Rudy And Romney Pull Out Of Debate — But Organizers Aren't Giving Up
Rudy Giuliani's and Mitt Romney's campaigns have both confirmed they will not be participating in the CNN/YouTube debate scheduled for September 17, citing scheduling conflicts. However, CNN says it is determined to work with the campaigns and set a new date if necessary. Yesterday, Greg Sargent and I wondered if there might be another reason for Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney to be avoiding YouTube.

Poll: Plurality Agree With Obama On Meeting Foreign Leaders
A new Rasmussen poll finds that more Americans agree than disagree with Barack Obama's proposal on meeting with leaders of hostile foreign countries without setting preconditions. The poll shows 42% agreeing such meetings should take place within the first year of the next president's term, versus only 34% who disagree, with the remainder undecided.

Activists: Fred Thompson Dodging Campaign Laws
The Boston Globe reports that Fred Thompson's campaign is coming under the scrutiny of campaign reform advocates, who complain that he is using his "testing the water" committee as a massive loophole to raise large donations without having to report on the sources of the money. "This is supposed to be a grace period by the [Federal Election Commission] to explore a candidacy, and it certainly appears he has gone beyond that," said Common Cause spokeswoman Mary Boyle. Meanwhile, Thompson spokeswoman Linda Rozett told the Globe that Thompson's comment to Sean Hannity on July 10, that his decision had been made, was "in jest."

Washington Post Looks At New Generation Of Black Politicians
In a new article today, the Washington Post looks at Barack Obama's candidacy — the first such campaign by a black candidate that is widely seen as having a realistic shot of winning — in the context of a newer generation of black politicians who came of age after the civil rights struggles of the 1960's and 70's. This new group of politicians have their political base in the black community, to be sure, but have also demonstrated an ability to move outside that demographic and appeal to white voters, as well.

Hillary Makes Pitch To Minority Audience At The Urban League
During her speech yesterday at the National Urban League — a naturally good audience for Barack Obama — Hillary Clinton discussed her commitment to jobs, education and healthcare for younger African-Americans and Hispanics. "It is time for America to begin a conversation about 1.4 million future workers, entrepreneurs, taxpayers, community leaders, business executives," Hillary said to applause, referring to the number of black and Latino males ages 16-24. "A conversation about 1.4 million husbands and fathers and role models."

Edwards: Hillary/Obama Spat Over Foreign Leaders A Distraction From Real Issues
During his own speech yesterday before the National Urban League, John Edwards denounced the current fight between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton over what conditions should be met before meeting with hostile foreign leaders, calling it a distraction from issues of poverty and other domestic concerns. "We've had two good people — Democratic candidates for president — who spent their time attacking each other instead of attacking the problems that this country is facing," Edwards said. The Associated Press says the remark was met by "a mixture of groans and applause."

McCain Bringing Out New Book — With Very Familiar Themes
John McCain has a new book coming out, Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them. The book explores the bold decisions made by various figures ranging from statesmen like Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill, to sports figures such as Branch Rickey and Gertrude Ederle. Quite frankly, this seems an awful lot like John F. Kennedy's own ghost-written classic, Profiles In Courage.

Hillary Clinton Jokes About Hair
Speaking to the National Beauty Culturists' League Convention last night, Hillary joked about her experience in the public eye, and her many changing fashion decisions over the years. "Now, you know, when you get to be my age, there are three things you know you have to have — good friends, a good sense of humor and a good hair stylist," Hillary said. "If there’s ever been anyone who exemplifies the need for help on many occasions when it comes to hair, I am that person. I am really here, in part, to say thank you for dedicating your life to helping take care of people like me." The New York Times treats this as a funny story, but one has to wonder how the media would treat it if John Edwards — who has been pilloried for his expensive haircuts — had made the same jokes.

Obama One Day Before The Debate: Would Only Meet With Chavez "Under Certain Conditions"
In an interview with the Miami Herald one day before the debate that sparked the dustup between Barack Obama and Hillary, Obama said that he would only meet with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez "under certain conditions." Obama's comments, which have thus far passed unnoticed, are potentially significant.

That's because ever since Hillary began criticizing him for saying he would meet with leaders of rogue nations during his first year without preconditions, Obama has been hammering her as representing a "Bush-Cheney lite" worldview and presenting himself as the race's real change agent. The Herald columnist who conducted the interview, Andres Oppenheimer, concludes Obama "would have done much better" if he'd stuck to the caveat he'd added in the interview a day earlier.

Edwards Alleges Corporate Conspiracy To Silence Him
Ben Smith notes that John Edwards' campaign is propagating a video in which Edwards, at a town hall in Iowa, contends that the media are conspiring to keep him and his focus on poverty out of the headlines. "Nobody in this room should think this is an accident. You know, I'm out there speaking up for universal healthcare, ending this war in Iraq, speaking up for the poor. They want to shut me up. That's what this is about. 'Let's distract from people who don't have health care coverage. Let's distract from people who can't feed their children ... Let's talk about this silly frivolous nothing stuff so that America won't pay attention.'"

Do Polls Back Up Hillary Campaign's Contention About 2002 War Authorization? No.
Mark Blumenthal deconstructs a claim by Hillary Clinton advisor Howard Wolfson. Appearing on Hardball yesterday, Wolfson alleged that many Americans shared Hillary's professed belief that President Bush would take the Iraq authorization and use it as diplomatic leverage, exhausting the alternatives before going to war. In fact, Blumenthal says, polling in November 2002 showed that 58% of Americans believed the president had already made the firm decision to invade Iraq.

