Today's New York Times reports that Barack Obama's chief fundraisers are having some success wooing former Hillary Clinton donors:

The Obama campaign has already attracted a number of fund-raisers with ties to Mrs. Clinton or her husband, like Orin Kramer, a prominent hedge fund manager from New Jersey, and James S. Rubin, a private equity manager and son of Robert E. Rubin, the former Treasury secretary. The younger Mr. Rubin was also a finance director for New York during President Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign, and held positions at the Federal Communications Commission during the second Clinton administration.

Other former Clintonites who are raising money for Mr. Obama include Joshua L. Steiner, a private equity principal; Michael Froman, a Citigroup executive; and Brian Mathis of Provident Group. All of them are young (in their 40s) and served in senior positions in Mr. Clinton’s Treasury Department a decade ago (Mr. Froman and Mr. Mathis were friends with Mr. Obama at Harvard Law School). Another high-profile Obama fund-raiser is Earl G. Graves, the publisher of Black Enterprise magazine, who in 2000 was listed by the White House as an overnight guest of the Clintons.

The paper says that the bulk of New York’s traditional Democratic donor establishment — Robert Zimmerman, Alan Patricof, Steven Rattner, Hassan Nemazee, etc. — is backing Hillary. But the Obama campaign is hoping to compensate for this, the paper reports, by drawing from "pools that barely existed four years ago, particularly hedge fund and private-equity fund principals who only recently acquired their money and their interest in the political process." The Obama campaign is hoping that people in these worlds might be receptive to Obama's argument that it's time for generational change in this country's leadership, and that's the argument his fundraisers are making to them in their pitches. Seems noteworthy.

Meanwhile, in other fundraising news, The Hill reports today that the FEC is slated to give the thumbs-up next week to Obama's request that he be allowed to raise money from private donors for the 2008 general election and later refund the cash and opt into the public financing system should his GOP opponent do the same.

“I’m probably going to get in trouble, but what’s wrong with sucking up to everybody?”

-- John McCain, as quoted by Maureen Dowd, after being asked at a lucheon in Seattle why he was cozing up to the religious right.

The Associated Press is now moving a story with a big headline that blares: "Lieberman ends speculation of switch to GOP." Yes, but did he actually do this? Here's what Lieberman said in the piece:

“I have no desire or intention to leave the Democratic Party or the Democratic caucus,” Lieberman said Friday while in Hartford to host an education forum. “I hope and believe we’ll never get to that point, so I believe this latest flurry is much ado about nothing.”

Okay, that's stronger than past statements, but it still sounds like there's some wiggle room there, wouldn't you say? Some of the language is similar to this one from November 13:

"I'm not ruling it out, but I hope I don't get to that point. And, and I must say, and with all respect to the Republicans who supported me in Connecticut, nobody ever said, 'We're doing this because we, we want you to switch over,' " he said.

And, God dammit, in today's story the Associated Press just doesn't mention the fact that Lieberman repeatedly promised during the campaign to stick with the Dems. Why not? Didn't the AP get our care package?

At this rate, we'll soon be muttering this while digging through garbage cans for food, but really: Isn't that kind of an important piece of information?

Update: On this score, don't miss Ana Marie Cox's deft skewering of a similarly hyped Politico "scoop."

Earlier I flagged this passage from The Times on Barack Obama's comments about the Geffen flap. But it seems worth a second look, because some things about it don't feel right. It said:

In a telephone interview Thursday, Mr. Obama said he had not been aware beforehand of the statement his campaign had put out Wednesday morning responding to the public demand by Howard Wolfson, Mrs. Clinton’s hard-driving senior communications adviser, that Mr. Obama denounce Mr. Geffen and return the money he had raised.

Mr. Obama said he had been on a red-eye flight, getting a haircut and taking his daughters to school as the fight broke out, and strongly suggested he had told his aides he wanted to stay above the fray.

“I told my staff that I don’t want us to be a party to these kinds of distractions because I want to make sure that we’re spending time talking about issues,” Mr. Obama said. “My preference going forward is that we have to be careful not to slip into playing the game as it customarily is played.”

I have to say, this raises a few questions. Is it really possible, for instance, that the campaign would have released Obama's initial statement -- the one that had the stuff attacking Hillary over the Lincoln Bedroom stays -- without his approval? Doubtful, right? I mean, this was the first high-profile dust up between the Obama and Clinton camps. It was important to get it right. Would Obama's aides really have made the key decision to defy the Hillary camp's demand that they cut Geffen loose without consulting the candidate? And if that happened, is it something Obama would countenance? Seems unlikely on both counts.

Another thing that casts a bit of doubt on this: The Times reported that Obama "strongly suggested he had told his aides he wanted to stay above the fray." This could be sloppy wording on the paper's part, but presuming it's accurate for the moment, does Obama really mean to say here that he told his aides that he wanted to stay above the fray -- but that his aides went ahead and sent out the statement with the Lincoln Bedroom stuff anyway?

Finally, here's what Obama said about the Geffen story later in the day when he got off a plane in Iowa:

Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa: "Senator, the Clinton campaign is asking you to apologize for remarks made by Mr. Geffen. Do you intend to do so?"

"I just heard about this as I got off the plane. It's not clear to me why I would be apologizing for someone else's remarks. I mean, I don't know the entire story."

If he'd just heard about it, how could he have argued earlier in favor of staying above the fray? Again, this could have been sloppy wording on The Times's part. But for now the question seems a valid one.

Look, I know everyone's bored with this story already, and rightly so, but still, it seems like a hint of skepticism is in order here. There may be perfectly valid explanations, but based on what we know now it just doesn't feel quite right.

Update: Ben Smith was so hell bent on getting to the bottom of this that he went and tracked down Obama's barber.

Here are a few updates on the movements of the Presidential candidates:

* Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani nabbed a key Florida staffer for his campaign today: Karen Unger, Jeb Bush's former campaign manager, who has agreed to serve as the senior Florida adviser for Rudy's exploratory committee.

* Meanwhile, Giuliani is drawing criticism for purportedly limiting his appearances "to events with narrowly defined, friendly audiences, avoiding the kind of uncomfortable interrogations his rivals have occasionally faced."

* Sen. John McCain's campaign announced today that fellow Arizonian Sen. Jon Kyl will serve as the chairman of his exploratory committee in Arizona.

* McCain will be the featured speaker at a Seattle luncheon tomorrow co-sponsored by the Discovery Institute, one of the leading proponents of "intelligent design" in the nation.

* In an interview with Indian Country, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson declared that if elected President, he would create "a cabinet department for Native American affairs."

* Meanwhile, Richardson has hired Lachlan McIntosh, the executive director of the South Carolina Democratic Party, to run his primary campaign in the state.

* The Federal Election Commission released a draft proposal yesterday that said Sen. Barack Obama would be able to raise private funds for the general election, but with the possible option that he could return that money if he chooses to accept public financing at a later date.

* More than 30,000 people have created profiles on Obama's campaign website.

* Speaking in South Carolina yesterday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney described heterosexual marriage as a key component to improving education in America. Romney is in New Hampshire today, where he toured a company that develops solar energy.

* Former President Bill Clinton has earned nearly $40 million in speaking fees during his six years out of public office. Due to her expected forgoing of public financing, the Clinton's nest egg could potentially be used by Sen. Hillary Clinton in her campaign for President.

* Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has signed up Rep. Don Young as the congressional chairman of his exploratory campaign. Election Central readers might remember Young as the man who famously uttered the fake Lincoln quote on the floor of the House of Representatives.

* State senators in Kansas voted yesterday to strip the governor of the power to select who fills an unfinished term in the U.S. Senate. The bill was only supported by Republicans and is seen by some as a bulwark against Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius replacing Sen. Sam Brownback with a Democrat should Brownback somehow win the White House. Brownback is set to campaign in Iowa tomorrow.

