Republicans in Florida: Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and brothers Lincoln Díaz-Balart and Mario Díaz-Balart.

* John McCain's campaign announced that they have received the support of a majority of State House Republicans in South Carolina, including Speaker Bobby Harrell. Mitt Romney has also met with the GOP caucus — and was met with blunt questions about Mormonism.

* Sam Brownback campaigned in Michigan yesterday, Romney's original home state, and called for a tax incentive for alternative-fuel vehicles.

* Despite Sam Brownback's near-perfect record of Senate votes in the past, he has missed half of the votes so far in this Congress as he is running for President.

* Mike Huckabee has the support of two top Iowa Republicans in his underdog race for the GOP nomination. Huckabee's campaign has recruited 2006 Lieutenant Governor nominee Bob Vander Plaats, and former State House Speaker Pro Tempore Danny Carroll, who will work to build grassroots support for Huckabee in the state.

Barack Obama may be seen by many as having a warm political personality, but the official announcement of his Presidential candidacy — set for Feb. 10 in Abraham Lincoln's stomping ground of Springfield, Illinois, to evoke Honest Abe's political legacy — could take place in sub-zero weather. The Southern Illinoisan reports that the local forecast predicts that temperatures in Springfield on that day will be anywhere between 37 degrees and 13 degrees below zero. Will Obama deliver his opening speech coat-less, as candidates often do in cold weather? Stay tuned.

In another sign that he's outworking John McCain and Rudy Giuliani in the battle to win over the Bush family's southern GOP establishment supporters, Mitt Romney today rolled out a bunch of new staff recruits he's made in Florida, many of whom are linked to Jeb Bush's political operation. The new recruits are:

* Sherri J. McVay will be Romney's Florida political director. She previously served as Jeb Bush's Executive Director of the Statewide Advocacy Council, and is a former regional field director for the Bush-Cheney 2004 in Florida.

* Kristy M. Campbell will be Romney's new Florida communications director. She was a former press secretary for Jeb.

* Cecilia Rush, who will be the Romney campaign's Florida office manager.

* Jessica Welter, Romney's new Northwest field director; Patrick McQuillan, Romney's new Southwest field director; Nicole James, Romney's new Central Florida field director; And Nick Hanson, Romney's new Tampa Bay field director. All four were previous Jeb staffers.

* Tzaicel Hernandez, a former aide to Senator Mel Martinez, Romney's new field director for South Florida.

As previously reported here, Romney has been more succesful than his GOP rivals at wooing over members of the Bush family's most prominent fundraisers and supporters. Now it looks like Romney is making similar inroads with staffers, too.

Meanwhile, our massive, comprehensive, constantly-updated Election Central guide to all the staffers on all the campaigns is here.

Al Gore has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, the Associated Press reports. Gore was selected jointly by Norwegian political leaders from both the Conservative and Socialist parties, who are both qualified nominators. The former Vice President was picked because of his efforts to bring attention to global warming, both as an active politician and in private life — most notably through his movie An Inconvenient Truth, according to Conservative Member of Parliament Boerge Brende, who called climate change "the biggest challenge we face in this century."

An interesting footnote: This makes Gore to our knowledge the only movie-maker who's been nominated for both a Nobel Prize and an Oscar on the strength of a single movie.

John Edwards has a plan for his first 100 days as President, should he be elected: Travel the world in order to fix America's image. The Boston Globe reports that Edwards made the campaign promise at a town hall meeting at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Edwards told the crowd of 500 people that the country's global has been damaged by George W. Bush and is in desperate need of repair. "I don’t mean to do this just so we can feel good,” Edwards said. "We need to do this because the fact is that when America doesn’t lead, there is no leader in the world." Edwards has staked out a position in the Dem primary as one of the most aggressive critics of the Iraq war and Bush — and promises like these will undoubtedly help him further cement that position.

“I told him I take a bath every day."

-- Al Sharpton, quoted by The New York Times, on his reaction when Joe Biden called him to apologize for his quotes yesterday, which have been interpreted as saying that Barack Obama represented the first "clean" African American candidate.

In his latest column, Chuck Todd makes the intriguing argument that Mitt Romney's difficulties with conservatives has left an opening for Rudy Giuliani:

Unlike Romney, he isn't attempting to switch his stances on some key litmus-test issues. Instead, he's trying the "let's focus on what we agree on" approach. This works for live audiences. For pundits and activists, there are still doubts. But while Romney's candidacy takes on water, Giuliani's positioning is suddenly looking workable.