Fox News Reporter Joining Fred Thompson Campaign
Fox News Congressional producer Jim Mills will be leaving the channel and joining Fred Thompson's campaign. Between Tony Snow becoming White House press secretary and now this, we have to wonder if Fox News is in fact a farm team for Republican presidents and candidates' press flacks.

Obama: When I'm President, "The Country Looks At Itself Differently"
Barack Obama, speaking at the National Urban League conference this morning, appealed to the black organization's members by overtly bringing up the subject of his race and the significance of his candidacy, something he's generally refrained from doing in the past. "The day I'm inaugurated, the country looks at itself differently, and don't underestimate that power, don't underestimate that transformation," Obama said. "When the state of Black America comes out, I want it to say the state of Black America is strong. In order for that to happen, we've got to to form that base."

Biden Invites Giuliani To Debate, Says He Is "Absurd," "Doesn't Get It"
Joe Biden has struck back at Rudy Giuliani's "party of losers" comment with a statement deploring Republican efforts on the war on terror and in Iraq. "Tough talk and cheap shots won't make America any safer.... It is absurd for Rudy Giuliani to call Democrats ‘losers' after five years of failed Republican policies in Iraq.... Giuliani and the rest of the Republican candidates continue to cling to this Administration's failed policy that a strong central government can be propped up in Iraq. If these are the positions he wants to defend, I invite him to debate me on these important topics."

Stumbo Will Test Fundraising In Run Against McConnell
Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo tells the Lexington Herald-Leader that he will judge the success of his exploratory committee's fundraising before deciding to officially enter the race against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Stumbo said he is looking for $100,000 in small donations and expects that 60 percent of the money will have to come from outside Kentucky for a successful bid, which also may be complicated by a paternity suit that has been a black mark on his political career. "We'll know more at the end of this whether Sen. McConnell's really vulnerable or not," Stumbo said, "and we'll know what kind of person can beat him — whether it's me or somebody else."

Brownback Supporter: Pray For Success In Ames
One Brownback supporter, self-proclaimed "prayer coordinator" Lonnie Berger, has a strategy of his own for helping the candidate in the Ames straw poll: USA Today reports he's sent out an e-mail asking supporters, "Pray that God would supernaturally activate the Christians in Iowa to pray and go to the straw poll to vote for Sam." The Brownback campaign has disavowed any connection to this man's activities. But while Brownback may be in the lower tier, nobody can credibly claim that he doesn't have a prayer.

Romney Demonstrates Campaign Values With An Actual Three-Legged Stool
Mitt Romney is keeping his stump speech nice and simple, real simple. In fact, Romney has taken to unscrewing one leg of a "conservative three-legged stool" – representing "strong military, strong economy and strong families" – and watching it fall to the floor. "Now there are some who say, strong family values, you better put that aside, to win the election," he said this morning. "But if you take off one of the legs of that stool, like I just did, something happens. The stool falls down. That's not the answer. The answer for our party and for our country is to continue to fight for all three legs of that stool."

Hillary's now raising money off of Obama's comparison of her to "Bush-Cheney lite." From her latest fundraising email, sent out by campaign manager Patty Solis Doyle:

Dear Friend,

Last week, one of the leading Republican candidates equated Hillary with Karl Marx. Yesterday, one of the leading Democratic candidates called her "Bush-Cheney lite."

Can you imagine?? Hillary like George Bush??!! Or Dick Cheney!!...

Why is Hillary the target of attacks like this? Because, like you, her opponents know Hillary is the candidate with the strength and experience to make change happen.

Thus associating Obama's attack with the rich litany of attacks from the right she's endured over the years -- a history that of course resonates for Dem primary voters.

At this point, it's unclear to me whether Camp Hillary thinks that this is a winner for them. They want to take the bloom off of Obama's high-mindedness, but it's unclear whether this is worth drawing attention to the fact that Obama's delivering the message that he, not she, is the race's genuine change agent. Note that there's no mention of Obama here, so the email is just capitalizing off the fact that Hillary's being attacked, with no mention of the attacker.

Update: I should add that I don't have any particular indication that the Hillary camp is worried about how this is playing out.

For years now, Governor Ernie Fletcher's (R-KY) detractors have suspected that his administration blocked state computers' access to a well-known liberal Kentucky blog called BluegrassReport.org, a longtime foe of an administration that has become something of a TPMmuckraker All-Star.

Fletcher's people have long denied this charge, saying that they were simply blocking access to all sorts of sites, from blogs to ESPN.com, in order to stop state employees from wasting time.

But now, for the first time, the charge has been corroborated by testimony in a sworn affidavit associated with a Federal lawsuit.

National Journal reports that former state technology commissioner Michael Inman has testified in an affidavit that BluegrassReport.org was always the real target of the adminstration's blog crackdown, and the state's current chief information officer Mark Rutledge even bragged about it.

Read more »

So why is Rudy skipping the YouTube debate?

A rival campaign has sent Election Central a collection of Rudy Giuliani's greatest YouTube hits. The idea is to show that the real reason Rudy is threatening to bail on the YouTube debate is because there's too much video ammo from his past that could be used against him by citizens asking tough questions.

As noted below, the rival campaign earlier today sent us a bunch of YouTubes of Mitt Romney in order to make the same argument.

Now the rival campaign has done the same thing again, this time for Rudy. The only Republicans who have agreed to participate in the debate so far are John McCain and Ron Paul.