* Rep. Ron Paul will be in New Hampshire today, speaking to the “Alliance of Derry Taxpayers." He'll be in the Granite State for the duration of the weekend.

* Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson told reporters after speaking at the Marquette University Law School that he has no desire to be Vice President if he is unable to reach the top office. Thompson also admitted that his campaign was sunk if he can't win in Iowa, a state he has been visiting on a weekly basis. He's back there this weekend.

* Rep. Dennis Kucinich will be campaigning and fundraising in Southern California both today and tomorrow.

* Democrats are holding a fundraiser in Washington, DC on March 4 in order to raise the money needed to pay for the South Carolina primary. Expected to appear are Sens. Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Christopher Dodd as well as former Sen. John Edwards and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack.

* Pennsylvania is now considering moving its primary date up from April 22 to February 5.

* The Texas Republican Party is planning to hold a Presidential straw poll on September 1.

And here's Barack Obama's statement on Tom Vilsack's decision to bail:

"Tom Vilsack is an outstanding public servant whose initiatives in Iowa on education reform, health care and alternative energy are models from which our entire nation can learn. More than that, Tom brings a badly needed sense of honor and decency to our politics, and a passionate advocacy for an end to the war in Iraq. I hope he will continue to speak out in the months and years to come, as his is an important and valued voice."

Whereas Hillary emphasized Vilsack's achievements in Iowa, note that Obama is keeping his "high-minded politics" theme going here.

The Hillary campaign is first out of the box with a statement on Tom Vilsack's withdrawal:

“I have been proud to work with Tom Vilsack for years on the challenges facing our country, and I have a deep admiration for both Tom and Christie.

“Tom has made Iowa a leader in renewable energy and created thousands of jobs as one of America's great governors. We share a passion for protecting America’s young people through expanded health care options, early childhood education initiatives and opening the doors to higher education to every American.

“I know he will continue to contribute to the dialogue about how to move America forward.”

Now that Vilsack has bailed, the other Dems will be vying for Vilsack's backing -- and the invaluable boost that he can provide in Iowa. And it all begins here -- with the candidates' statements.

"It's great, isn't it? I love to see it when it happens on the other side."

-- GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, quoted by the Associated Press at an event commenting on the Hillary-Obama flap.

The Des Moines Register is reporting that Tom Vilsack is dropping out of the Presidential race because of money:

However, sources said the deciding factor was that Vilsack's challenge to raise the estimated $20 million to compete through the early nominating contests, including the Iowa caucuses, was becoming too difficult.

He reported raising $1 million from Nov. 9 to Jan. 31. However, his rivals were expected to have raised far more in the early part of 2007.

We have to think that the Vilsack camp also realized that there was simply no breaking the stranglehold that Hillary, Obama and Edwards have on the national media -- which of course was one of the causes of the fundraising travails in the first place.

Here's more from Barack Obama on the David Geffen spat, as reported by the Associated Press a few moments ago:

Obama told donors at a Houston fundraiser Thursday night that the nation will remain at a standstill "if we continue to engage in small and divisive politics and tit-for-tat."

"Our country is at a crossroads right now," he said, citing problems in Iraq and domestically with education, energy and health care. "It's not as if we don't know what the solutions are. What's missing is the inability of our leadership to develop consensus."

One wonders whether "tit-for-tat" is a formulation that the Obama campaign has settled on as part of its argument that it's time to move towards a more high-minded politics. It's exactly the same phrase Obama's campaign spokesman used with us yesterday. Just sayin'.

It's official: Tom Vilsack is dropping out of the Presidential race. That's per the AP and CNN. Vilsack's press conference is set for 11 A.M.

Dem Presidential hopeful Tom Vilsack just sent out a press release promising a "major announcement" this morning. He's scheduled a press conference for 11 A.M. at his campaign headquarters in Des Moines. What, oh what, could it be?

Barack Obama himself weighs in on the flap between his and Hillary Clinton's campaigns over David Geffen's anti-Hillary remarks:

In a telephone interview Thursday, Mr. Obama said he had not been aware beforehand of the statement his campaign had put out Wednesday morning responding to the public demand by Howard Wolfson, Mrs. Clinton’s hard-driving senior communications adviser, that Mr. Obama denounce Mr. Geffen and return the money he had raised.

Mr. Obama said he had been on a red-eye flight, getting a haircut and taking his daughters to school as the fight broke out, and strongly suggested he had told his aides he wanted to stay above the fray.

“I told my staff that I don’t want us to be a party to these kinds of distractions because I want to make sure that we’re spending time talking about issues,” Mr. Obama said. “My preference going forward is that we have to be careful not to slip into playing the game as it customarily is played.”

The New York Times suggests that these quotes show that Obama "seemed to acknowledge that he may have been outmaneuvered," though it's not fully clear why that meaning should be drawn from what Obama said. At any rate, we've now heard from Obama himself on this.

ABC News adds a bit more to all the chatter today about whether Joe Lieberman will switch parties, getting a Lieberman aide to say, essentially, that it's never going to happen:

While the website Politico.com has the blaring, saucy, and eye-catching headline "Breaking News: Lieberman says war vote could prompt party switch," the statement by Lieberman that he won't rule out a party switch does not signify that he is packing his bags and heading across the aisle in the Senate.

A Lieberman staffer told ABC today, "Lieberman's words speak for themselves. It is a very remote possibility. Senator Lieberman has no desire to change parties. He has no desire to change parties." (repetition theirs).

Not making a "Sherman statement" (as Al Gore would say in also not closing the door on his unlikely 2008 Presidential run) is not a new tactic for Lieberman. He told Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" back in November after the mid-term election that he wouldn't rule out changing parties as Vermont Republican Jim Jeffords had done in 2001 when he became an Independent, temporarily giving Democrats control of the Senate.

Look, ABC News deserves credit for showing basic skepticism here and getting a Lieberman aide to state the obvious. As we and many others have been arguing endlessly, Lieberman just isn't going to switch, because Dems are well-positioned to increase their majority in 2008 and Lieberman doesn't want to risk consigning himself to the minority for years to come. The last thing Lieberman wants, as should be very obvious by now, is to have people view him as irrelevant.

No, the reason we keep highlighting Lieberman's hints about switching here at Election Central is simple: Because Lieberman said over and over before Election Day 2006 that he would caucus with Dems. Oddly, this fact is always missing from reporting on this -- and that's where the ABC thing falls down on the job, too. ABC makes it sound like Lieberman's main "tactic" in the recent past has been to not rule out a switch. But as recently as the fall of 2006 -- before Election Day -- Lieberman repeatedly assured voters that he would vote with the Dems.

This info is rarely included in stories about Lieberman. But really -- shouldn't this basic fact be in every single report you read or watch about this?

Attention, history lovers: Remember Frank Gaffney, the conservative Washington Times columnist who got busted pushing a fake Lincoln quote to argue that Iraq War opponents are committing treason? Well, Gaffney's back pushing Lincoln again to make the case against war critics. So we called up a real Lincoln expert, and he gave Gaffney a good smacking down. Take a look.

The Politico tries to muscle in on all the Lieberman-switching-parties action today:

"I have no desire to change parties," Lieberman said in a telephone interview. "If that ever happens, it is because I feel the majority of Democrats have gone in a direction that I don't feel comfortable with."

Asked whether that hasn't already happened with Iraq, Lieberman said: "We will see how that plays out in the coming months," specifically how the party approaches the issue of continued funding for the war.

He suggested, however, that the forthcoming showdown over new funding could be a deciding factor that would lure him to the Republican Party.

"I hope we don't get to that point," Lieberman said. "That's about all I will say on it today. That would hurt."

As we noted earlier today, Lieberman told Time magazine that there was a "remote possibility" he could switch parties. And, as also noted below, Lieberman said multiple times before Election Day 2006 that he would caucus with the Dems:

Our question: If the big news orgs report on this tomorrow, how many of them will share this simple, incontrovertible historical fact with their readers?