I've spoken to a number of conservative activists who seem more comfortable with Giuliani than McCain because they get the impression he won't "stick his liberal finger in your eye," as one told me. Giuliani preaches leadership and security, which some in the base value more than even some of the key litmus-test issues (or so they claim until McCain's name comes up).

It's a pretty interesting paradox: The idea is that Romney's efforts to flip flop and make himself acceptable to conservatives could leave an opening to the more liberal candidate, simply because he's not trying to win over conservatives by converting to their stances on social issues, but focusing on points of agreement.

It remains to be seen, to put it charitably, whether Giuliani's combination of his 9/11 mythic status, right-wing national security views, reassurances that his views on social issues won't have real world import, and overall impression of electability can outweigh the points of disagreement with social conservatives, but the dynamic observed here by Todd is certainly an interesting one worth keeping an eye on.

Al Franken is going to go for it -- he's going to try to unseat GOP Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota. From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Comedian Al Franken has decided to run for U.S. Senate in Minnesota in challenging incumbent Republican Norm Coleman, a senior Democratic official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The official, who requested anonymity because Franken has not made an announcement, said that the comedian and former star of NBC's "Saturday Night Live" told her of his decision recently.

Andy Barr, the political director of Franken's Midwest Values Political Action Committee, declined to comment.

The news was not unexpected. Franken has been calling members of the Minnesota congressional delegation to get their input on a run, and he announced this week that he would be leaving his show on Air America Radio on Feb. 14. He told listeners he would be making a decision on a race soon.

Should he win the Democratic primary in Minnesota, Franken would take on Coleman, a first-term senator who is among the Democrats' top targets.

Barely a half hour after Barack Obama's office sent out an emailed statement blasting Joe Biden's comments in today's New York Observer, Biden has now emailed out a statement of his own:

"I deeply regret any offense my remark in the New York Observer might have caused anyone. That was not my intent and I expressed that to Senator Obama."

Barack Obama's office has just emailed out his response to Joe Biden's comments about him to today's Observer:

“I didn’t take Senator Biden’s comments personally, but obviously they were historically inaccurate. African-American presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton gave a voice to many important issues through their campaigns, and no one would call them inarticulate.”

Hillary Clinton has cancelled this weekend's scheduled tour of New Hampshire. The New Hampshire Union Leader reports that Hillary has called off the trip due to a family crisis — Bill Clinton's stepfather, Dick Kelley, is seriously ill. The trip was to be Hillary's first visit to New Hampshire in over ten years, and was supposed to last the whole weekend.

Late Update: The Associated Press is reporting that Dick Kelley has died at age 91, after a battle with cancer.

Over at The New York Observer's blog, The Politicker, they've posted audio of the Joe Biden interview the paper did that's generating so much discussion today because of Biden's comments about Barack Obama.

Listen to it here.

Update: It should be noted that The Politicker voluntarily posted the audio so that readers who had questions could make up their minds for themselves about the quotes.

Update II: Biden himself says he was quoted accurately.

In a sign that Mitt Romney's Latter-Day Saints religion is causing him problems in the Bible Belt, Romney faced tough questions about his Mormonism from South Carolina pols yesterday — questions that bear a close resemblance to a religious test, The Associated Press reports.

State Representative Bob Leach — who leads the State House GOP caucus in a Christian prayer at the start of meetings — recounted to the Associated Press a conversation he'd had with Romney at a gathering yesterday. Romney was asked how he'd describe Jesus Christ, and replied that Jesus "was his personal savior," according to Leach. Leach professed himself satisfied with Romney's reply — implying that an unsatisfactory answer on theology would cost Romney votes.

Others weren't so content with Romney's answers. State Representative Gloria Haskins, a graduate of Bob Jones University who is endorsing John McCain, told the AP: "I don't think that I could see someone who is a member of a faith so contrary to my faith having my support." And Charleston County GOP chairwoman Cyndi Mosteller said: "We as evangelicals don't believe we can go in and change Paul's doctrine. I don't see how you move around this." Clearly, Romney's got work to do in the Bible Belt.

George Pataki has told a small group of New Hampshire GOP activists at a private dinner that he is not planning to campaign for President in the near term, adding that they are free to endorse other candidates — suggesting he may have decided not to run for President. The New Hampshire Union Leader quotes an attendee of the dinner as follows: "He never came out and said, 'I'm not running for President,' but everybody basically saw the handwriting on the wall, which is he's out." Pataki told guests that for now he'll be spending more time with his family rather than campaign for the White House, the paper reports.