The YouTubes being circulated of Rudy detail Rudy's pro-Roe v. Wade stance, his positions in favor of gun control, campaign-finance reform, gun control, gays in the military, etc. At one point he even jokingly says he'd like to win the Democratic ballot line in New York's fusion system!

Videos after the jump. Enjoy.

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So why is Mitt Romney really threatening to skip the YouTube debate?

A rival campaign thinks it's got the answer, and it has sent Election Central a whole bunch of YouTubes of Romney's greatest moments to prove it.

The YouTubes the rival campaign sent us -- which we've got for you after the jump -- provide a fusillade of evidence of Romney's assorted flip-flops, ideological contortions and excursions into social liberalism. It would be simple for any knowledgeable YouTube user to take just one of these moments, edit out a small excerpt, and use it in a question within the YouTube debate format, in order to confront Romney.

Only John McCain and Ron Paul have agreed to attend.

In the Romney videos, you can watch Romney...Pledge not to impose his moral beliefs on others. Praise his mother's 1970 Senate campaign in Michigan as a pro-choice candidate. Discuss the experience of an in-law who died from a botched illegal abortion. Say the Boy Scouts of America ought to allow gays to participate. Completely distance himself from Ronald Reagan. And much, much more!

All the vids are after the jump. Enjoy!

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Still more awful news for John McCain: Now one of his highest-profile supporters is publicly musing about ditching him -- and joining rival Fred Thompson, who hasn't even declared his candidacy yet. From Bloomberg News:

Bob Dole says his preferred presidential candidate, Arizona Senator John McCain, is fading and that his support is likely to be "picked up" by Fred Thompson, who is expected to announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination in September.

"My heart has always been with my good friend John McCain," said Dole, former Senate majority leader and Republican presidential nominee. "But it's just not happening, the buzz is gone."

Ouch. Dole's interview comes as McCain lost yet another senior staff member today -- media consultant Fred Davis, who departed with this pithy explanation: "When there's not much media, there's not much need for media people."

Are younger voters alienated by the current crop of conservative leaders driving a massive realignment of the country towards the Democrats?

That's the clear conclusion of a new study of younger voters by Democratic polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner.

"Partisanship and political participation are both habit-forming and this population has the numeric strength to change American politics for the next 20 to 30 years once fully engaged," the authors argue. "Given the Republican brand crisis among younger voters, progressives are very close to locking down this vote."

The poll finds some strong shifts towards liberal positions among voters ages 18-31 that really are worth a look — check them out after the jump.

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"Mitt's all about more, more, more for the people who already have the most -- and that's just wrong. Mitt Romney shouldn't pay lower taxes on the money he makes from his money than middle-class families pay on the money they make from hard work. Neither should I."

-- John Edwards, in a statement just released by his campaign hammering Mitt Romney for ridiculing Edwards' plan to cut taxes for working and middle-class Americans. Instead, Romney wants to make Bush's tax cuts permanent and do away with the estate tax.

Edwards' full response to Romney after the jump.

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A new Mason-Dixon poll in Florida shows "Undecided" is running strong in both parties, leading the GOP field with a strong plurality and statistically tying Hillary Clinton for the lead on the Democratic side:

Republicans
Undecided 34%
Giuliani 21%
F. Thompson 18%
McCain 11%
Romney 7%

Democrats
Clinton 31%
Undecided 30%
Obama 17%
Edwards 12%

The numbers provide yet more evidence of just how wide open the primaries on both sides are right now. In this crucial state, Rudy Giuliani is apparently holding on to the slimmest of leads, and even a small movement from the undecided could change things. And as for the Democrats, Hillary Clinton certainly does have a substantial lead over Barack Obama and John Edwards for now — but there remain a whole lot of voters who are still up for grabs.

John Edwards does exist! We've had a sighting!

Here he is, weighing in on the Obama-Clinton flap this morning:

"If you’re looking, if you're looking for what’s wrong in Washington, why the system is broken, why the system doesn’t work, one perfect example is what's been happening over the last four days. We’ve had two good people, Democratic candidates for president, who’ve spent their time attacking each other, instead of attacking the problems that this country’s faced."

As we've noted here at Election Central before, one of the more interesting sub plots of Campaign 2008 is the ways in which the Dem candidates are raising money by attacking media figures to an unprecedented degree. Remember Edwards' Coulter-cash fundraising appeal?

Now Hillary Clinton's got one, too. Her campaign just sent out a fundraising email decrying a recent Washington Post Style-section article about her showing cleavage on the Senate floor. From the letter:

Would you believe that The Washington Post wrote a 746-word article on Hillary's cleavage?

Apparently, it was showing when she gave a speech in the Senate about the skyrocketing cost of higher education. Now, I've seen some off-topic press coverage -- but talking about body parts? That is grossly inappropriate...

By now, the media should know better. But they don't.

Are national Republicans increasingly worried about the vulnerability of GOP Senator Norm Coleman and the threat posed to him by Al Franken's unlikely Senate bid?

Looks that way – the NRSC has launched a new Web assault on the comedian-turned-candidate.

The Republican senatorial committee has unveiled a new Web site – FranklyFranken.com – accusing Franken of A) being a loser, B) not being a true Minnesotan, and C) flip-flopping on funding the war. We've got reaction to all three criticisms after the jump.

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Adding yet another chapter to the ongoing skirmish between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton over foreign policy, Obama is launching a new banner ad on news web sites in Iowa and New Hampshire touting his foreign policy judgment.

