It looks like Rudy Giuliani, who is not only pro-choice but vocally supported public funding for abortion as recently as this past Spring, might be trying to meet pro-life Republicans halfway.

Fred Barnes wrote in a new column for the Weekly Standard that he talked about the issue recently with Rudy, and whether the candidate could pledge to conservatives that he wouldn't put his pro-choice views into practice as the head of a largely anti-abortion party:

When I asked Giuliani last week about the elements of such a statement, he seemed receptive. Abortions declined in New York when he was mayor, and he suggested the same might happen nationally during a Giuliani presidency. And should Congress pass a bill repealing the Hyde amendment, he said he would veto it.

The Hyde amendment is a federal law that bars the use of federal funds for abortions.

Joe Biden and Sam Brownback teamed up across party lines yesterday to speak in Iowa, promoting their plan to divide Iraq into a loose federal state.

The two underscored how important it is to bring about solutions across both Shia-Sunni lines in Iraq, and Democratic/Republican lines in America.

"The solution to our situation in Iraq is, quite frankly, more important than who will be the next president," said Biden. "It is like the boulder sitting in the road."

"The divisions are so deep, the stakes so high and the time so short," Brownback said, "that we owe it to ourselves to bring all sides to the table and resolve the major issues facing Iraq."

At a meeting today of the Virginia Republican Party's central committee, party leaders voted 47-37 to use a convention to nominate their candidate in the 2008 Senate race, rather than a primary.

The move is seen as potentially benefitting former Governor Jim Gilmore, who is running from the right and favored a convention, and hurting Congressman Tom Davis, who is somewhat more moderate and had argued for a primary in order to recruit new Republican voters and increase the nominee's name recognition.

Neither Gilmore nor Davis have officially declared their Senate candidacies yet, but are expected to announce their plans some time after this November's legislative elections. Former Democratic Governor Mark Warner is heavily favored to pick up the open seat.

Speaking before a New Hampshire Republican event today, John McCain hit Mitt Romney for proclaiming himself to be a spokesman for "the Republican wing of the Republican Party":

Former Governor Romney yesterday proclaimed himself the only real Republican in this race. As we all know, when he ran for office in Massachusetts being a Republican wasn't much of a priority for him. In fact, when he ran against Ted Kennedy, he said he didn't want to return to the days of Reagan-Bush. I always thought Ronald Reagan was a real Republican.

When Governor Romney donated money to a Democratic candidate in New Hampshire, I don't think he was speaking for Republicans. When he voted for a Democratic candidate for President, Paul Tsongas, I don't think he was speaking for Republicans. When he refused to endorse the Contract with America, I don't think he was speaking for Republicans. And when he was embracing the Democratic position on many major issues of the day, I don't think he was speaking for Republicans.

So you'll understand why I'm a little perplexed when Mitt Romney now suggests that he's a better Republican than me, or that he speaks for the Republican wing of the Republican Party.

Seeking to contrast himself with Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney borrowed his words from a strange source for a Republican.

Speaking yesterday to a Nevada audience, Romney said: "I believe conservatives across the nation and particularly in states where I have been able to take my message — like Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina and Michigan and Florida and Nevada — that conservatives that have heard me time and again recognize that I do speak for the Republican wing of the Republican Party."

The late Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) used to frequently describe himself as coming from "the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party," and Howard Dean famously used the same phrase throughout his campaign for president in the 2004 cycle.

The attacks are finally starting to fly in the Democratic race. Barack Obama's campaign has their own memo out, responding to a memo issued earlier today by the Hillary Clinton camp. The Clinton campaign accused all the other campaigns of going negative on her for a simple reason: They're losing in both money and polls.

The Obama camp's response is that Hillary's campaign is trying to push a message that they have this all in the bag and also dodge any tough questions, when in fact the polls in many key states are much closer than that — and the money and support that the Obama operation has built from scratch is evidence that many people want an alternative.

"So, while the Clinton campaign attempts to duck legitimate questions on their way to their believed coronation," the memo says, "we will stay focused on telling the American people not just what they want to hear but what the need to hear, continue to build a grassroots movement for change and stay focused on measuring our progress in the early states, the only barometer that matters right now."

Full text after the jump.

Read more »

Chris Dodd's campaign has been forced to cancel their baseball promotion, in which small donors would be entered in a drawing to attend a Red Sox game with the candidate in exchange for a contribution of $20.04 — in honor of the most recent year in which the team won the World Series.

Legally, a ticket is not the property of the holder, but is instead a license issued under certain conditions by Major League Baseball. As such, only MLB can approve a ticket promotion, and they have now asked Dodd's campaign to stop this politically-related giveaway.

Ron Paul will be running a new radio ad in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, appealing to conservative voters with his positions on everything except the war.

The $430,000 media buy will focus on his service as a doctor for the Air Force, his opposition to big government, and his dedication to upholding people's constitutional rights. "His record clearly shows he will cut taxes and stop runaway spending," the narrator says. "People who know him call him the taxpayer’s best friend."

Full text after the jump.

Read more »

John McCain has become the first candidate for president to comment on Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize in a negative way, telling an Iowa crowd that there were more worthy people out there to whom the prize could have been awarded.

"I would have liked to see that prize go to the Buddhist monks who are suffering and dying in Burma," McCain said.

Rudy responds to the report in today's Daily News about the impending indictment of Bernie Kerik, his man in One Police Plaza:

"The reality is, if we take a look at Bernard Kerik's service as police commissioner, he was an excellent police commissioner. Crime went down unexpectedly under Bernard Kerik.