Joe Biden's office has clarified his earlier comments about Barack Obama in a statement given to the Washington Post:

"What Senator Biden meant is exactly what he said to Diane Sawyer," said Biden campaign spokesman Larry Rasky. "He's fresh and he's new and he's got great ideas. I don't see how his comments could be interpreted otherwise, but this is politics. Obviously there are people who are people trying to make something of it today, but not anybody who knows Joe."

Biden's quotes to Sawyer are as follows, according to a transcript provided by Biden's office:

SAWYER: Two quick questions -- quick questions. Senator Obama, two years in the Senate; you've been 34 years in the Senate. Is he too inexperienced?

BIDEN: No. Look, this guy's incredible. He is really bright. He's fresh. He's new. He has great ideas. And the question will be whether or not on the campaign trail he fleshes out his ideas.

I think experience does matter, but you'd expect me to say that. But, you know, this also relates to judgment, as he says. And so the folks are going to look at all of us. But he is a real star. This is a really incredible person.

Of course, the issue with Biden's earlier comments isn't what they say about Biden's opinion of Obama. Rather, people faulting Biden are asking what his remarks say about his opinion of Obama's race. Yet these above quotes are what Biden's press office is sending to people who are seeking clarification. I'm not sure what Biden meant by his initial remarks or whether their meaning was shaded by bad punctuation, but it sure seems like a better explanation than this will be required to quell all the noise about them.

This isn't terribly surprising, but I just got off the phone with Senator Barack Obama's press office, and Obama's declining to comment on the Joe Biden remarks about him that are creating such a big stir today.

Here's a quick look at the movements of the Presidential candidates:

* Barack Obama has a new policy in the aftermath of Fox News' decision to broadcast the phony madrassa story: He's not talking to their reporters.

* Hillary Clinton is following up last weekend's Iowa trip with a campaign stop in New Hampshire this weekend. Hillary will visit to Concord High School on Saturday and will meet with Democratic activists in Keene on Sunday -- her first trip to New Hampshire in ten years.

* John McCain has just announced via press release the support of all the state legislators in New Hampshire's Coos County, the northernmost and least populated county in the state. Oh, and he just so happens to have made the announcement the day before a scheduled trip there by Mitt Romney.

* While campaigning in Iowa, The Des Moines Register reports, Mike Huckabee put forth a position not often seen from Republican candidates: Restoring music and art funding in public schools. He also said that while he supports building a fence along the Mexican border, he would not deport illegal immigrants living in this country, but would instead make them pay a fine. That's what passes for compassionate conservatism these days, we guess.

* Sam Brownback — deviating from his usual campaigning on social conservative issues — said during an Iowa visit that he would like to focus on issues with wider consensus, such as human rights, climate change and poverty, The Des Moines Register reports. "The political discourse automatically goes to the most difficult issues, and then we can't talk about them," Brownback said.

* Mitt Romney's campaign has announced the support of Jim Bopp, the general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee, further honing Romney's credentials with social conservatives.

* John McCain — whose moderate stances on campaign finance and immigration have caused friction with hard-line House conservatives — has unveiled his campaign's House whip team in a press release today. The whips for campaign are: Fred Upton of Michigan, Spencer Bachus of Alabama, John Shadegg of McCain's home state of Arizona, John Shimkus of Illinois, Mark Kirk of Illois, and Dan Lungren of California. McCain will be playing catch-up with Mitt Romney for House support, as Romney has already attracted extensive support, including former Speaker Dennis Hastert.

* The New Hampshire Union Leader reports that George Pataki, on a campaign stop in the state, expressed his skepticism of troop escalation in Iraq: "I oppose sending more troops into Baghdad in the midst of the sectarian civil conflict between Sunni and Shia before the al-Maliki government shows its intent and ability to fight both radical religious extremes equally."

* John McCain has rolled out some newly-won support from Romney's original home state of Michigan -- he's earned the endorsements of former State House Speakers Chuck Perricone and Rick Johnson.

* Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich will both be addressing a summit of about 50 House conservatives this weekend in Baltimore, according to the AP.