The ad, which is called "judgment matters" and which you can view here, flashes the following phrases on the screen in succession:

"One candidate had the judgment to oppose the war from the start."

"One candidate knows it's irresponsible to send troops to war without a plan to bring them home."

"One candidate knows it's naive to believe we can resolve conflicts without talking to our adversaries."

"Ready for a new direction? Barack Obama."

Note the appropriation of "naive," the word Hillary used to describe Obama's remarks about foreign leaders at the debate.

View the new web ad here.

That, at least, is what the Clinton camp wants people to take away from this story. I personally don't have any idea how Dem primary voters are reading this exchange, but the Hillary people are working very hard to make sure it's seen this way.

Indeed, over at her official news site, HillaryHub.com, they've posted these two videos side by side -- on of Obama attacking, one of Hillary responding -- highlighting the exchange the way they want it seen. Videos after the jump -- take a look...

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Rudy Joins Romney In Trying To Duck YouTube Debate
Rudy Giuliani's campaign has noted the candidate has a likely scheduling conflict with the upcoming CNN/YouTube debate in September, which was announced months ago and is sanctioned by the national party. Romney said yesterday he is considering skipping the forum on principle because he felt presidential candidates shouldn't have to answer questions from snowmen.

Poll: Edwards, Romney Lead In Iowa
A new Research 2000 poll shows John Edwards and Mitt Romney leading their respective caucuses in Iowa. Among Democrats Edwards takes 27%, followed by Hillary Clinton at 22%, Barack Obama 16%, and Bill Richardson at 11%. The Republican numbers: Romney 25%, Fred Thompson 14%, Rudy Giuliani 13%, and John McCain 10%.

Fred Thompson Plans New Web Site, Weekly E-mail To Go To "Different Level"
Fred Thompson continues to dance around the issue of his all-but-declared presidential bid. His latest e-mail to supporters, which promises a new campaign Web site (version "2.0") and weekly e-mail updates, praises the prolonged "testing the waters" phase of the campaign. "It's allowed us to start laying the foundation of a good team across the country and to keep up this national conversation we've been having. Now we're going to take that conversation to a different level."

McCain Apparently Sides With Clinton
John McCain, speaking in a New Hampshire town hall meeting, appeared to side with Hillary Clinton in her squabble with Barack Obama's campaign over whether to be a tool of propaganda for hostile leaders (a position they agree on). "Are we going to come out of this meeting," McCain said, "and the president of Iran is going to say, 'I'm stopping the IEDs, I'm going to stop developing nuclear weapons, I will agree that Israel is going to exist,' then fine. Then lets set up the meeting." Hillary will likely point out John McCain's support of her view every opportunity she gets. Or not.

GOP Morale Low Heading In To Election Season
The Hill reports that the mood among Republican candidates, consultants, lobbyists and supporters ahead of the upcoming elections shows little hope for a turnaround after a rout last year. An unpopular president and a raft of scandals have all undermined the GOP, but perhaps not as much as their position on the war. "The environment is still not good because you have this 900-pound gorilla in the room," said Dick Armey, the former Republican House Majority Leader from Texas.

Poll: Missouri's GOP Governor, Son Of House Minority Whip, Way Behind
A new SurveyUSA poll finds first-term Governor Matt Blunt (R), son of House Minority Whip Matt Blunt (R-MO) and at age 36 the youngest governor in the country, trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Jay Nixon by a 57%-38% margin. Nixon, the state attorney general with a peculiar name for a Democrat, has previously run for Senate and lost in both 1988 and 1998, but 2008 might just be his year to become governor.

Illinois Republican Ray LaHood Retiring
Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL) announced yesterday he will retire after 7 terms in Congress. LaHood represents the state's 18th District, which President Bush won by 16 percent in 2004, and was not facing any serious opposition.

Hillary To Appear On Letterman
Hillary Clinton will be a special guest on The Late Show With David Letterman on August 30, an episode marking Letterman's 14th anniversary with CBS.

Romney Mistakes YouTube For MySpace
We've written about how Mitt Romney's quest against internet porn spawned from his computer continually giving him unintentional pop-ups. Well, it seems Mitt has other problems with the Internets. "YouTube is a website that allows kids to network with one another and make friends and contact each other," Romney said. "YouTube looked to see if they had any convicted sex offenders on their web site. They had 29,000." The site Romney is referring to is, of course, MySpace, not YouTube. The gaff is especially odd given that Mitt is supposed to have logged into his MySpace page that same day!

Thompson Campaign Has Fundraising Woes, More Resignations
Fred Thompson is expected to report about $3 million in contributions to his undeclared presidential bid at the end of the month, about 60 percent of what was expected, according to "sources," who also described a recent leveling off in donations. These sources said Thompson's wife, Jeri, has a central role in the campaign and she is furthermore "running it like a congressional campaign" from the "kitchen table." That is attributed as the reason for a rash of resignations, such as the most recent, Sam LeBlond, a Thompson advance man and nephew of George W. Bush, who joined the campaign less than two weeks ago. More are expected tomorrow.

Edwards Calls For Big Increase In Capital Gains Tax
In a speech today in Iowa, John Edwards called for a massive overhaul of the tax code, perhaps most notably with an increase in the capital gains tax rate to 28 percent, almost double its current rate of 15 percent — but the same rate it was during the Reagan years. Edwards also called for increasing the rate on family incomes of over $200,000. The campaign claims the plan would generate about $50 billion in new revenue, which would then be focused toward tax cuts for those at the bottom, as well as new social spending.