John Edwards has launched what may be his most direct attack yet on Hillary Clinton's refusal to term her 2002 vote authorizing President Bush to go to war a "mistake." In an interview just posted at The New Hampshire Union Leader's Web site, Edwards offered the following:

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, said the validity of her position “depends entirely on what she believes. It’s entirely between her and her own conscience.

“If she believes the vote was wrong, then I think it’s important to be honest about that,” Edwards said. “If she believes that it was not, then she can defend it.

“I don’t believe this is very complicated,” he said.

Media and blog opinion seems pretty divided on who "won" the Hillary-Obama showdown over David Geffen yesterday, but one prominent political strategist has just come down squarely on the "Hillary blew it" side: Bob Shrum. As the top adviser for John Kerry's 2004 Presidential bid, Shrum knows something about winning and losing news cycles in Presidential campaigns. Shrum shared his thoughts on the battle with The New York Observer's Politicker blog:

More from Shrum here.

Here are a bunch of quick updates on the movements of the Presidential candidates:

* The Clinton campaign announced today that Kathleen Strand has been hired as their New Hampshire communications director. Strand is currently the communications director for the New Hampshire Democratic Party and was previously the New Hampshire press secretary for Kerry-Edwards in 2004 and deputy press secretary in Iowa for former Rep. Dick Gephardt's '04 run.

* While appearing in Los Angeles with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sen. John McCain lashed out at the administration's environmental record, saying “I would assess this administration’s record on global warming as terrible.”

* McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani are taking heat from conservatives because they have yet to sign an anti-tax increase pledge written by Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform that has been signed by every GOP Presidential candidate since 1988.

* Sen. Barack Obama told a crowd in Des Moines, Iowa yesterday that if elected, the world would view the United States differently on his first day in office. He also called for the repeal of the Bush tax cuts.

* Obama is set to campaign and fundraise in West Palm Beach on March 25.

* Of the six senators seeking the presidency, Obama is the only one to have not missed a Senate vote yet in 2007. Sen. Sam Brownback has missed the most with 22 absences. Brownback is campaigning in Los Angeles today.

* Former NBA star Charles Barkley said he is throwing his weight behind Obama yesterday while appearing on "The Situation Room."

* Longtime conservative activist and author Phyllis Schlafly, who led opposition to the failed Equal Rights Amendment 25 years ago, told a New Hampshire crowd yesterday that she doesn't consider Romney, McCain or Giuliani "acceptable" from a conservative point of view.

* Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will be campaigning and fundraising in Delray Beach, Florida today before heading to DC tomorrow to hobnob with Republican lobbyists.

* Stepping away from the White House's spin, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney called the pullout of British troops from Iraq "disappointing," saying that it "sends an unfortunate signal to some who are watching what is happening in Iraq."

* Sen. Hillary Clinton is attending a series of Los Angeles-area fundraisers today, including a dinner with prominent Iranian-Americans.

* Sen. Christopher Dodd has hired Christy Setzer, who worked for Al Gore in 2000 and Howard Dean in 2004, as his national spokesperson, Ben Smith reports. Dodd has also hired Marc Beltrame, the former deputy state director of Rep. Leonard Boswell's Iowa office, as the director of his Iowa campaign.

* The Governors from Iowa and New Hampshire have agreed to meet in order to discuss the placement of their respective caucus and primary. Iowa Gov. Chet Culver is concerned that New Hampshire's Secretary of State could move the Granite State's primary ahead of the Iowa Caucus as a response to the placement of the Nevada caucus between the two.

* GOP Sen. John Ensign might push for an early primary caucus in Nevada for Republicans similar to the one Democrats have scheduled for Jan. 19.

* Rep. Duncan Hunter is speaking in South Carolina both today and tomorrow. Mitt Romney is also in South Carolina today.

* Sen. John McCain's exploratory committee announced today that former U.S. Senator Warren Rudman and former New Hampshire Governor Walter Peterson will take on honorary leadership roles in the committee. Mississippi Rep. Chip Pickering, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and former Iowa State Auditor Richard Johnson have also endorsed McCain.

* Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson's campaign is not off to a rousing financial start as his Forward America political action committee only took in $3,500 from four donors last year.

* Former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel used his moment in the spotlight at the Dem candidate forum in Nevada yesterday to highlight his plan to create federal laws using ballot initiatives.

* In response to Bank of America's decision to continue its new credit card program for individuals with no social security numbers or credit histories, Rep. Tom Tancredo facetiously declared that the company's new slogan is "Bank of America, it's everywhere terrorists want to be."

* Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue announced today that the special election to fill the vacant House seat of the late Rep. Charles Norwood will be held on June 19.

Update: The actual Time magazine article is now on line right here. Take a look.

Will Joe Lieberman switch to the Republicans? Lieberman now says it's a "remote possibility." The Connecticut Senator made the comment in a forthcoming profile of him in Time magazine that is expected to be on line in several days. The as-yet-unreleased article was previewed by Editor and Publisher:

"Independent" Sen. Joe Liebeman receives a mini-profile titled "What Joe Wants," a key question since he is "the Senate's one-man tipping point." Republicans, the magazine says, are "courting him" and Lieberman "has been indulging in some fairly immodest poltical footsie."

Lieberman calls jumping to the Republican side, and tilting the Senate, "a remote possibility," which means there's at least a chance of that. Time seems to push Lieberman in this direction, as the article concludes: "Lieberman's GOP flirtation has its risks--and a time limit....The longer he waits to capitalize on his moment, the greater the danger that he'll be tagged as one of those politicians for whom having power is more important than using it."

Before Election Day 2006, however, Lieberman repeatedly promised to caucus with Dems. From an August 7, 2006 interview with New York magazine:

Lieberman thinks of going independent as a pragmatic ploy, not an abandonment of his party. “I’ve been a Democrat for 40 years, I’ll die a Democrat, I’ll probably be a Democrat after my death, I may still be voting Democrat in some cities in Connecticut postmortem,” he jokes.

From the New York Times's political blog, The Empire Zone, on October 3, 2006:

So let’s play a little game of what if — as in, what if the Democrats and the Republicans split the Senate? Would Mr. Lieberman still align himself with the Democratic senators who have lined up behind his opponent?

"I’ve given my word that’s what I intend to do. I am going to caucus with the Democrats."

More soon.

"I'm sure you realize — well, most people don't — millionaire Democrats outnumber millionaire Republicans four to one. It's mainly because of the Jewish faction inside the Democratic Party. Most Jewish people are Democrats and they bring that wealth. My opinion is, if Israel would go into Iran, Democrats will follow that cause. I really do believe that."

This is interesting. Rudy Giuliani's campaign has just announced that he's won the endorsement of Congressman Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania. Something on the press release jumped out at us:

“Mayor Giuliani possesses the experience and the proven leadership our country needs to move forward during this critical time,” Congressman Dent said. “Rudy Giuliani successfully led New York City and became known as “America’s Mayor” because of his dynamic approach to tackling the challenges facing America’s largest city."

Of course, Rudy actually became known as "America's mayor" for his performance in the aftermath of 9/11 -- not for his performance as Mayor. Keep in mind that this was sent out by the Rudy campaign, which presumably means the campaign signed off on the language or perhaps even authored it. Are we seeing the beginnings of an effort to broaden the meaning of Rudy's "America's Mayor" moniker to include not just his 9/11 performance, but also his mayoralty?

Remember, Giuliani's mayoralty didn't garner him anywhere the national profile before 9/11 that he has now. Is it whacked out to suggest that perhaps this release could represent the beginnings of a subtle effort to obscure this?

Via Huffington Post, this exchange on Hardball almost passed unnoticed, but it's worth a quick look. It appears that Clinton campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson directly accused Barack Obama, or at least his campaign, of being behind the attack launched by Obama fundraiser David Geffen that caused all the commotion yesterday.