Here's some video of Joe Biden explaining his recent controversial comment about Indians, in which he said: "You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent." Biden's explanation for this remark was not easy to follow. As Josh says, he seemed to be "celebrating the fact that Indian-Americans were no longer ghettoized into high-paid, high-education jobs in engineering, computer science and medicine but were expanding into convenience store entrepreneurship. Sort of breaking through the glass floor, you might say." Consider this flashback instructive: Hopefully (for his sake, anyway) Biden will do a better job explaining himself this time. Watch it:

John McCain — whose moderate stances on campaign finance and immigration have caused friction with hardline House conservatives — has unveiled his campaign's House whip team in a press release today. The whips for campaign are: Fred Upton of Michigan, Spencer Bachus of Alabama, John Shadegg of McCain's home state of Arizona, John Shimkus of Illinois, Mark Kirk of Illois, and Dan Lungren of California. McCain will be playing catch-up with Mitt Romney for House support, as Romney has already attracted extensive support, including former Speaker Dennis Hastert.

Oh, man -- Joe Biden is making big news today. In an interview with The New York Observer, Biden unloads on Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards, offering scathing criticism of all three and their plans for Iraq. Here's Biden on Edwards: "I don’t think John Edwards knows what the heck he is talking about." And here's Biden on Hillary's Iraq plan: "nothing but disaster." To our knowledge, this is the first time in Campaign 2008 that a Dem has directly engaged Clinton, and we have a feeling Clinton's rapid-response operation is going to be on overdrive today. Some excerpts of Biden's assault on the three Dems after the jump.

Read more »

Barack Obama just introduced legislation calling for all combat brigades to be withdrawn from Iraq by March 2008. Here's some video of his speech on the floor only moments ago:

Here we go. Barack Obama is introducing binding legislation mandating the phased removal of combat brigades from Iraq to start in a few months, with the goal of getting "all" -- we repeat, "all" -- removed by March 2008. From a release just sent out by his campaign:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today introduced binding and comprehensive legislation that not only reverses the President’s dangerous and ill-conceived escalation of the Iraq war, but also sets a new course for U.S. policy that can bring a responsible end to the war and bring our troops home.

“Our troops have performed brilliantly in Iraq, but no amount of American soldiers can solve the political differences at the heart of somebody else’s civil war,” Obama said. “That’s why I have introduced a plan to not only stop the escalation of this war, but begin a phased redeployment that can pressure the Iraqis to finally reach a political settlement and reduce the violence.”

The Obama plan offers a responsible yet effective alternative to the President's failed policy of escalation. Realizing there can be no military solution in Iraq, it focuses instead on reaching a political solution in Iraq, protecting our interests in the region, and bringing this war to a responsible end. The legislation commences redeployment of U.S. forces no later than May 1, 2007 with the goal of removing all combat brigades from Iraq by March 31, 2008, a date that is consistent with the expectation of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group.

This is a very big gamble by Obama, and it's clearly designed to put some heavy pressure on the other Dems in the primary to come up with something similar. Obama's full press release -- with details of his plan -- after the jump.

Read more »

"I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I'm sorry it's the case, and I'll work hard to try to elevate it."

-- President Bush, in an interview with NPR. Emphasis ours.

GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney — who's under fire from conservatives who think he's exhibited an overly liberal streak in the past — threw a fundraiser for a Democratic Senate candidate in 1992, Election Central has learned.

Romney threw the fundraiser for Doug Anderson, a businessman who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in the 1992 Utah Senate race, according to a person who worked on Anderson's campaign that year.

The Anderson campaign worker, Tim Hill, told Election Central that he worked for the Anderson campaign as an organizer in the northern part of the state. He said that he recalled overhearing Anderson and a top adviser discussing the fundraiser fairly early in the campaign.

"It was a small fundraiser in Boston," Hill told Election Central, adding that he couldn't recall any specifics about it. The executive director of the Utah Democratic Party, Todd Taylor, confirmed that he remembered Hill working on the Anderson campaign.

A Romney spokesman, Kevin Madden, confirmed that the fundraiser had occured but dismissed its significance. "Doug Anderson is a close personal friend of Mitt Romney," Madden told us. Madden added that "sometimes friendship qualifies politics, and that was the case with Doug Anderson and Mitt Romney in 1992."

The fundraiser is significant because it shows that Romney actively sought to help a Democrat take an open Senate seat from the GOP. Romney has already been heavily criticized by conservatives who think his socially liberal views in the early 1990s — he migrated from a pro-choice position to a pro-life one several years later, and underwent a similar conversion on gay rights — are a sign that he would be an unreliable ally in the White House. Romney has aggressively been moving to explain his earlier views in an effort to convince conservatives they can trust him.