Rudy's Strategy For Iraq: "I'm For Victory."
Articulating his entire campaign strategy -- and perhaps his entire approach to foreign policy, too -- in three words, Rudy Giuliani told a gathering in Texas that what distinguishes him from the Dem Presidential contenders on Iraq is that "I'm for victory." Rudy also tagged the Dems as the "party of losers" and claimed that the Democratic candidates are "living in a world where they refuse to admit the existence of Islamic terrorism," which isn't, you know, true.

Dodd Releases Health-Care Plan
Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd unveiled a plan to achieve universal health-care in four years using a "HealthMart" marketplace, based on the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan and basing individual and corporate contributions on the ability to pay. The plan would cost $40-50 billion annually in the first two years, and then $70 billion annually for the next two years.

New Site Tracks Presidential Bundlers
A new Web site lists 1,900 people pledged to bundle contributions for the presidential candidates, using voluntary campaign disclosures and news reports. Overall, the site has discovered more bundlers for Democrats, 1068, than Republicans, 810. John Edwards has the highest number with 543, followed by McCain, 440, Obama, 262 and Clinton, 220.

Tancredo, Hunter Cheer Amendment Freeing Border Guards
Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter have released statements cheering an amendment to a justice and commerce appropriations bill that would essentially free two U.S. border guards convicted of shooting an unarmed drug smuggler and not reporting the incident, by barring the use of any federal funds to actually imprison them. "Last night we sent a clear message to the Administration to put the pressure back on criminals who smuggle drugs across our border rather than the people who protect us from them," Tancredo said. Election Central wonders how this amendment will fare in conference.

Sharpton: GOP Candidates Not Courting Blacks
Al Sharpton rebuked the Republican presidential candidates for refusing to attend forums held by black organizations like the NAACP and the National Urban League. "We can only assume you weren't courting us," Sharpton said. "Republicans have to lay out their policies and court the African-American vote. We need to have our interests debated in the market place." And Sharpton said that blacks simply have no choice but to stick with the Democratic Party otherwise. "When I was in high school, I may not have gone to the prom with the girl I wanted, but with the girl I could get." (FYI: One GOP candidate did attend the NAACP's conference — Tom Tancredo.)

Gingrich: The "Pygmies" Line Was Taken Out Of Context
Newt Gingrich is now saying that he was misquoted in reports that he compared the current Republican presidential field to "pygmies." In fact, Gingrich says he was quoting the late French statesman Charles de Gaulle's sarcastic line, "Don't you want to rush in and join the pygmies?" in an allusion to what he sees as the current broken political system. Thus Gingrich says he was not insulting the candidates, but rather the process they are working under, and explaining his own reluctance about running. (And on a side note, we should again point out that the African peoples who were given the label "pygmy" widely consider it to be a slur.)

A new line of mockery is already beginning to spread about Mitt Romney: That he made the amusingly boastful claim that he's flown F-16 fighter jets. It's a tempting one: Another chickenhawk swaggering around like Bush in the flight suit!

But here at Election Central we've looked over the record, and it's looking like Romney probably didn't make such a bold claim, after all.

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In an interview on CNN which will be broadcast momentarily, Hillary hits back at Obama's repeated efforts to liken her criticism of his debate comments to a "Bush-Cheney lite" approach.

Clinton spokesperson Phil Singer has just emailed out a chunk of the upcoming interview, in which Hillary responds to Obama's criticism as follows:

SEN. CLINTON: "Well, this is getting kind of silly. I've been called a lot of things in my life but I've never been called George Bush or Dick Cheney certainly. We have to ask what's ever happened to the politics of hope?

"I have been saying consistently for a number of years now, we have to end the Bush era of ignoring problems, ignoring enemies and adversaries. And I have been absolutely clear that we've got to return to robust and effective diplomacy. But I don't want to see the power and prestige of the United States President put at risk by rushing into meetings with the likes of Chavez, and Castro, and Ahmadinejad."

Ben Smith thinks that "this is the sharpest and most direct exchange of the campaign." I'd also add that this is the first time to my knowledge that Hillary herself has argued that by engaging in the natural rhetorical blocking and tackling of campaigns, Obama is compromising his promise of a new politics.

Until now that strategy -- which is designed to take the bloom off Obama's high-mindedness, and to box Obama in and make it tougher for him to launch aggressive arguments her way -- had been left to her surrogates. At the very least, yet another sign of how deeply each side is getting dug in here.

We're sure Hillary is really going to thank Mitt Romney for this one.

Romney has now parachuted into the Hillary-Obama spat, coming down squarely on the side of Hillary while speaking to reporters today in Iowa:

"She's right on that. He happens to be wrong."

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The new Battleground poll — a joint project of George Washington University, Democratic polling firm Lake Research, and GOP polling firm the Tarrance Group — would indicate that Barack Obama is a much stronger general election candidate than Hillary Clinton. While a generic Democrat has an 11-point lead over a generic Republican, Hillary loses to Rudy Giuliani and only leads Fred Thompson by two points. Obama, meanwhile, beats Rudy by a nine-point margin, and Fred Thompson by an even wider edge:

Democrat 49%, Republican 38%
Giuliani (R) 50%, Clinton (D) 44%
Clinton (D) 47%, F. Thompson (R) 45%
Obama (D) 52%, Giuliani (R) 43%
Obama (D) 56%, F. Thompson (R) 36%

Readers, we need a bit of help from you.