"Then on the other side of it, there were these problems. I take the responsibility. We should have known about them. We should have dealt with them. We didn't. It was my mistake. I made it. I am sorry for it. I've learned from it. But in the balance of things, you take a look at the success that I had, it must be that I am generally picking the right people. Because I am sure not doing this by myself."

Just to point this out one more time, Rudy also personally recommended to George Bush that he appoint Kerik as chief of the Department of Homeland Security. That's kind of a key appointment for a President. So this seems like a worthwhile fact to keep in mind about Rudy the Presidential candidate, particularly since he's telling us that he's the guy best equipped to handle what he calls the Terrorists' War Against Us.

The Edwards camp -- which earlier in the campaign hauled in cash off of Ann Coulter's attacks on Elizabeth Edwards -- is now trying to raise cash off of Bill O'Reilly's latest tirade against the candidate. From the campaign's latest fundraising email:

Schooled in the trash and burn tactics of Karl Rove, they have no sense of decency and exhibit no shame. Instead, they believe it is possible to twist the truth and distract voters from the issues that really matter.

Let's send a message to Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter and all the Karl Rove wannabes that their politics of fear are no longer acceptable.

The letter also includes a video of O'Reilly attacking Edwards. We like when Edwards does this. Our only objection to this letter is that it describes O'Reilly and Coulter as "foaming, frothing pundits of the right wing." We don't think it's possible to "foam" and "froth" at the same time.

Meanwhile, Glenn Greenwald has a terrific takedown of O'Reilly's tirade against Edwards right here.

The Hillary campaign is wasting no time jumping on Barack Obama for his assertion yesterday on CNN that he would begin drawing a "clear contrast" with Hillary in the days ahead. Camp Hillary has just sent out this "memo" (read: press release) to "interested parties" (read: reporters):

There have been three major developments in the race this month: Senator Clinton has broken 50 percent in several primary polls, she outraised the other candidates in the third quarter and her opponents have entered a new season of the campaign that they call "clear contrast." Most others call it negative campaigning.

Related? You bet.

Another sign, along with this, that going forward the Hillary campaign will try its best to portray Obama's efforts to draw a "clear contrast" with Hillary as nothing but mean and nasty "negative campaigning," rather than something rooted in genuine policy debate.

Late Update: The full text of the memo is after the jump.

Read more »

Al Gore just gave a speech to the press regarding his Nobel Peace Prize, thanking the Nobel committee and everyone who helped him along the way. He then discussed the importance of the climate change issue, and how crucial it is for society to come together and make a lot of progress as quickly as possible.

Gore did not touch any partisan themes, and was clearly keen to avoid that when he finished his speech and left the room without taking questions — ignoring the reporters who were yelling out and asking whether he'll run for president.

All of a sudden it seems like there are several public disputes a day between the Dem primary candidates, and there's yet another one today, this time over Iran. The disagreement centers on some comments Hillary made yesterday:

''I would engage in negotiations with Iran, with no conditions, because we don't really understand how Iran works. We think we do, from the outside, but I think that is misleading,'' she said at an apple orchard.

Today Obama and Edwards both laid into Hillary for the comments, claiming that they contradict her earlier criticism of Obama for saying at the debate that he'd negotiate with the leaders of Iran and Syria without preconditions.

Edwards, via a statement: "It is very disappointing that Senator Clinton seems determined to hedge her responses on the issues that matter most to the American people."

Obama, in a speech moments ago: "I'm not sure if any of us knows exactly where she stands on this. But I can tell you this: when I am President of the United States, the American people and the world will always know where I stand."

Our take on whether this constitutes a flip-flop on Hillary's part is right here at The Horse's Mouth.

Late Update: Ben Smith posts video of her comments and says there's no Hillary flip-flop here.

Late Late Update: Pat Healy of The New York Times strongly suggests, though he doesn't quite come out and say it directly, that there's no flip flop.

Still Later Update: The Associated Press is now running a new version of the story with a new lede in place of the old one asserting that this was a flip-flop.

Rudy Giuliani just picked up the endorsement of a former rival for the nomination, former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson.

"Rudy Giuliani has shown that he is a true leader. He can and will win the nomination and the presidency," Thompson in a statement given to the Associated Press. "He is America's mayor, and during a period of time of great stress for this country he showed tremendous leadership."

Thompson had a strong conservative record as governor and as secretary of health and human services under President Bush, while also being supportive of stem-cell research. He dropped out of the race due to a poor showing in the Iowa Straw Poll, after a campaign marred by fundraising problems and some gaffes on the campaign trail.

Just in from the New York Daily News:

Bernard Kerik's legal nightmare is about to get worse, with federal prosecutors expected to file charges against the former police commissioner that will likely include allegations of bribery, tax fraud and obstruction of justice, the Daily News has learned.

The indictment, expected next month, could prove to be an embarrassing obstacle for Kerik's former mentor Rudy Giuliani, who is cruising at the top of the polls heading into the presidential primary gauntlet.

Lest this get forgotten, it's worth remembering that Rudy personally advocated for this fellow to be the chief of Homeland Security -- that is, to be the chief defender of our nation against what Rudy terms the Terrorists' War on Us.