From Hardball (via Nexis):

WOLFSON: I`m surprised, as I said, that a candidate whose campaign is premised on changing politics, whose campaign is premised on hope and changing -- supposedly premised on hope and changing and getting rid of the politics of slash and burn wouldn`t just disavow these comments. It makes you wonder whether or not he agrees with them and whether or not the campaign put Mr. Geffen up to this.

MATTHEWS: Which campaign put him up to it?

WOLFSON: Mr. Obama.

Either Wolfson meant "Mr. Obama's" -- as in, his campaign -- or he meant Obama himself. Either way, the charge is clear.

Update: I emailed Obama spokesperson Bill Burton for a response to Wolfson's charge. His full reply: "I think Americans are ready to turn the page from tit-for-tat politics."

President Bush's own numbers may be in the toilet, but he is in fact succeeding at driving up the negatives of one of his chief designated opponents: Iran. A new Gallup poll finds that Bush is having modest success at getting Americans to view Iran as America's chief "enemy." Respondents were asked the following question: "What one country anywhere in the world do you consider to be the United States' greatest enemy today?" The responses:

Iran: 26% Iraq: 21% North Korea/Korea: 18% China: 11% Saudia Arabia: 3%

According to the poll, Iran was only viewed as our most menacing enemy by eight percent in 2001, when Bush started linking the country to the "Axis of Evil." So he and others making hawkish noises towards Iran have been successful in that this number has now been driven up to 26%.

Still, it needs to be pointed out that Bush has fallen short in one respect: Many more Americans saw Iraq as our leading enemy before the Iraq war than see Iran as our number one foe today. In February 2001, 38% saw Iraq as our chief enemy, many more than the 26% who see Iran in those terms today.

Interesting footnote: Two percent see the United States' biggest enemy as...the United States itself. As it happens, that's exactly the same percent as see Afghanistan as our chief foe.

Is John Edwards' call for tax increases to guarantee universal health care really as risky as commentators suggest? Apparently not, according to a new Quinnipiac poll on Americans' attitudes towards health care. Asked if they were willing to pay higher taxes for guaranteed government-subsidized health care, a striking 53% said yes, while only 42% said no. Respondents were also asked if they agreed with the following statement:"It's the government's responsibility to make sure everyone in the United State has adequate health care." The answer? An astonishing 64% agreed, while only 31% — less than a third — disagreed. Most of the Democratic Presidential candidates are calling for guaranteed universial health care as a part of their campaign platform, and this poll would indicate that they're on the right track.

A new poll by the GOP firm Strategic Vision finds that Rudy Giuliani has expanded his lead over John McCain in Iowa. Rudy enjoys a seven-point lead:

Rudy Giuliani 29% John McCain 22% Newt Gingrich 11% Mitt Romney 9%

Back in January, another Strategic Vision poll found Rudy ahead of McCain by only four points, 25%-21%.

Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, John Edwards is maintaining his position in first place in the current poll:

John Edwards 24% Hillary Clinton 18% Barack Obama 18% Tom Vilsack 14%

In the January poll, Edwards was ahead with 25%. Hillary was in third place with 15%, so the current poll shows she's crept up three points into a tie for second place with Barack Obama.

Is it true, as Dick Cheney said in an interview released today, that John McCain privately apologized after criticizing him over Iraq? The McCain camp won't say.

As Paul noted over at TPM earlier today, Cheney disclosed McCain's alleged apology in an interview with ABC News' Jonathan Karl that's been making the rounds:

Karl: And I wanted to ask you. You probably heard John McCain again come out and say that your friend Donald Rumsfeld is perhaps the worst secretary of defense ever. What do you make of that?

Cheney: I just fundamentally disagree with John. John said some nasty things about me the other day, and then next time he saw me, ran over to me and apologized. Maybe he'll apologize to Rumsfeld.

Karl: So what's your take on where Secretary Rumsfeld fits in?

Cheney: I think Don's a great secretary [sic]. I know a little bit about the job. I've watched what he's done over there for six years. I think he did a superb job in terms of managing the Pentagon under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. He and John McCain had a number of dust-ups over policy, didn't have anything to do with Iraq -- other issues that were involved. John's entitled to his opinion. I just think he's wrong.

Karl: And I know we're just about out of time, but I wanted to clarify, Sen. McCain had said that the problem with President Bush is he listened to you too much. So this is what he was apologizing to you for?

Cheney: Yes, yes.

Karl: What did he say?

Cheney: Well, he came up to me on the floor a couple of days later, the next time I was on the floor of the Senate, said he'd been quoted out of context, and then basically offered an apology, which I was happy to accept.

I emailed a McCain spokesperson today and asked if Cheney's recounting of the episode was true. His reply: "No comment."

Did the episode ever happen? We'll never know.

McCain's criticism of Cheney came last month, when he said that the Iraq war was partly caused by the fact that Bush had "listened too much to the vice president."

It's worth noting that by saying McCain apologized to him, Cheney rather artfully put McCain in a box. Either McCain could acknowledge that he apologized, and make it look as if his original criticism of Cheney wasn't straight talk, or defiantly deny that he'd apologized, which would put him in the position of calling the Vice President a liar, which would keep the story going in the media and risk alienating whatever supporters Cheney has left among the GOP's conservative base McCain's been courting. Whatever actually happened, McCain's difficulty here reflects the larger challenge he faces in the delicate dance of distancing himself from the Bush administration's disastrous conduct of the war while trying to woo the conservatives who still support it.

"People are up for conversions, for changes, for growing. People love former alcoholics and drug addicts. You never have anybody on the 700 Club who always went to church and was nice. 'Now, homosexual prostitutes who took drugs and don't do that anymore -- yeah, we like you!'"

-- Conservative activist Grover Norquist, in an interview with The New York Observer's Jason Horowitz, explaining why onetime liberals like Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney have at least a shot at winning over social conservatives.

Tom Daschle confirms he's endorsing Barack Obama:

WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama won the endorsement Wednesday of former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who said the White House hopeful "personifies the future of Democratic leadership in our country."

Daschle said Obama has a "great capacity to unify our country and inspire a new generation of young Americans, just as I was inspired by the Kennedys and Martin Luther King when I was young."

Obama began his term in the Senate after Daschle lost his seat in 2004. But the South Dakotan served in the Senate with several of the other Democratic presidential hopefuls, including Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Joe Biden of Delaware, Chris Dodd of Connecticut and
John Edwards, a former lawmaker.

Daschle said the party was "very fortunate to have an extraordinary field of candidates."

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

* Sen. Barack Obama pulled down a big time endorsement today: Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle is set to support the freshman Senator from Illinois, Ben Smith reports.

* Meanwhile, Obama raked in a cool $1.3 million last night at his Hollywood fundraiser hosted by Jeffery Katzenberg, David Geffen and Steven Spielberg.

* A clip of Sen. John McCain speaking against an immediate repeal of Roe v. Wade during the 2000 Presidential debates has made its way onto YouTube. Also hitting YouTube yesterday is a clip of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney defending a woman's right to choose in a 2002 gubernatorial debate.

* Instead of the Democratic candidates forum hosted by the AFSCME in Nevada today that every other contender is attending, Obama will be at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa. Discussing Obama's absence, AFSCME president Gerald McEntee told the Des Moines Register that Obama will "be noticeably absent because he's the only one not there. If two, three or four others weren't there, it might be a little different."

* Obama is also scheduled to be the keynote speaker this year at the annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee in Alabama that commemorates the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march.

* Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney raked in at least $500,000 last night at a Salt Lake City, Utah fundraiser that included an appearance by Sen. Orrin Hatch.

* Describing the atmosphere of the 2008 campaign in comparison to his run for President in 1988, Sen. Joe Biden told the AP that the difference this time around is that "you don't get to discuss any of the issues that the majority of Americans are with us on -- domestic issues -- unless you can, to use a Nevada phrase, ante up with unimpeachable credentials on national security. I don't think you even get in the game."