Barack Obama is continuing today to try to turn his standoff with Hillary to his advantage. In a conference call with reporters this morning, Obama kept up his attack, likening her criticism of him to support for the "Bush doctrine" and decrying her approach as "Bush-Cheney lite."

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Harry Reid appears to be amping up his rhetoric a notch amid the Dem Congressional leadership's standoff with the GOP and the White House over Iraq.

This morning, Bush sharply criticized the Dem Congress, demanding that it pass the Defense Authorization Bill that Reid yanked off the floor when the Senate GOP refused to allow a vote on the recent Reed-Levin Iraq withdrawal bill. Bush demanded that Congress pass the bill now for the sake of the troops, even though the bill's short-term non-passage simply wouldn't impact the troops in any meaningful way.

Moments ago, Reid emailed out a statement containing the following:

“The President’s call today to pressure Congress to quickly complete a defense spending bill that does not take effect until October is simply the latest example of the President shamelessly hiding behind our brave troops in an effort to distract attention from his failed national security record and failed conduct of this war. It is time for the President and the Republicans to do more than just say the right thing -– it is time they worked with us for the good of the country and our security. If the President and Republicans were as committed to this priority as they profess to be, they would not have placed our troops in harm’s way without a strategy for success or the equipment and support they need to do their mission."

"I think the presidency ought to be held at a higher level than having to answer questions from a snowman."

— Mitt Romney, telling the New Hampshire Union Leader why he might not participate in the CNN/YouTube Republican debate. That should make Romney popular with the YouTube generation.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg this morning gave an interview to ABC News in which he really, truly, seriously appeared to rule out a Presidential run.

Here's what Bloomberg said:

"I'm going to fill out my term as mayor of the city of New York, and not run for president," he said. "But … I live in this country. I'm one of 300 million people and I think that I have an obligation to speak out."

Bloomberg in the past has said that he isn't running, but routinely stopped short of explicitly ruling out the possibility. Here, however, he said: "I'm going to...not run for President."

Right?

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has written a long letter to Hillary Clinton in which he confirms that "planning is taking place" for withdrawal from Iraq.

While the fact that such contingency planning is underway of course doesn't mean that withdrawal is imminent, it's noteworthy that Gates confirmed this. Clinton had repeatedly asked for confirmation of such planning, resulting in her standoff with the Pentagon last week.

This letter represents Gates' official reply to Clinton's criticism, and the Senator's office believes this is the first time that Gates has publicly acknowledged that such planning is underway.

"[Y]ou may rest assured that such planning is indeed taking place with my active involvement as well as that of senior military and civilian officials and our commanders in the field. I consider this contingency planning to be a priority for this Department," Gates writes in the letter, which was obtained by Election Central.

Clinton's office welcomed Gates' reply.

"Senator Clinton...welcomes the disclosure that the Department of Defense, according to the Secretary, is indeed planning for the redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq, and looks forward to receiving the department's briefings," Clinton spokesperson Philippe Reines emailed us.

In the letter, Gates also writes that he stands by Under Secretary Eric Edelman, who recently suggested that Clinton's requests for info about the Pentagon's contingency planning for withdrawal were aiding enemy propaganda.

Gates does, however, reiterate that he strongly supports Congressional oversight and adds that "I emphatically assure you that we do not claim, suggest, or otherwise believe that Conressional oversight emboldens our enemies."

You can read Gates' full letter in our TPM Document Collection.

The full text of the letter -- and the full response from Clinton's office -- are both after the jump.

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One entertaining little Campaign 2008 subplot that's worth noting is the fun that the Hillary campaign is having with Mitt Romney.

Yesterday Romney yukked it up by saying that Hillary is so liberal that she couldn't get elected President of France.

To which Hillary spokesperson Phil Singer has now replied:

“Considering how often Gov. Romney flip-flops, he’ll be wearing a beret and eating baguettes on the Champs-Elysees next week.”

That response follows the same formula as a Hillary spokesperson's recent response to another Romney attack to the effect that Hillary was a Marxist:

"Given how often Romney flip-flops, tomorrow he will be touting his membership in the Communist Party."

Looks like we've got a running series here. Stay tuned for the next installment.

Richardson: I Have Already Met Dictators
While Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama hit back and forth over whether to meet leaders of hostile governments and how to avoid becoming a propaganda tool in the process – a policy question they appear to largely agree on, though they sure are arguing about the details – Bill Richardson already has met with some of the U.S.'s greatest enemies, and is more than willing to note that fact. "You know I've actually met a lot of these guys already - I've met Castro, I've met Chavez," Richardson said. "But I'm not just going to say,'Yeah, I'll meet with you - for what? For coffee?' No, you have to have hard-nosed negotiations," he said.

Thompson, Close To "Final Decision," Has Questionable History As Trial Lawyer
Undeclared presidential candidate Fred Thompson's history as a trial lawyer, when he argued against the government's authority to regulate drug paraphernalia and search a boat packed with 14 pounds of marijuana, may give him a controversial stance on tort reform. Yesterday, at a fundraiser for his campaign, Thompson seemed to barely be able to maintain the charade of his own indecision, contradicting himself in the span of two sentences. "As you know, I've got some plans," he said. "I'm going to make a final decision in the not-too-distant future."