In a possible sign of worry that Rudy's running away with the GOP Primary's national security booty, Mitt Romney has just launched his first TV ad devoted solely to terrorism and foreign policy:

In the ad, Romney describes "jihadism" as "this century's nightmare" -- another reminder that it's de rigeur for GOP presidential candidates to say they believe that the overarching struggle of our time is a global fight to the death with Islamofascism. Rudy has been compensating for his positions on social issues by casting this battle as a profound and far-reaching moral struggle. Romney tries to go Rudy one better here, claiming that the terrorists' goal is "to unite the world under a single jihadist Caliphate. To do that they must collapse freedom loving nations. Like us."

Hillary has just won a key endorsement -- that of Civil Rights icon and Georgia Rep. John Lewis. Here's his statement:

“I have looked at all the candidates, and I believe that Hillary Clinton is the best prepared to lead this country at a time when we are in desperate need of strong leadership. She will restore a greater sense of community in America, and reclaim our standing in the world."

The political context here is too obvious to sketch out. Suffice it to say that it's a good get for Hillary and a blow to Barack Obama.

Hillary Clinton will reportedly pick up the support of former Vice President and 1984 presidential nominee Walter Mondale, bringing her total number of endorsements from past Democratic presidential nominees to three. She has already been endorsed by George McGovern — and of course by her husband Bill Clinton, the only one of the three to have won the presidency.

A new SurveyUSA poll shows Democrat Niki Tsongas in an uncomfortably tight race with Republican Jim Ogonowski in the special election battle to succeed Rep. Marty Meehan (D-MA) in the House.

Tsongas leads Ogonowski by 51% to 42% in the poll, virtually unchanged from one month ago when Tsongas led by 10 points. Among Independent voters, Ogonowski has a 13 point advantage (up from 7 in September). Among self-described moderates, though, Tsongas has gained 15 points since the last poll.

However, in a special election, turnout models are notoriously difficult to predict, and this race could wind up a lot closer — or perhaps just the opposite — when voters go to the polls this coming Tuesday.

Some other questions from the new Washington Post poll show that Democrats might be able to carry it in the presidential race for the first time since 1964. By an eleven-point margin (no full numbers) voters want the next president to be a Democrat rather than a Republican.

In the primaries, about half of respondents for the Democratic side said they're for Hillary Clinton, about one quarter are for Barack Obama, and only 11% are for John Edwards. Obama trails Hillary by a wide margin despite the support of popular Governor Tim Kaine.

On the Republican side, Rudy Giuliani still leads the race despite his social liberalism, with a heavily divided opposition. Rudy gets 34% support, followed by John McCain at 20%, Fred Thompson with 19%, and Mitt Romney at 9%.

A new poll from the Washington Post shows Democrat Mark Warner way ahead in the Virginia Senate race, leading potential Republican candidates Jim Gilmore 61%-31% and Tom Davis 63%-28%.

The internals only get worse for the Republicans. In Davis' own base of Fairfax County, Warner beats Davis 57%-33%. And among self-described conservatives, whom Gilmore has been courting, four in ten say they would vote for Warner.

A Warner victory would mean a Democratic pick-up of the seat held by retiring GOP Senator John Warner (no relation).

Update: Another problem for Tom Davis would be in a potential primary with Gilmore, with Gilmore leading 48%-29%. There may not be a primary, though, as the nomination could potentially be decided through a convention system — and a convention could also tilt towards Gilmore.

John Edwards' campaign is beefing up their presence in Nevada, thanks to the infusion of federal matching funds. The campaign is adding roughly two dozen paid staffers to the early caucus state, tripling their previous number — but still behind Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

"We'll have more staff than we'll need to win, more than a full-plus commitment to winning the state," said campaign manager David Bonior, who served as House Minority Whip during his days in Congress.

John McCain unveiled his health-care plan today, focusing on a mixture of market-based proposals and tort regulations in order to drive costs down.

His plan would:

• Replace the tax incentive for group health care plans with a tax break for all health care plans, thus empowering people to buy their plans individually.

• Allow plans to be offered nationwide, instead of being licensed, priced and administered in each individual state.

• Allow states to farm out Medicaid to private insurers in order to cut costs

• Change malpractice laws to limit lawsuits and damage awards.

To check out his speech announcing the plan and its particulars, click here

Obama goes on CNN, personally addresses for the first time the complaints that he lacks the fire in the belly to do what it takes to defeat Hillary:

"Now is the time when we're going to be laying out a very clear contrast between myself and Senator Clinton," Obama says. We've already seen some signs of this in his attacks on Hillary over Iran and torture. Obama, perhaps looking to reassure nervous supporters, is at least trying to let us know that the battle is now underway in earnest. We'll see what happens.

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford (R) said today that he does not expect to make an endorsement in the state's crucial presidential primary — deflating rumors that he was about to endorse Rudy Giuliani.

"I'm in the business of trying to take things off the plate rather than put them on," Sanford said. "I'm staying out of the presidential race."

However, Sanford close the door entirely on whether or not he'll openly support anybody: "I'm not saying never."

Former Governor Mike Johanns (R-NE) officially launched his much-expected campaign yesterday in the race for Senate, seeking the seat left open by the retirement of Republican incumbent Chuck Hagel.

The campaign Web site is pretty sparse so far, featuring a sign-up sheet, a contributions page, and this YouTube video announcing his campaign:

The Democrats are still waiting on a decision by former Senator Bob Kerrey, undoubtedly their best possible candidate, about whether or not he'll make the race.

Via Matt Yglesias, Randall Terry of "Operation Rescue" renown has now come out and explained why conservatives need to defeat Rudy at all costs and why even President Hillary would be better than Rudy for the "pro-life" movement:

As President Giuliani would be the de-facto head of the GOP; he would systematically destroy the political power of the pro-life movement within the GOP; he would pressure the party to take the pro-life plank out of the party platform; he would declare the "abortion issue" is divisive, and should not be part of federal races; he would make the GOP the mirror image of the DNC regarding child-killing, thus insuring that there is no pro-life party.