* Sen. Christopher Dodd said during a stop in Davenport, Iowa that "there is enough time to change" his current second-tier status thanks to states like New Hampshire and Iowa that "give candidates like myself a chance to be heard."

* Sen. Hillary Clinton ridiculed President Bush's policy of non-communication with Syria and Iran yesterday while speaking in Miami, saying that "I don't think you get very far in life if you just point fingers at somebody and say, 'We think you're bad. We're never going to talk to you.' I don't think that's the way the world works."

* The campaign of former Sen. John Edwards is pushing back against a Variety column by Peter Bart that claims Edwards, while speaking at a private fundraiser, said the potential of Israel bombing nuclear facilities in Iran was the greatest short term threat to world peace.

* Yet another state is considering moving it's primary up: Georgia. Republican leaders in the Peach State are backing a measure to push the primary from March 4 to Feb. 5.

* Obama is co-sponsoring legislation with Sen. Claire McCaskill that seeks to improve the conditions and care for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

* Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will participate in a townhall meeting in Spartanburg, South Carolina with first responders later this afternoon while Sen. Sam Brownback is heading on a "fact-finding mission" along the US-Mexico border in Arizona before meeting with Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff.

* Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel has declared that his office may have a conflict of interest in investigating whether it was legal for former Gov. Mike Huckabee to have 91 hard drives destroyed as he was leaving office.

* Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson has named former Iowa House Appropriations chairman Bill Dix as the general chairman of the Tommy Thompson for President Exploratory Committee.

* Sen. John McCain has picked up the endorsement of Michigan state Sen. John Pappageorge .

* New York Democrats Eric Massa and Dan Maffei, who both narrowly lost their 2006 bids for Congress, are giving indications that they will run again in 2008.

* Dem Rep. John Dingell pledged on Friday to donate $1000 to each of the 29 members of the DCCC's new Frontline list.

Talk about embracing Bill Clinton's legacy.

A new fundraising email sent out by Hillary Clinton's campaign has a heart-warming picture of the former First Lady and her husband in an embrace, with her back to his. The missive, purportedly written by Bill, asks supporters to help reach a strikingly ambitious fundraising milestone. "Our goal: to demonstrate the range and breadth of Hillary's support by raising one million dollars in grassroots donations in a week's time," Bill writes. The full text of Bill's email after the jump.

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The wingers will really go nuts over this one: Barack Obama has just received the endorsement of Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison, the Associated Press reports. Ellison tells the AP that he's backing Obama because "he speaks with a unifying spirit." As if it weren't bad enough that Obama has the middle name "Hussein" and a last name that rhymes with "Osama," he's now also picked up the support of the country's first Muslim Congressman — one who has already been the target of a relentless assault from the right. It'll be interesting to see how conservative commentators react to this one.

Will this be the last word on this? Hillary Clinton's campaign has just uncorked another blast at Barack Obama, this time for his refusal to cut loose David Geffen for his anti-Clinton comments. Here's the latest statement from Clinton spokesperson Howard Wolfson:

“By refusing to disavow the personal attacks from his biggest fundraiser against Senator Clinton and President Clinton, Senator Obama has called into serious question whether he really believes his own rhetoric. How can Senator Obama denounce the politics of slash & burn yesterday while his own campaign is espousing the politics of trash today?

“When one of Senator Clinton’s supporters made an inappropriate statement, her campaign disavowed it immediately and the supporter apologized for his words. Why won’t Senator Obama do the same?”

"If Fergus Cullen has the courage of his convictions, he should go enlist, because they're having trouble meeting their quota. He's young, he's single and he's healthy. If he needs to know where the recruiters are, call me."

Obama communications director Robert Gibbs just released the following statement in response to the Clinton camp's broadside this morning over David Geffen's anti-Clinton comments:

“We aren’t going to get in the middle of a disagreement between the Clintons and someone who was once one of their biggest supporters. It is ironic that the Clintons had no problem with David Geffen when was raising them $18 million and sleeping at their invitation in the Lincoln bedroom. It is also ironic that Senator Clinton lavished praise on Monday and is fully willing to accept today the support of South Carolina State Sen. Robert Ford, who said if Barack Obama were to win the nomination, he would drag down the rest of the Democratic Party because he's black.’"

We hear that the Obama campaign will have a response shortly to the Clinton camp's broadside earlier this morning over the Maureen Dowd column quoting top Obama fundraiser David Geffen. Don't touch that dial.

The Hillary Clinton campaign is blasting Barack Obama over a column by Maureen Dowd today in which top Obama fundraiser David Geffen is critical of the Clintons. Camp Hillary just put out the following statement from Clinton spokesperson Howard Wolfson:

"While Senator Obama was denouncing slash and burn politics yesterday, his campaign's finance chair was viciously and personally attacking Senator Clinton and her husband.

"If Senator Obama is indeed sincere about his repeated claims to change the tone of our politics, he should immediately denounce these remarks, remove Mr. Geffen from his campaign and return his money.

"While Democrats should engage in a vigorous debate on the issues, there is no place in our party or our politics for the kind of personal insults made by Senator Obama's principal fundraiser."

Note that the Clinton campaign is demanding that Obama sever his ties with Geffen and return his money. This might strike some as an excessive demand, given that Geffen's comments were critical, but not really beyond the pale in any serious way. Still, the Clinton camp's broadside seems designed to paralyze the Obama campaign -- to force them to choose between caving to pressure from a rival campaign and defending a Hollywood mogul who has indulged in the sort of slash-and-burn politics Obama decries. It will be interesting to see how Team Obama responds.

Update: Some select Geffen quotes about the Clintons after the jump.

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A Quinnipiac University poll released this morning finds that Rudy Giuliani is beating Hillary Clinton in a national head-to-head matchup by a comfortable margin: 48%-43%. The poll's most surprising finding, perhaps, is that Rudy is tied with Hillary at 46% in the states that went Democratic by solid margins in 2004. He's beating her 55%-38% in 2004's red states, and in so-called purple states, where the 2004 margin was less than 7% in either direction, she's edging him by one point, 45%-44%

Other national Presidential matchups:

* Clinton tops former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney 49 - 37 percent; * Giuliani beats Illinois Sen. Barack Obama 47 - 40 percent; * Giuliani tops 2004 vice presidential candidate John Edwards 48 - 40 percent; * McCain ties Obama 43 - 43 percent; * McCain gets 43 percent to Edward's 42 percent, a tie; * Obama tops Romney 49 - 29 percent; * Edwards beats Romney 48 - 32 percent.

Such polls, of course, are being taken at a time when the national electorate has no idea who Rudy really is and is primarily viewing him as little more than the mythic dust-covered apparition they saw for days on their TVs in the aftermath of 9/11.

Dem Senators are issuing statements tonight on Tony Blair's expected announcement of a phased withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.

John Kerry:

“America’s leading ally in Iraq has decided that a timetable for the phased redeployment of troops is the only responsible policy to help force Iraqis to stand up for Iraq,” said Kerry. “After years of touting Prime Minister Blair’s resolve, the Administration should now pay attention to his new policy. This announcement makes it all the more inexplicable that the President and leading Republicans actually want to send more American troops into the middle of an Iraqi civil war.”

Joe Biden:

“President Bush should follow Prime Minister Blair’s example and start to draw down our troops from Iraq, not send more into the middle of a civil war. But while leaving Iraq is necessary, it doesn’t answer the critical question: “what next?” We need a plan for what we leave behind so that our interests are protected. The heart of that plan must be a political settlement, one that gives Iraq’s warring factions a way to share power peacefully and offers us a chance to leave with our interests intact. That’s exactly what the plan Leslie Gelb and I have proposed would accomplish.”

Hillary's blog goes live: It's right here. It already features posts from Hillary pollster Mark Penn and others, including the campaign's official blogger, Crystal Patterson. One has to imagine that some people somewhere are pretty busy right now digging through Patterson's oeuvre in hopes of hitting the jackpot a la the Edwards bloggers. One bets that no such jackpot is in the offing, however. Such things just don't happen in HillaryLand.