Brownback's Anti-Romney, Anti-Tancredo Robocall Scuffle Continues
Sam Brownback defended his use of robocalls questioning the pro-life positions of Mitt Romney and his wife Ann. "Nothing I'm saying is untruthful," Brownback said. "They haven't been hesitant about pointing these issues out on me." Meanwhile, conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly has defended Tom Tancredo after he was also attacked by Brownback's automated calls in Iowa for accepting contributions from an abortion-rights advocate. "I want to go on record as saying I've known Tom Tancredo for 30 years and I know for sure he has always been a champion of the right to life of the unborn," Schlafly says in yet more robocalls going out to Iowans.

Bloomberg Again Says He's Not Running For President
Speaking at yesterday's National Urban League conference in St. Louis, Mike Bloomberg again denied that he's planning to run for president. "I'm going to serve as mayor for 890 days at which point I will be 67 years old, and there will be a new president, a man or a woman, who presumably will serve for a long time," Bloomberg said. "I only hope whoever the public elects, that the next president does a great job."

Former Kansas City Mayor Coming To Washington For House Campaign Funds
Roll Call reports that Kay Barnes, former mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, will be visiting Washington next week for fundraising with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, labor unions and other Dem money sources in her campaign against four-term GOP Congressman Sam Graves, who has not faced a tough challenge since his narrow first election in 2000. Barnes raised $330,000 last quarter, $80,000 more than Graves' own take for the period.

Kucinich "Hot Fuels" Crusade Questioned By Industry Group In District
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has been on a crusade of sorts against what he has called a conspiracy by big oil to defraud customers, charging them the same amount for fuel they bought at a discount because of thermal expansion. The Ohio Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association has given data to the Cleveland Plain Dealer that shows once colder months are also taken into account the picture is not clear cut.

Rothenberg: Don't Count Franken Out
In his latest column at Roll Call, Stuart Rothenberg takes on the conventional wisdom that Al Franken's campaign against Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) is a non-starter. "I don’t know if Franken will win, but I definitely think he can win — under the right circumstances," Rothenberg writes, citing a combination of factors such as Bush's high unpopularity plus Minnesota's history of electing quirky politicians like Paul Wellstone and Jesse Ventura. "Democrats once hoped to face Ronald Reagan for the White House in 1980. They got their wish and eventually were sorry about it," Rothenberg concludes. "Politics, you see, is a funny, unpredictable business, which is why I’m not writing off Al Franken just yet."

Broun Sworn In
Physician Paul Broun (R-GA) was sworn into Congress yesterday, having won a shocking upset over a fellow Republican in the special election runoff to replace the late Congressman Charlie Norwood (R), who died of cancer earlier this year. Broun hails from Athens, Georgia, a college town and liberal bastion in the Republican district, and won due to overwhelming support there after his establishment GOP opponent routinely insulted the town and even joked about it being bombed.

Good stuff.

In an unusually confrontational move towards a major news organization, Harry Reid has come out swinging against The Washington Post, accusing the paper's editorial writers of being "eager cheerleaders" for Bush's Iraq War and slamming them for a "disregard for the facts."

Reid's attack on the Post came in a letter to the editor, published in this morning's paper, responding to a July 21st Post editorial arguing Reid for not allowing debate on various nonbinding amendments that would foster a "bipartisan" solution to the war -- in other words, a solution that would give GOP members of Congress a way of voting against the war that wouldn't really change Iraq polilcies.

Reid's response, in effect, was this: Stop lying. Democrats are basically alone in their desire to force a real change in Iraq.

"On reading the July 21 editorial "The Phony Debate," it became clear why The Post's editorial writers have been such eager cheerleaders for the Bush administration's flawed Iraq policies -- the two share the same disregard for the facts en route to drawing dubious conclusions," Reid wrote in the letter.

Full letter after the jump.

Read more »

McCain's Ad Team Resigns

Russ Schriefer and Stuart Stevens have quit John McCain's campaign just as the wave of bad news appeared to be behind his flagging presidential bid. Both worked for George W. Bush in 2004.

Fred Thompson's Team Has Its Own Shake-Ups

Fred Thompson has lost the services of J.T. Mastranadi, who signed up to be his undeclared campaign's director of research — as in opposition research — only a week and a half ago. As it turns out, the undeclared status of the campaign seems to be the very thing leading to shake-ups for Thompson, as Mastranadi reportedly left due to being "fed up" with the campaign's "lack of structure." Mastranadi previously did oppo research for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and worked with David Bossie on an anti-Hillary documentary.

Poll: Clinton Surges In South Carolina

Hillary Clinton is up 18 points in the latest Insider Advantage poll of South Carolina. She trailed Barack Obama by three points back in June, but now leads him by 15 percent. The two are even among blacks while Clinton captures 51 percent of white voters, a commanding lead over Edwards, the next highest in that demographic with 18 percent.

Source: Romney Could Give Up To $60 Million To Himself

The Fix looks at Mitt Romney's ample wealth and his abundant generosity to his own presidential bid. One source said Romney, who is worth $190 to $260 million, could self-finance to the tune of $40 to $60 million, a huge advantage if his campaign gets into a tough spot as was demonstrated by John Kerry, who lent himself $6 million just before a comeback.

Feinstein Endorses Clinton

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) announced today she is endorsing fellow female Sen. Hillary Clinton for the presidency. "Hillary Clinton, I believe, has the experience, the heart, and the strength to be a great American president," Feinstein said. "There has been no election for President where change is as defined and necessary as this one. The question is who is best equipped to lead that change. I believe it is Hillary."