I still think there's at least a possibility that all this chest-thumping will end up having been little more than an effort to strengthen the hand of conservative leaders in advance of the inevitable moment when they sit down to cut their deal with Rudy. But the fact is, there's no way of reconciling a Rudy candidacy with the pro-life leadership's chief imperative: That is, maintaining control over the nominating process.

Indeed, if Rudy is nominated and the pro-life leaders succeed in breaking the GOP nominee by defecting, that could actually end up enhancing their power. And oddly enough, a President Hillary could help in that regard, enabling them to argue that political disaster is the result when they aren't heeded.

Republican sources are telling Roll Call that Rep. Regula (R-OH) will announce his retirement any day now, possibly as early as tomorrow.

If true, that brings the number of GOP Reps. retiring next year to at least a dozen. The district went for Bush by a small majority, 54%, in 2004, suggesting that it's at least possible that the GOP will have to invest resources in the district, potentially adding to the NRCC's mounting financial and political woes as they ponder the 2008 electoral map.

Regula turns 83 later this year. A Regula spokesperson is declining to confirm the announcement.

The new Fox News poll gives Hillary a huge lead nationally in the Democratic field, with 50% to Barack Obama's 18% and John Edwards at 11%. On the Republican side, Rudy Giuliani has a smaller plurality of 29%, with Fred Thompson at 16%, John McCain with 12%, and Mitt Romney at 11%.

In a sign of just how strong the wind seems to be blowing for the Democrats in general and Hillary in particular, respondents were asked an open-ended question about who they thought will be the next president. It turns out that 44% answered Hillary, with "don't know" coming in second with 23%. Rudy Giuliani was in third place with 12%.

Mitt Romney has a new radio ad running in South Carolina — the one key primary state where he's had trouble catching on in the polls — promoting his fiscal conservatism. The ad, entitled simply "Stop Spending," features Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), a favorite of conservatives throughout the state.

Mitt Romney's campaign is seizing the opportunity offered by Christian-right opposition to Rudy Giuliani. Romney supporter Mark DeMoss, a publicist with some major clientele among conservative evangelicals, has written a letter urging his compatriots to stop Rudy by uniting behind Romney.

"As certain as it seems that Hillary will represent the Democratic Party, it now appears the GOP representative will be either Mayor Rudy Giuliani or Governor Mitt Romney (based on polls in early states, money raised and on hand, staff and organization, etc.)," DeMoss sayd. "And, if it is not Mitt Romney, we would, for the first time in my memory, be faced with a general election contest between two 'pro-choice' candidates."

DeMoss then lays out the stakes in this election — the War on Terror, the Supreme Court, etc. — and why Mitt Romney is the man they should trust. He even addresses the Mormonism question, and how he himself had to confront his doubts on that, "But I concluded that I am more concerned that a candidate shares my values than he shares my theology."

Finally, he urges his readers: "Galvanize support around Mitt Romney, so Rudy Giuliani isn’t the unintended beneficiary of our divided support among several other candidates — or, worse yet, so we don’t abdicate the presidency (and the future of the Supreme Court) over to Hillary Clinton."

Late Update: This post originally had Mark DeMoss' first name wrong. I regret the error.

Will Bunch has a nice catch on Rudy's man in Philadelphia, Joey Vento, the cheese-steak store owner who made national headlines for insisting that his customers order in English.

Bunch points us to this new article in The New Republic which sketches in a bit of detail about Rudy's Philly supporter, who endorsed the Mayor not long ago:

A little staff work, though, ought to have demonstrated that Vento was more than just another simple restaurateur with his mind helpfully focused on integrating non-English speaking immigrants into the modern U.S. economy. They might, for instance, have simply checked out his arm, which has a tattoo of the confederate flag. Vento says it's an homage to the old cartoon character Johnny Yuma, the rebel. He must have liked that show a lot, because he also had the flag on several of the Harley-Davidsons he keeps across the street from his restaurant.

The piece also notes that Vento once told a reporter that Mexicans carry disease into the U.S. because they "play and drink out of the same water." Rudy, you may recall, was a big defender of immigrants when he was Mayor of New York. Now he's hanging with Vento.

Here's the video from Rudy's web site of Vento's endorsement of the Mayor:

Whether he wins the nomination or not, Rudy Giuliani has accomplished something special in being the first pro-choice Republican presidential candidate since Gerald Ford who is given much of a chance. But does he really need pro-choice activists to be openly celebrating that?

In an interview with the Huffington Post, NARAL political director Elizabeth Shipp discussed how beneficial it would be for the pro-choice movement if Rudy Giuliani showed that someone in favor of abortion rights can win the Republican presidential nomination.

"The Republican Party used to be about the conservative principles of limited government intervention in private life," said Shipp. "It seems to me if they went back to that and stood out from the rigid mainstream, anti-choice agenda, I think yeah, it would be good for the [pro-choice] movement."

Shipp went on to say that that she's concerned with some of the things Rudy has said, like when he said "it would be okay" if Roe v. Wade were overturned. But overall she gives him a grade of "incomplete," far ahead of any other Republican candidate.

Hillary Clinton's campaign has a sharp response out to Barack sternly-worded — and in a rare occurrence, specific by name — attack on Hillary published in the New Hampshire Union Leader.