Senator Tim Johnson, who's recovering from emergency brain surgery conducted on December 13, has been released from the hospital and has embarked on the next stage of his recovery:

U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD was discharged from the George Washington University Hospital to a private rehabilitation facility on Friday February 16th, 2007 to move onto the next phase of his therapy.

"Senator Johnson had his final angiogram last week which confirmed that there is no evidence of residual arteriovenous malformation (AVM)," said Philip Marion, MD, Medical Director for the Department of Rehabilitative Medicine. "The Senator made great progress in the two months he spent at GW Hospital and we wish him all the best in his continued recovery."

The Senator remains in in-patient care to focus on physical, occupational and speech therapy, the statement said.

An Obama source confirms to Election Central that Barack Obama's Presidential campaign has just made two key hires: It has enlisted top Democratic pollster Joel Benenson, who managed Clinton-Gore's polling operation in 1996, and has signed up operative Ertharin Cousin as a senior adviser to the campaign.

Benenson -- who's worked on scores of campaigns and heads the five-year-old Benenson Strategy Group -- is a key get for the Obama campaign. In addition to having been a key pollster for Bill Clinton's reelection campaign, he was also coveted for his successful record in the 2006 Congressional races, the Obama source tells us.

"He won eight of the ten races that he was working on -- three in which Republican incumbents were defeated," the source tells us. "He's one of the best out there. We absolutely wanted to have him on board."

Benenson joins an Obama polling team that also includes Cornell Belcher and Paul Harstead. Benenson will be in charge of polling for the key primary state of New Hampshire, while Belcher will poll South Carolina and Harstead will poll Iowa.

The New York-based Benenson has also worked in New York gubernatorial and mayoral politics. He was communications director for former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, and in the 2005 mayoral race, he was pollster for Dem Congressman and mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner, a long-shot candidate who surprised New York politicos by coming in a solid second place and almost forcing a runoff against eventual Dem nominee Fernando Ferrer. The campaign is set to announce Benenson's hiring today.

The campaign is also poised to announce the hiring of Cousin as a senior adviser. We'll have more on Cousin's background in a bit.

Update: Here's some background on Cousin. Her governmental and political experience includes working in the Clinton administration for four years, first with the DNC, then as White House liason to the U.S. Department of State. She's also worked for various government and political organizations in Chicago, including the Illinois Attorney General’s office and the Chicago Ethics Board, and has worked in many local political campaigns. She's also had private sector experience in food and drug retail and other fields. She earned her B.A. from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her law degree from the University of Georgia.

Here are a few updates on the movements of the Presidential candidates:

* Sen. Barack Obama might just be the biggest star in Hollywood tonight when he attends a fundraiser hosted by David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg, an event that is expected to net at least $1 million for his campaign. Also attending are Tom Hanks, Jennifer Aniston, Eddie Murphy, Denzel Washington and the studio heads at Universal, Paramount, Disney and 20th Century Fox.

* Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney defended his opposition to embryonic stem cell research yesterday, a position he holds despite the fact that the research could lead to a cure for multiple scelrosis, which afflicts his wife, Ann Romney.

* New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's campaign manager, Dave Contarino, recently discussed the difficulties facing Richardson in each of the four early primary states, acknowledging that Richardson isn't expecting to finish better than fifth or sixth in Iowa.

* Iowa Public Radio and NPR are teaming up to host two Presidential debates, one Democratic and one Republican, in January 2008, days before the Iowa Caucuses.

* Sen. Joe Biden blasted President Bush last night while speaking to a crowd of more than 100 at a Washoe County Democratic Party dinner in Reno, Nevada, where he said that emboldening the enemy was "the only mission this president has accomplished in Iraq."

* The first Democratic Presidential debate is set for Nevada tomorrow. It will stream live on www.LasVegasNOW.com.

* Instead of their usual Presidential straw poll, Florida Republicans will host a debate in October that will be aired on Fox.

* Rep. Dennis Kucinich waded into local New Hampshire politics Monday when he told a local activist group, Save Our Groundwater, that he would use his House subcommittee chairmanship to help them stop a bottled water project.

* Sen. Hillary Clinton announced the support of several South Carolina Democrats yesterday, including State representatives David J. Mack III and John Scott Jr., who are both former chairs of the Legislative Black Caucus. Also supporting Clinton are state Rep. Terry Alexander, former state Sen. Maggie Glover, Richland County Councilwoman Bernice G. Scott, Richland County Councilwoman Joyce Dickerson and Richland County School District One Commissioner Dwayne Smiling.

* Sen. John McCain recieved some strong support today when he announced that former Sen. Mike DeWine will chair his campaign in Ohio, former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating is endorsing him and his Delaware exploratory committee will be led by Rep. Mike Castle & Speaker Terry Spence. McCain is also expected to pick up the endorsement today of South Carolina state Sen. Hugh Leatherman, who is the chairman of the Finance Committee. South Dakota Sen. John Thune endorsed him today.

* Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney announced his Georgia leadership team today, which will include: House Speaker Pro Tempore Mark Burkhalter, Congressman John Linder, Congressman Phil Gingrey, Congressman Tom Price, Eric J. Tanenblatt, Cobb County Commissioner Sam Olens, Oscar N. Persons, Fred Cooper and Nancy Coverdell.

* Yet another state is considering moving up its primary: Rhode Island.

* Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack spoke to about 60 Democrats in Winterset, Iowa last night.

* Longshot candidate Rep. Ron Paul gets a glowing profile from Fox News today.

* Many '08 candidates are on the road today: Sen. Joe Biden is in Nevada, Sen. Sam Brownback is visiting both Arizona and Mississippi, Sen. Hillary Clinton is speaking in Florida, Reps. Duncan Hunter and Dennis Kucinich are both in New Hampshire, Sen. Chris Dodd is touring Iowa, Sen. John McCain is in South Carolina, and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is seeking funds in San Francisco, California.

What's in a name? A new Nielsen Business Meida poll asks the public what it thinks of the plus and minus sides of all the candidates' names, and the findings were somewhat surprising:

• Barack Obama's middle name — Hussein — is seen as a political drawback by a sizeable margin — 57%-24%. And almost one out of two people — 47% — think his last name rhyming with "Osama" is a handicap.

• Nearly half — 49% — think Hillary Clinton would be better off runing under her first name, as opposed to her last name. On the other hand, 46% said her association with her husband Bill is more of an asset than a liability — go figure.

• Over 70% associate Rudy Giuliani with the phrase "America's Mayor," owing to the good will he received from his handling of 9/11, while only 10% link him to his two failed marriages. On the negative side for Rudy: More than a third of respondents — 34% — associate his Italian name with the Mafia.

There are nearly two years to go until Election Day 2008, but Mitt Romney is already going up on the air with a new ad that will start running tomorrow in parts of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and Michigan. The ad is a fairly standard-issue introduction of Romney to people outside of Massachusetts, the state he ran as Governor, and boasts of his conservative credentials and his experience running a Democratic state. One curious thing, though, is its central slogan: "Strong. New. Leadership." Also curious: Romney's campaign spokesman is refusing to detail the size and scope of the ad buy, beyond saying it will run in "select markets" in the five states. To watch the ad, click here.

An intriguing new poll contains some slightly sobering news for at least three of the 2008 Presidential hopefuls: It appears that Americans are more willing to vote for an African American or a woman than they are for a Mormon, someone who's advanced in years, or someone who's been married three times.

The poll, which was released today by Gallup, asked voters whether they would vote for a candidate with various non-traditional traits, provided the candidate was generally qualified for the Presidency. While 94% said they'd vote for an African American, and 88% said they'd vote for a woman, only 72% would vote for a Mormon, 67% would vote for someone who was married for the third time, and 57% would vote for someone who was 72 years old.

