Tonight: The Dems Debate Yet Again
Just a reminder, the Democratic candidates meet in California tonight at 9 p.m. ET, on the gay-themed Logo channel. The debate will be simultaneously streamed over the Web at LogoOnline.com.

New Whackiness From Tom Tancredo
You probably don't need further evidence that Tom Tancredo is, shall we say, eccentric, but make sure not to miss this latest example of his quirky personality on display.

What Happens To The Iowa Caucus? Who Knows?
Iowa Democrats have been giving mixed signals about just what they'll do in light of the changes to the South Carolina GOP primary date, and the expected move upwards in the New Hampshire primary date. Governor Chet Culver said on Tuesdsay, in anticipation of the changes, "Iowa will go first, that is the bottom line." On the other hand, the state Dem Party's communications director sounded much more cautious: "The Iowa Caucuses are scheduled for January 14th, 2008 and we are moving forward with plans for that date."

Thompson Campaign Issues Press Release On Their Unconcern About South Carolina
Fred Thompson's testing-the-waters committee wants us to know it is absolutely comfortable with the newly accelerated primary schedule, despite the fact Thompson has not even declared his is running. In a release titled "Thompson Committee Unconcerned by Primary Schedule," his national political director says that moving the Iowa presidential caucuses into December will only hinder the declared candidates, because "large organizations with detailed political strategies that include roll out dates may find it more difficult to change their playbook mid-game." One wonders if Thompson will get around to declaring his candidacy before Thanksgiving when the first votes are cast.

Hillary Gets In Confrontation With Republican Blogger Over Health Care
Hillary Clinton got into a sharp exchange with a Republican blogger today at the National Association of Black Journalists conference. Clinton was asked why she supports British-style socialized medicine. "Oh man, I can’t answer that in 30 seconds, that was a string of misrepresentations," She responded. "I have never advocated socialized medicine, and I hope all the journalists hear that. That has been a right-wing attack on me for 15 years."

Academics Fundraising Force For Dems, Favoring Obama
The Center For Responsive Politics reports on the rise of academics as a powerful source of campaign cash, increasingly important in the wake of campaign finance reform, and now the industry with the 14th largest amount contributed, more than the petroleum, computer and pharmaceutical industries. Donors working for education institutions gave $7 million to federal candidates and two-thirds of that went to Democrats, with Barack Obama pulling in $1.5 million to Hillary Clinton's $940,000.

Black Congressman Looking At Run For Alabama Governor In 2010
Congressman Artur Davis (D-AL) is considering a run for governor of Alabama in 2010, and even praised term-limited GOP Governor Bob Riley in a speech last night to the Rotary Club of Birmingham. As for the question of race, Davis had this to say: "I firmly believe, and I'm not going to tell you there aren't folks in this state who would look at me and say, based on your color, I'm not going to vote for you. There's not a thing I can do about them because their mommas and daddies made them that way and I can't fix it in one campaign. But, for the substantial number of people in this state who do not make up their minds based on looking at you and looking at your color, I think I would have something to offer them."

Gingrich Bringing Animals To Straw Poll
Newt Gingrich doesn't have a campaign but he will nonetheless be courting supporters at the Ames, Iowa straw poll on Saturday. All of the actual candidates will have different festivities to keep voters at their tents, Romney and Brownback will both have barbecues while Huckabee is offering gigantic watermelons. As Jonathan Martin reports, Newt is playing that game too with the help of some friends from the Des Moines zoo: a baby American alligator, a hedgehog tenrec, a barred owl, a leopard gecko and a bunny.