In a rebuttal to Obama's accusation that Hillary was effectively backing military action against Iran when she voted for the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment, Clinton spokesman Phil Singer told Ben Smith:

It's unfortunate that Sen. Obama is abandoning the politics of hope and embracing the same old attack politics as his support stagnates. Sen. Obama is well aware that Sen. Clinton was one of the first to say George Bush must get explicit congressional authority before attacking Iran and is the sole co-sponsor of legislation forbidding the president from expending any money on military action there without Congressional approval. Sen. Obama’s attacks won’t bring change, but Sen. Clinton’s strength and experience will.

Clinton supporters also point out two other relevant points: Obama didn't show up for the vote on Kyl-Lieberman, and his fellow Illinois Senator and prominent supporter Dick Durbin also voted for the amendment.

Update: And on the subject of Dick Durbin, his view of the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment was very different from Obama's. "If I thought there was any way it could be used as a pretense to launch an invasion of Iran I would have voted no," Durbin said.

Late Update : Obama spokesman Bill Burton is firing right back at the Hillary camp, telling Election Central:

Whatever happened to the politics of "let's chat" and "let's have a conversation?" Obviously, they find it irritating to answer tough questions on important issues like Iran but voters deserve to know that Obama simply disagreed with Clinton's support for the war in Iraq in 2002 and disagrees with her on Iran, right now.

The DCCC has recruited a new candidate to take a run at scandal-ridden GOP Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL), who is currently under federal investigation for his ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Suzanne Kosmas, a member of the Florida House from 1996 to 2004, has announced that she will run against Feeney. The DCCC touted an unreleased poll showing Kosmas faring well against Feeney in a hypothetical match-up.

"I took a look around and decided it was time for a change in Washington," Kosmas said.

Kosmas joins computer programmer Clint Curtis and Orlando business development specialist Gaurav Bhola in the Democratic primary.

Opening up another front in the Dem Primary battle, Barack Obama's campaign is sharply criticizing Hillary Clinton over some comments she made to The Washington Post on torture, charging that her opposition to torture is too vague and that she's merely expressing "winks and nods" on the issue.

As noted yesterday, WaPo claimed that in their interview, Clinton was "vague" about how she would handle the CIA's special interrogation methods. She suggested she couldn't directly comment on how she would treat the specific methods because "it is not yet clear" what the administration is doing in terms of torturing terror suspects.

In response to those WaPo comments, Obama spokesperson Bill Burton emailed Election Central the following:

Barack Obama thinks that America's policy on torture needs to be a lot more explicit than the winks and nods she has seemed to put forth on this important issue.

Hillary spokesperson Phil Singer swiftly hit back, emailing over the following:

It’s unfortunate that Barack Obama is abandoning the politics of hope as his campaign stagnates and is launching false attacks on other Democrats instead. Senator Clinton explicitly stated that we "have to draw a bright line" against torture and "abide by the Geneva conventions." Senator Obama’s attacks won't bring change to America, but Senator Clinton’s strength and experience will.

In the interview with WaPo Clinton did also say that "we have to draw a bright line" against torture and that we have to "abide by the Geneva conventions." The paper left those quotes out of its interview, prompting the Hillary campaign to release a full transcript of her remarks.

The transcript didn't mollify some Hillary critics. Both Andrew Sullivan and Matthew Yglesias continued to chastise Hillary, saying that the core issue is whether Hillary would explicitly rule out the use of specific techniques such as waterboarding and whether she viewed such techniques as torture. But several others said that the full transcript constituted a clear statement against torture of all kinds and thus exonerated her.

More soon.

Late Update: A rundown on where exactly the other Dems are on torture is right here.

Late Late Update: Andrew Sullivan is now acknowledging that his criticism of Hillary yesterday over the torture comments is "unfair" in light of the transcript we posted. He says he now thinks that "she was unfairly misquoted" by the paper.

In an interesting sign of the times, Dick Cheney has held a grand total of one fundraiser for an incumbent House Republican this year, and zero fundraisers for Republican challengers.

This is down from a ten fundraisers for incumbents and three for challengers at the equivalent point in 2005, when Cheney could charge a donation of $4,200 for a handshake and a photo — and have donors lining up to do it and candidates more than willing to host him.

Cheney spokeswoman Lea Ann McBride countered that her boss has done some fundraising for Senators John Barrasso (WY), John Cornyn (TX), and Saxby Chambliss (GA).

"In every election cycle he has done whatever it takes to help Republicans," McBride said. "This is someone who knows the value of campaigning and fundraising. You're going to see that from him this cycle."

By that logic, shouldn't he be absent from the campaign trail entirely?

(Via Think Progress)

Apparently not content to settle with the current candidates in the field — Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez and businessman Don Wiviott — national Democrats including DSCC Chairman Chuck Schumer and EMILY's List are hoping to draw New Mexico Lt. Governor Diane Denish into the Senate race, according to Roll Call.

Denish is seen as the Democrats' best option to pick up the open seat, after Rep. Tom Udall and Gov. Bill Richardson both declined to run. Recruiting her would be a major coup for Schumer, as Denish is seen as having the inside track in the race to succeed Richardson in the Governor's office after his term expires in 2010 — but would also have to cancel any ambitions for the governor's office if she's elected to the Senate in 2008.

Barack Obama has a hard-hitting new Web ad, criticizing the Congress of 2002 for giving President Bush a "blank check" to go to Iraq. The ad contrasts this decision with his own opposition to the move at the time — and hints that the same debates may soon be happening about Iran:

The ad faults "other Democrats" for lining up behind Bush, but still doesn't name the obvious specific people such as Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and others. So while it's one of his tougher pieces against other Dems, he's still sticking to the somewhat oblique style he's been using throughout the campaign.