Mitt Romney is a Mormon, Rudy Giuliani has been married three times, and John McCain will be 72 in 2008.

The poll's findings seem to suggest at least the possibility that Hillary and Barack Obama are actually at somewhat less of a disadvantage because of their "non-traditional" traits than Romney, McCain and Giuliani are -- that is, when all these candidates are assumed to be generally qualified and are evaluated strictly by these traits and no others. It's hard to know what to make of these findings, but they seemed worth passing on. The full poll has much more on changing voter attitudes towards various "non-traditional" traits; view it here.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both campaigned over the weekend in South Carolina -- and their pitches to black voters was a reminder that one of the peculiarities of this Democratic Presidential primary is that there are not one, but two candidates in the race with the potential to make history. Both candidates appeared mindful of that as they stumped through the state, and both seemed to be making appeals based on the idea that each of their candidacies could rewrite the history books.

Hillary, for instance, sought to persuade a crowd at one forum that black voters could support her (rather, presumably, than one of their own) and still be supporting a historic candidacy:

“I believe this presidential election is about breaking barriers — and this is the campaign, and I am the candidate with the experience to break the barriers,” Mrs. Clinton said.

A little later, hundreds of audience members, many of them black women, stood and cheered when Mrs. Clinton asked, “Can a woman be president?” Many stood and cheered again, seconds later, when she added, “I believe one of the great things about America is, anyone can be president, and what it depends upon is the individual.”

Obama made similar appeals:

Mr. Obama said Saturday that history was full of examples of people telling blacks, “We can’t.” He then said that, with black support, he could say to voters, “Yes, we can.”

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that Hillary denied in an interview that her campaign had traded consulting fees for an endorsement from one of the state's top black politicians. Questions had been raised about state Senator Darrell Jackson, who endorsed Hillary last week but also had inked a lucrative consulting deal with the campaign. Jackson said that he'd turned down better deals from other campaigns.

Cynthia McKinney is at it again. The former Congresswoman, political gadfly and alleged cop-hitter is soliciting donations to her campaign committee to help retire campaign debt. (See her solicitation on our screen grab below.)

But there's only one problem: Her campaign actually ended the year with a $25,000 surplus! Or so the Associated Press reports, at any rate. The AP adds that a former campaign manager for McKinney was unable to account for the discrepancy between what the campaign thinks and what is reflected in FEC records.

So does this suggest the possibility of less-than-kosher activity on McKinney's part? The AP provides a partial answer: "Campaign finance experts say it's possible McKinney could have late-arriving bills that didn't show up before the report was filed. But because McKinney lost in a primary runoff in August, that would be an unusually long lag." We'll be checking into this further.

"You do not know the Lord, you're a Mormon!" A heckler shouted this very accusation at Mitt Romney at a campaign event in South Carolina this weekend, illustrating yet again that Romney will have to work hard to appeal to Evangelical audiences. To his credit, Romney kept his cool and gave an answer that's worth a look — it allowed him to stick to his religious principles and simultaneously appeal to the Christianist base of Southern Republicans. To watch the heckler and Romney on video, click here.

Dennis Kucinich is very serious about winning hearts and minds in New Hampshire — and he's going to great lengths to prove it with the locals. For one thing, The Boston Globe reports that he's the first candidate to open an office in the state, with a headquarters in Keene. Furthermore, he's now gotten deeply involved with a group of local activists in Barrington who have been fighting to keep a water-bottling company out of their community. The Associated Press reports that Kucinich has gone a long way in courting the Save Our Groundwater committee, promising to use his chairmanship of the House Domestic Policy Subcommittee — which has oversight over the Environmental Protection Agency — to help them at the federal level. If Kucinich gets a significant vote in New Hampshire, it could have less to do with his stance on Iraq, and more to do with groundwater.

This is interesting: A high-level Democrat tells me that several of Hillary Clinton's senior advisers are reaching out to top Dem donors and other political leaders with connections in Congress to ask them to make Hillary's case on the Iraq war privately to highly-visible antiwar members of Congress.

The idea appears to be to get these go-betweens to suggest to prominent antiwar members of Congress such as Russ Feingold and John Murtha that they either back Hillary or vouch for her position on Iraq.

"They are asking people to try to reach out to members of Congress who are leaders in the antiwar movement, and see if they can be brought on board," the source says, speaking of Hillary's senior advisers.

The effort was described by my source as not completely formal or orchestrated, but as something clearly viewed as important by Hillary advisers. "Clearly it's a strategy they're pursuing," the source says.

The campaign is not so much to get outright endorsements from such members of Congress, the source emphasized (though that certainly wouldn't be rejected, of course). The goal is more to get visible antiwar Congress people to vouch for Hillary's antiwar credentials, which she's being quizzed about due to her backing for the 2002 resolution authorizing Bush to go to war.

"It's about getting people in Congress to say, She's a leader [against the war] now, she's with them, she's on the same page," the source says, adding that Congress people who might not be able to bring themselves to okay her previous vote are being encouraged to "at least praise her for her current position."

While not terribly surprising -- the Clinton camp has every reason to get people to make her case privately to other members of Congress prominently associated in the public mind with advocating an end to the war -- it's a dynamic that definitely bears watching. No comment yet on this from the Clinton campaign.

Here are a few updates on the movements of the Presidential candidates:

* Speaking in South Carolina yesterday, Sen. John McCain explicitly told a crowd that he believes Roe v. Wade should be overturned.

* Sen. Barack Obama's appearance at the Virginia Democratic Party's annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner on Saturday more than doubled the previous attendance record for the event with a crowd of 3,200 people.

* Responding to more than a month of complaints from the campaign of Sen. John McCain, the National Journal's Hotline blog has cut ties with a South Carolina political website, the Daily Shot, that was run by consultants with links to the campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Ben Smith reports.

* The Obama campaign is actively pushing back (PDF) against claims by some Chicago activists that Obama takes more credit than he is due in his first book, "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance," for his participation in a campaign against asbestos in public housing during his tenure as a community organizer.

* Obama also picked up the endorsement of former South Carolina Democratic Party chairman Dick Harpootlian during his trip through the South this past weekend.

* Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani requires that he fly by private jet when traveling to his $100,000 an appearance speaking engagements, and the jets themselves must be a Gulfstream IV or bigger, according to the tour rider obtained by The Smoking Gun.

* Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney said on ABC's "This Week" yesterday that the Pentagon should maintain its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy towards gays in the military. In the past, Romney has supported allowing gay men and women to serve in the armed forces. Romney will be fundraising in Utah on Tuesday and Wednesday.

* Romney has also recieved the endorsement of Iowa state Representative Doug Struyk, who will join his Iowa leadership team. Struyk is the Assistant Leader of the House Republican Caucus.

* The campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton is moving its headquarters from lobbying-centric K Street in Washington, DC to Arlington, Virgina across the Potomac. Interestingly, the neighborhood they chose -- Ballston -- is the same area the Bush-Cheney campaign used as a home base in 2004. Clinton held a town hall-style meeting today at Allen University, a historically black college in South Carolina, to a crowd of over 3,000.

* Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, Sen. Christopher Dodd, Mitt Romney, and former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson will all be campaigning in Iowa today.

* Former Sen. John Edwards campaigned in Iowa over the weekend, including a stop with fellow '08 hopefuls Sen. Joe Biden and Tom Vilsack, where he discussed his desire for sweeping change in the health care system rather than reform in "incremental baby steps."

* Speaking at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire on Sunday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich called for a 15 percent "across-the-board cut in Pentagon spending" as well as the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Rep. Duncan Hunter is visiting the school today.

* New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is the featured speaker at the Broward County Democratic Jefferson Jackson Dinner on Feb. 24 in Florida. While in New Hampshire over the Weekend, Richardson advocated that Congress vote to revoke the 2002 authorization for military force against Iraq.