Adding to Romney's difficulties in explaining where he stood politically in the early nineties is the fact that he wasn't even a Republican in the early nineties — he was an Independent. He converted to the GOP to run a failed Senate campaign against Ted Kennedy in 1994.

As Election Central reported recently, Romney gave several donations to Democratic candidates at that time, including the maximum of $1,000 to Anderson. This is the first time it's been publicly revealed that Romney also threw a fundraiser for Anderson.

The new information about the fundraiser is arguably far more significant than the donations, because it shows that Romney didn't just give Anderson a check — which could be dismissed as a small favor for a friend — but actively moved to help put a Democrat in the Senate.

Romney spokesman Madden dismissed the idea that the fundraiser was significant as a clue to his political leanings at the time. "I would tell you that relationships back in 1992, whether they were personal or political, don't really have a reflection on where somebody is in 2007," Madden said.

Madden — a top Romney staffer — apparently did not know about the fundraiser when we first contacted him about it. When initially asked if he was aware of it, Madden said, "No, I don't — I mean, sitting here on January 30, 2007, I don't have any record of what happened in 1992, as far as fundraisers." Madden then later confirmed that the fundraiser happened.

Doug Anderson, for his part, declined to comment.

As it happens, Romney was apparently aware at the time of the potential political implications of throwing the fundraiser. Hill says that Romney was worried about helping Anderson because he knew it could create problems for him later.

"There was some talk that Mitt wasn't doing as much as he could be doing," Hill told us. "Mitt was worried about looking at his future and was worried about pissing off Republicans."

Here are a few quick updates on the Presidential candidates and their movements:

* Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney traded barbs yesterday over Hillary's slam of the President over the weekend. Hillary demanded that the President extricate the troops from Iraq rather than passing the war on to his successor. Romney hammered her yesterday while speaking in South Carolina, and Hillary's rapid response team yesterday struck back. Expect much more of this.

* Hillary, meanwhile, has enlisted a new senior spokesperson, Mo Elleithee, who is a veteran of many national campaigns including Bill Bradley's in '00 and Wesley Clark's in '04.

* Draft Newt! A former aide to Newt Gingrich has launched a new effort to draft him for a Presidential run. Gingrich has said that he won't make an '08 decision until Labor Day.

* The Romney campaign is trumpeting the news that it's hired former Iowa House Speaker Brent Siegrist and former First Congressional District candidate Brian Kennedy as advisers to his exploratory committee.

* Sen. John McCain's campaign announced that Dax Swatek is joining the team as a senior advisor to the exploratory committee in Alabama. Swatek recently served as general consultant and campaign manager for Gov. Bob Riley's reelection campaign.

* Speaking at Wake Forest University yesterday, former Sen. John Edwards acknowledged that he may have been too inexperienced when he ran for President in 2004.

* Tom Vilsack's aides announced that he met his 2006 fundraising goal by raising $1.1 million between Nov. 6 and Dec. 31.

* Sen. Chuck Hagel,a rumored '08 candidate, has the least cash-on-hand of the 33 Senators up for reelection in 2008, according to his most recent campaign finance filings.

* Rep. Duncan Hunter spoke in New Hampshire yesterday, focusing on national security, border control, and trade.

Remember Joe Negron? He was the GOP candidate who lost to Dem Tim Mahoney after replacing disgraced GOP Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned after the page scandal forced him to give up his House seat. Now Negron's back: He's getting ready to challenge Mahoney to a rematch in 2008, according to Roll Call. This is not great news for Dems, because Negron lost by a single percentage point to Mahoney — even though Negron's name wasn't even on the ballot; Negron had to run under Foley's name. Next time around, presumably, Negron's name will indeed be on the ballot — so Mahoney will likely need to work as hard as he can to hold the seat.

A big coup for Rudy Giuliani: He's just signed up D.C. lobbyist Dirk Van Dongen as his D.C. finance chair, Roll Call reports. The move is significant because the acquisition of Van Dongen, one of President Bush's top fundraisers, shows that Giuliani is beginning to have some success winning over Bush money people, who are being fiercely fought over by the GOP campaigns. Giuliani has obvious ties to man big Wall Street GOP donors from his two terms as mayor of New York City, but success in winning over members of the national GOP fundraising network -- not to say members of the inside-the-beltway GOP fundraising establishment -- has been far less assured. Meanwhile, an adviser to Giuliani also tells Roll Call that many more acquisitions will be announced in coming weeks.