Perhaps signaling a new and more aggressive phase in his campaign, Barack Obama strongly criticizes Hillary by name again today in an opinion piece he wrote for the New Hampshire Union Leader:

I strongly differ with Sen. Hillary Clinton, who was the only Democratic presidential candidate to support this reckless amendment. We do need to tighten sanctions on the Iranian regime, particularly on Iran's Revolutionary Guard, which sponsors terrorism far beyond Iran's borders. But this must be done separately from any unnecessary saber-rattling about checking Iranian influence with our "military presence in Iraq." Above all, it must be done through tough and direct diplomacy with Iran, which I have supported, and which Sen. Clinton has called "naive and irresponsible."

Sen. Clinton says she was merely voting for more diplomacy, not war with Iran. If this has a familiar ring, it should. Five years after the original vote for war in Iraq, Sen. Clinton has argued that her vote was not for war -- it was for diplomacy, or inspections. But all of us knew what the Senate was debating in 2002. John Edwards has renounced his own vote for the war, and he should be applauded for his candor. After all, we didn't need to authorize a war in order to have United Nations weapons inspections. No one thought Congress was debating diplomacy. No newspaper headlines ran on Oct. 12, 2002, reading, "Congress authorizes diplomacy." This was a vote to authorize war, and without that vote, there would have been no war.

America needs a leader who will make the right judgments about matters as grave as war and peace, and America needs a leader who will be straight with them.

Obama's challenge is to take Hillary's war vote -- and his early opposition to the invasion -- and make voters see it as relevant to the future, as a sign of what sort of President each would be. That's why he is knitting her recent Iran vote to the Iraq vote, and why concludes his Op ed with this: "This is not a debate about 2002; it's about the future, and in that debate I can run on, and not from, my record." It's unclear whether voters are seeing things this way yet, but Obama has a few more months to make this case.

A new Rasmussen poll finds that John McCain might be in danger in his home state of Arizona — danger, that is, of not being re-elected to the Senate in 2010. In a match-up with Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano, Napolitano has a nominal one-point lead over McCain with 46% to his 45%.

In match-ups with the leading Democratic presidential candidate, McCain still enjoys healthy leads over all of them — 52%-40% over Clinton, 50%-36% against Obama, and 53%-35% over Edwards — but his failure to top Napolitano in a Senate race should definitely be of some concern to him if he fails to win the Republican nomination for president.

Here's a fun statistic: Mitt Romney has just surpassed Steve Forbes in some self-financing numbers.

Throughout all of 1995, Forbes put $16.5 million of his own money into his campaign — while Romney has kicked in $17.4 million of his own money for the last three quarters alone. At that three-quarter point in 2000, Forbes had only given himself $12.7 million, less than what Romney has done so far.

On the other hand, Romney's campaign has been a strange sort of fusion between real fundraising and self-financing. He has brought in over $60 million, with only just over a quarter of it coming form himself. Forbes never matched that sort of fundraising prowess, and was never able to convince so many Republican donors to give money to somebody who could easily take care of it himself.

Forbes would eventually total $37.9 million in self-financing in the 1996 race, and $38.7 million for 2000. If Romney wants to outdo Forbes, he certainly has the means to pull it off. But with a significant number of donors other than himself, how will Romney's self-financing work out for the remainder of the campaign — especially if he were to become the Republican nominee?

Another Democrat is running for the nomination to face scandal-plagued Congressman Don Young (R-AK). Ethan Berkowitz, a former minority leader of the Alaska House, has announced that he will run for the seat.

Berkowitz, who ran for Lt. Governor last year on the ticket with former Governor Tony Knowles, served five terms in the Alaska House and is considered to be one of the state party's big names. Over this past Summer, he had also been rumored as a potential opponent for GOP Sen. Ted Stevens.

Berkowitz joins former Alaska Democratic Party Chairman Jake Metcalfe and 2006 Young opponent Diane Benson in the Democratic Primary.

On the GOP side, it looks as if Young won't have a free ride to the party's nomination, either. State Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, a former Democrat, said yesterday that she will mount a primary challenge against the 18-term incumbent.

The skirmish between Rudy and Romney that I noted below took another intriguing turn a few moments ago.

Earlier today the Rudy campaign slammed Romney as soft on national security because he said during the debate that he'd consult his administration's lawyers to determine whether he needed Congressional authorization before attacking Iran's nuke facilities.

Now Romney has personally defended himself against the Mayor's charge:

"That's a phony issue," he told reporters as he campaigned in Michigan. "I made it very clear. ... I'd make a decision based on the safety of the American people. But of course we'd also check to make sure what our legal and constitutional responsibilities are."

Have we really gotten to the point in GOP Primary politics where you need to defend yourself against the charge that as President you'd take care to make sure that you were following the Constitution?

Don't answer that.

Chris Dodd has a baseball-themed promotion going. The New England Senator, a Red Sox fan of course, is offering a chance to attend the American League Championship Series with the Senator at Fenway Park.

The price of a raffle ticket: A donation of $20.04, in honor of the last year when the Red Sox won the World Series — or simply recruiting 24 people to sign up as supporters at ChrisDodd.com.

Obviously, a chance to sit down right next to your candidate, one on one, has got to be a fun incentive for small donors.

And it sure beats Bill Richardson's baseball angle.