* Rep. Tom Tancredo slammed the NFL in a letter last week for refusing to run a Border Patrol recruitment ad during the Super Bowl that said "it'll be your responsibility to prevent the entry of terrorists and their weapons into the United States," language which the league thought did not fit with the light-hearted nature of the game.

Another flip flop from Mitt Romney on an issue important to conservatives? Yes, indeed: It has just been revealed that Romney only registered as a member of the National Rifle Association just last August — strongly suggesting that it was done solely in preparation for his Presidential campaign. The date of Romney's registration with the NRA was the confirmed by the Associated Press.

In fact, Romney was in favor of gun control as recently as 2002, when he ran for Governor of Massachusetts. At the time, Romney praised the state's gun laws: "I believe they protect us and provide for our safety." And back in 1994 he supported gun control measures during his Senate campaign against Ted Kennedy.

Romney spokesman Kevin Madden, meanwhile, insisted to the AP that Romney's joining the NRA just a few months before launching his Presidential campaign was not politically motivated. "I would argue not many Americans care when you join, but why you join," Madden said, "and I think I've made that clear."

Still more trouble for Mitt Romney on abortion. A longtime friend, Dr. Judith Dushku, has just recounted to The Washington Post a conversation she says she had with Romney back in 1994, when he was running for Senate against Ted Kennedy. Dushku approached Romney at church and thanked him for taking a pro-choice position in the campaign, to which he replied: "Well, this is Massachusetts. I realized I had to take this position."

Lest Dushku conclude from this that his position was politically motivated, Romney immediately compensated by telling the story of a relative who died from a botched abortion, saying that it had convinced him of the need for safe and legal abortions. (Romney has since said that another episode converted him to pro-life views.) But the damage was done in Dushku's mind: "But those around him, and people who knew him closely in the ward, knew that it was a position he had taken because he thought he had to in order to win."

So was Mitt Romney always pro-life, and just pretending to be pro-choice in order to get elected in Massachusetts? Or was he genuinely pro-choice then, and has since converted to a pro-life position to run for President? Or, best of all, has he ever had a real position on abortion at all?

Senator Barack Obama is planning a big campaign designed to win over Jewish voters, according to The Jewish Week:

With millions of campaign dollars at stake as well as votes in a handful of key primary states, the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is poised to dramatically increase its Jewish outreach.

That includes the recruitment of top Jewish donors and advisers, and an expected major speech on Israel and the Middle East that a Democratic insider said will set the baseline and establish Sen. Obama as a reliable, strong supporter of Israel...

The campaign has also signed on a leading Jewish Mideast expert, Dan Shapiro, a former National Security Council official in the Clinton administration. Shapiro is leaving his position as a top aide to Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) for a job with a Washington lobbying firm and a role doing Mideast policy and Jewish outreach for the Obama campaign.

Obama campaign officials are reportedly in talks with leaders of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which is staging an event later this month that "could provide a high-profile venue" for Obama's anticipated speech about Israel.

Here is the list of Republican Senators who voted against cloture Saturday on the anti-escalation resolution, and who are up for reelection in 2008:

Lamar Alexander (TN)

Wayne Allard (CO) — Has already announced his retirement.

Saxby Chambliss (GA)

John Cornyn (TX)

Larry Craig (ID)

Elizabeth Dole (NC)

Pete Domenici (NM)

Mike Enzi (WY)

Lindsey Graham (SC)

Jim Inhofe (OK)

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY)

Pat Roberts (KS)

Jeff Sessions (AL)

Ted Stevens (AK)

John Sununu (NH)

That's the question posed today by The New York Times, and the paper's answer is a qualified Maybe:

To judge by conservative talk radio, Mrs. Clinton appears to be the most reviled politician in the country. But others in the conservative movement say it is easy to be deceived by what is on the airwaves and by the marketing of anti-Clinton paraphernalia, books and movies. (Among items on sale at conservative Web sites: “No Way in Hellary” barbecue aprons; “Hillary Scares Me” baby onesies; and buttons that say simply “Hillary Hater.”)

For every conservative who says Mrs. Clinton will feel the wrath of the movement’s grass-roots organizers later in the campaign, particularly if she becomes her party’s nominee, another expresses doubt that Clinton foes can ever be revved up as they once were.

Among those onetime Hillary haters who just aren't feeling the hate this time around: Reclusive billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife, who spent millions on a campaign to dig up dirt on the Clintons in the past. This time around, the paper says, Scaife is keeping his wallet shut.

On the other hand, the paper reports that efforts by the right to cash in on Hillary hatred are alive and well. American Conservative Union chairman David Keene, who's getting ready to market assorted Hillary-hating gear (T-shirts, etc.), put it this way: “Her image as the wicked witch of the left was burned in the minds of conservatives and the larger public before she tried to moderate her image.”

Still, all that hating has to get exhausting after a while, so who knows -- maybe there's something to this thesis. Either way, we may soon find out.

Some top Democrats say that if Hillary Clinton wins the Presidency, which would vacate her Senate seat, they'd like to see New York Governor Eliot Spitzer appoint another Clinton to take her place -- Bill Clinton. The Examiner reports that under this scenario, New York law would dictate that Bill stay in his wife's Senate seat until 2010, at which point a special election would be held for the seat. Among those dreaming about this scenario:

Paul Begala: "“President Clinton would excel in the Senate. He excelled as attorney general and governor of Arkansas, he excelled as president and he’s been a model of the modern Senate spouse.”

Harold Ickes: “As a senator, he’d be a knockout. He knows issues, he loves public policy and he’s a good politician.”

Larry Sabato: “Clinton is a natural for the Senate. He loves to talk and schmooze. He could be a great vote-organizer. Majority Leader Clinton?”

As the Examiner notes, two past Presidents went on to serve in Congress: John Quincy Adams and Andrew Johnson. But it almost certainly isn't gonna happen in Bill's case, though. Should Hillary get elected President, Spitzer would be under heavy pressure to appoint an African American or Latino to her seat.

A Quinnipiac University poll released this morning finds Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton in a dead heat in Connecticut -- while Senator Chris Dodd is in fourth place in his home state's Democratic Primary. Clinton is a statistically insignificant two points ahead of Giuliani, 46%-44%. She's eight points ahead of McCain, 48%-40%. Meanwhile, the poll also finds:

In a possible Democratic primary, Clinton leads with 33 percent, followed by Obama with 21 percent, former Vice President Al Gore with 9 percent, Sen. Christopher Dodd with 8 percent and Edwards with 5 percent.

Giuliani is the choice of 43 percent of Republicans, followed by McCain with 27 percent, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 5 percent and Romney at 4 percent.

Interestingly, Dodd comes in fourth in the Dem primary even though Connecticut voters approve 60%-25% of the job he's doing. Only 30 percent say he'd make a good President.

Hillary Clinton has just reeled in a handful of John Kerry's top fundraisers, including several key members of Kerry's 2004 Presidential campaign team, today's Boston Globe reports:

Backing Clinton over her Democratic presidential rivals are Steve Grossman, a Newton businessman and a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee; Jonathan Patsavos, who was Kerry's New England finance director during his 2004 presidential campaign; as well as prominent Boston philanthropists Elaine Shuster, Barbara Lee, and Swanee Hunt.

Clinton has also signed up Anthony Buxton, who led Kerry's Maine fund-raising in 2004, and Mark Weiner, who chaired Kerry's Rhode Island fund-raising. In addition, Clinton's New England finance team will include Joseph Paolino Jr., a former mayor of Providence, and Bob Baldacci, the brother of Governor John Baldacci of Maine, according to the Clinton campaign.

The Hillary campaign also announced this morning that it had signed up Dem Senate leader Harry Reid's son, Rory Reid, as the chair of her Nevada operation. Reid, a former chair of the Nevada state Democratic Party, will also advise the Hillary campaign on western issues such as public lands and conservation issues.