Biden Also Gets Decent New Hampshire Endorsement

Joe Biden has been endorsed by New Hampshire state Representative Steve Shurtleff, the assistant majority leader in the state House. Shurtleff will serve as the regional field director for Merrimack County and the Lakes Region (Concord and the surrounding area) and advise the campaign on veterans' issues.

Huckabee Weighs In On Sex-Ed For Kindergartners

A few days after Barack Obama and Mitt Romney sparred over comments Obama made about sex-education for kindergartners, Mike Huckabee has entered the fray: saying it just adds to the "game show" quality of the race. "That's an issue that ought to be decided, first, by mothers and fathers," Huckabee said. "If it's decided at all by any level of government, it needs to be at the local and, at best, the state level. I'm not sure that the President of the United States needs to be refereeing over everything that's taught in every community in America."

Tommy Thompson: "I'll Be Shocked" If I Don't Win Ames

Discussing the upcoming Ames straw poll, Tommy Thompson told Pajamas Media, "If I don't win, I'll be shocked." He backed off a bit, though, and also said, "I wouldn't say Romney's in trouble. But I'd say I think it's going to be between Romney and myself." It may just be a strong possibility that Tommy Thompson will be shocked after Ames.

Surprisingly Tom Tancredo's First TV Ad Focuses On Immigration

Tom Tancredo's campaign just posted a new TV ad focused on the Iowa straw poll and his signature issue, immigration – well, his only issue. "Friends we're losing our country," Tancredo says on the 30-second spot with purple lettering. "Fifteen million illegal immigrants have invaded our land."

This is big. Freshman Congressman Paul Hodes (D-NH), who defeated a 12-year incumbent GOPer in last year's Democratic wave, will endorse Barack Obama. Hodes will announce his support tomorrow morning, at a rally in his hometown of Concord.

Picking up the endorsement of a top New Hampshire Democrat will give Obama a huge boost in organizing his campaign on the ground there — especially given that Hodes represents half the state in the House, it having only two Congressional districts.

In past years, it might have been surprising that such a high-ranking Dem in a key primary state would endorse so early. But this cycle has been different — Hillary Clinton already has the endorsements of the state House Speaker and Senate President. So it only makes sense for Hodes to come out early for his favored candidate.

In an interview with NBC News outside his Senate office a little while ago, Barack Obama just escalated things considerably in his ongoing skirmish with Hillary:

"I think what is irresponsible and naive is to have authorized a war without asking how we were going to get out -- and you know I think Senator Clinton hasn’t fully answered that issue.

"The general principle that I was laying out is that we should not be afraid as America to meet with anybody.

"Now, they may not like what we want to hear -- so if I’m talking to the President of Iran, I’m going to inform him that Israel is our stalwart ally, and we are going to do what's necessary to protect them -- that we will not accept a nuclear bomb in Iran, but that doesn’t mean we can’t say that face to face. And obviously, the diplomatic state work has to be done ahead of time.

"The notion that I was somehow going to be inviting them over for tea next week without having initial envoys meet is ridiculous.

"But the general principle is one that I think Senator Clinton is wrong on -- and that is if we are laying out preconditions that prevents us from speaking frankly to these folks, then we are continuing with Bush-Cheney policies, and I am not interested in continuing that.

"I know that she has said in the past that we have to talk to our enemies -- well that’s what this is about. And if we say that we will not talk to them unless they meet a series of preconditions, then that’s the same position that Bush and Cheney have maintained over the last six years, and it has made us less safe. And that’s what I think is going to be a significant part of this debate in 2008.

"We responded to her in this situation, and I think there is a genuine difference, if there isn’t a difference, then Senator Clinton should explain it. I think that we should talk to everybody.

"That ultimately is what’s going to create the environment in which we can reduce some of the threat levels we are facing. To fail to do that is the same conventional Washington thinking that led many including Senator Clinton to go ahead with the war without having asked adequate questions."

What makes this a serious escalation is the linkage of Hillary to Bush-Cheney not once, but twice -- a hard smack in the context of Dem primary politics, of course.

Immediate reaction: Obama's implication that Hillary's advocating for a continuation of Bush-Cheney policies strikes me as being perhaps as over-the-top as Hillary's initial criticism of Obama as "naive." After all, Hillary didn't say she'd impose preconditions for "talking" to these foreign leaders.

Yes, Hillary's criticism of him carried echoes of Bush-Cheney Pelosi-to-Syria claptrap. Nonetheless, agree or disagree with her position, what she actually said was that she wouldn't commit to meeting with leaders of rogue nations in the first year, and rapped Obama for supposedly committing to the same. This of course in itself was fudging it on her part over a not terribly meaningful distinction.

Bottom line: Both sides are dug in now, and this isn't going away any time soon.

More in a bit.

Update: Another take worth checking out on a different aspect of this is right here.

John McCain, who tends towards flights of less-than-subtle sarcasm when picking fights with Obama over national security, has now responded to Obama's assertion that he has the best foreign policy judgment of anyone in the race.

On the trail in New Hampshire today, McCain said:

"Well, I also think I'm the most qualified to run the decathlon because I watch sports on television all the time."

Look, not to put too fine a point on it, but on the most important foreign policy decision of their lifetimes Obama was right and McCain was wrong -- repeatedly, disastrously, unfailingly so, in fact.

So if McCain's suggestion here is that Obama's inexperience in foreign policy means he's less qualified for the gig of President than McCain is, this is a bit like an athlete who'd failed disastrously and committed all manner of pratfalls in a dozen decathlons in a row arguing that his experience in them means he's more likely to win one next time around than a newcomer is.