Oh boy. Bill Richardson's campaign now has a new motif for their campaign literature in Iowa, distributing information about him in the format of baseball cards, complete with him at mound and ready to pitch.

The back of the card lists "positions played" — congressman, ambassador, secretary of energy, governor — and names his accomplishments as "wins."

This is all very cute, but there's one big problem: Richardson claimed for about 40 years that he had been drafted in 1966 to play for the Kansas City (now Oakland) A's — he had not — then retracting it in 2005 and saying it had been an honest mistake on his part.

Mark this card down as an "error."

Sam Brownback has set his goal for the Iowa caucus: Fourth or better.

In an online chat hosted by the Washington Post, he was asked if it was true that he would drop out if he didn't place in the top four, and he reaffirmed it. "That is correct," he said. "I need to finish in that group to move on forward."

This obviously invites the question: Even if he got fourth place in Iowa, what good would that actually be?

Rudy and Mitt Romney engaged in another back-and-forth today, and this time each employed the ultimate insult among Republicans: Suggesting that the other is similar to John Kerry.

In a reference to Romney's debate assertion that he'd hash out with lawyers whether Congressional authorization is necessary for attacking Iran's nuke facilities (can't believe we're debating this), the Rudy campaign blasted out an email saying:

"SOUND FAMILIAR?"

"ANOTHER MASSACHUSETTS POLITICIAN ALSO WANTED A NATIONAL SECURITY TEST..."

This was a reference, of course, to John Kerry's "global test" line from 2004.

The Romney camp hit back with an email mocking Rudy for answering the same debate question with the words "exigent circumstances." Romney spokesman Kevin Madden emailed reporters a line that sounded like it was ripped right from the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign playbook:

“On the question of authorization and action against Iran, Mayor Giuliani offered the most muddled and puzzling response of anyone on the debate stage, preferring instead to rely on a vague explanation about ‘exigent circumstances.’”

Political debate, GOP-primary style.

Barack Obama talks about America's fuel addiction in his latest New Hampshire ad, and how he's talked about the issue even in such a tough venue as Detroit:

"We can't tell people what they want to hear," Obama says, proferring a straight-talk image. "We need to tell them what they need to hear. We need to tell them the truth."

Here's Rudy Giuliani's new radio ad in Iowa, entitled "Them." The word "them" is not actually used in the ad, but "they" is — referring to the Democrats who will raise taxes, socialize medicine and otherwise increase government power over people's lives:

Rudy contrasts this with his own record as mayor of New York City, when he cut taxes: "I have no question that I can do the same thing for Washington that I did for New York City.”

The new SurveyUSA poll in the Kentucky gubernatorial race shows Democrat Steve Beshear leading incumbent Republican Ernie Fletcher by a 56%-40% margin.

This represents a slight increase for Fletcher — but statistically unchanged — from the 58%-39% margin that the firm had a month ago.

So it appears that despite the fierce ads coming from both camps, there hasn't been any real movement in this race, and Fletcher is on his way to a heavy defeat unless something big happens.

I've just learned that nearly 90 members of the House of Representatives have now added their names to a letter to the President pledging not to vote for any more funding for the war and only to vote for supplementals that fully fund withdrawal and nothing else.

Back in July, 70 House members signed a similar letter vowing to only fund withdrawal. At the time, The Politico deemed this a "big development," adding: "This may be the beginning of the end for the Iraq War."

Now more than 15 new members have added their names to the letter, bringing the total to 87, another significant step forward.

I obtained a copy of letter and the list of signers -- which will officially be released and sent next week -- from a House aide. Here's the key quote from the letter, which is still being circulated among Dems for more signatures:

Dear Mr. President:

Seventy House Members wrote in July to inform you that they will only support appropriating additional funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq during Fiscal Year 2008 and beyond for the protection and safe redeployment of our troops out of Iraq before you leave office.

Now you are requesting an additional $45 billion to sustain your escalation of U.S. military operations in Iraq through next April, on top of the $145 billion you requested for military operations during FY08 in Iraq and Afghanistan. Accordingly, even more of us are writing anew to underscore our opposition to appropriating any additional funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq other than a time-bound, safe redeployment as stipulated above.

That nearly 90 members are now saying they won't vote for any funding save for redeployment is significant because it means that more than a third of the House Dem caucus is effectively saying they will no longer vote to fund the war, no matter what. Though this doesn't necessarily mean the House Dem leadership won't be able to get some sort of war funding passed, the leadership will have to reckon with this big block of No votes when figuring out its response to Bush's request for war funding.

"We've finally crossed the threshold of getting one-third of the Dem caucus to fund only redeployment and nothing else," says one aide to a House liberal. "That's a third of the Democratic caucus supporting the use of Congress' appropriations power to take the war reins away from the President."

The full letter and full list of signers are after the jump.

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If Obama doesn't have the fire-in-the-belly to go after Hillary in the way he needs to in order to win, his reticence certainly wasn't on display in this interview with the Associated Press, in which he seemed to signal that he'll be escalating his attacks on her in the weeks to come:

"What's clear when you look at her statements and her approach to the problem, she was too willing to give the president a blank check. There's been a little bit of revisionist history since that time, where she indicates she was only authorizing inspectors or additional diplomacy," Obama said. "I think everybody in Washington and people in New Hampshire and round the country understood this was a vote for war. The question is: Does she apply different judgment today?"

The question that needs to be asked of criticism like this is whether it's too late. Multiple polls have shown that the most antiwar voters still favor Hillary, so it's fair to wonder whether the moment to define Hillary with her 2002 vote -- rather than her current antiwar rhetoric -- has passed.

Meanwhile, Ben Smith notes that John Edwards commemorated the fifth anniversary of the Iraq authorization vote with a statement slamming Hillary in similar terms, including this barb: "Evidently, Senator Clinton and I learned two very different lessons from the Iraq war."

In a conference call with reporters, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said bluntly that Rudy Giuliani could lose around half the evangelical vote to a third-party candidate or simple voter apathy:

"Yes, there will be some evangelicals who vote for him. In my experience, it’s about half and half ... But when you consider those who have come into the political process on ideological path or issues path, not a party path ... These are people who are not there to advance a political party. They are there to advance causes. If they’re indistinguishable on so many issues that are vital to these voters, it’s hard to see why you should vote for one instead of the other."

Bear in mind, Perkins was one of the people at the meeting in Salt Lake City over the weekend, where he, James Dobson and others came up with a statement that they would look at a third-party candidate if a pro-choicer were to win the Republican nomination.

And something else to remember: In 2004, President Bush won 78% of the white evangelical vote, or about 18% of the total electorate. If Rudy lost half of that, it would be nine points down the drain.

Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA), best known for his attack on Rep. Keith Ellison's (D-MN) use of the Koran for his swearing in ceremony, has attracted several Democrats who hope to topple him next year -- the latest of whom is Tom Perriello, an Albemarle County resident who has worked in Asia and Africa, founded a Catholic relief agency and has experience with other progressive faith-based groups.

In comments made to The Daily Progress, Perriello said his campaign will focus more on "the difference between right and wrong than the difference between right and left."

Perriello faces economic historian David Shreve and former state trooper Brydon Jackson for the Democratic nomination, although Perriello begins his campaign with an early financial edge -- he's already collected nearly $110K in four weeks of fundraising, while Shreve has raised $20K.

National Republicans have successfully courted a potentially strong candidate to retain their hold on the seat of Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM), who is running for the Senate next year: Benalillo County Sheriff Darren White, who is expected to announce his bid today.

The NRCC thinks that White, a popular local sheriff in a Democratic-leaning county, is their best bet to retain a district that both Al Gore and John Kerry carried by narrow margins.

On the Democratic side, Albuquerque city councilor Martin Heinrich is the early favorite for the nomination, but Wilson's departure could attract other candidates to what is shaping up to be one of the most hard-fought House races in the country next year.

Some new polling of Arizona and Nevada from American Research Group shows John McCain with only a weak plurality in his home state, and also that Bill Richardson has failed to really catch fire in either of these heavily Hispanic states:

Arizona

Democrats:
Clinton 41%
Edwards 16%
Obama 14%
Richardson 7%

Republicans:
McCain 26%
Giuliani 19%
Romney 18%
Thompson 15%

Nevada

Democrats:
Clinton 51%
Edwards 14%
Obama 11%
Richardson 5%

Republicans:
Giuliani 31%
Romney 30%
McCain 11%
Thompson 9%

The Rothenberg Political Report has just released its latest batch of House race ratings for the 2008 elections, identifying 62 districts with the potential for a party change, up from 49 in their June report.

Rothenberg identifies 27 Democratic seats as "in play", up from 24 in June, and 35 Republican seats facing competitive races, up from 27. Not surprisingly, the Report zeros in on six Republican-held open seats as the best chances for Democratic pick-ups, with one already being listed under the "toss-up/tilt Democratic" category — the seat of retiring Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-OH) — and the rest as "pure toss-ups".

A new poll puts another crimp in the Hillary-is-unelectable argument, finding that she's beating Rudy Giuliani in head-to-head matchups in the top three swing states.

The new Quinnipiac poll found that she's leading Rudy in Pennsylvania (48%-42%), Ohio (46%-40%), Florida (46%-43%). It should be noted, however, that the poll's margin of error is a little over 6% in all three states. Another key fact: In all three states, sizable majorities say they're not too likely or not at all likely to change their minds, leading Quinnipiac to conclude that her "support appears to be as deep as it is wide."

Quinnipiac also notes that Hillary is the only Dem to beat Rudy in all three states. Obama loses to Rudy in Florida and Pennsylvania but beats him in Ohio. And John Edwards loses to Rudy in Pennsylvania and Florida but beats him in Ohio.

Mitt Romney has a new defender against anti-Mormon bias: Lynne Cheney, herself the daughter of disgruntled ex-Mormons.

"I have been really astounded by the ferocity of some of the statements that people I would not expect to make have made about Mormonism," Mrs. Cheney said in an interview with Bill Sammon.

"It surprises me because it wasn't that way when his father ran," she added. "So I think we need to kind of say take a deep breath here. This is a country where people have the right to worship freely."

Interestingly, Cheney cited the liberal Slate online magazine for anti-Mormon writings — but not the actual anti-Mormon reception Mitt has received from some conservatives in South Carolina, a key primary state where he's still stalled in the polls.

Former Rep. Mike Sodrel (R-IN) announced last night that he will once again take on Democratic Rep. Baron Hill, in what will be the fourth consecutive House election match-up between the two men.

Sodrel, a wealthy trucking executive, narrowly lost to Hill in 2002, but won by a razor-thin margin in 2004, and then narrowly lost again to Hill's 2006 comeback attempt. Despite losing more times than he's won, Sodrel always brings a close and hard-fought race for the GOP, and national Democrats will likely have to shift some resources to the district in order to retain the seat.

“A lot of voters voted for change in 2006,” Sodrel said. “I don’t think higher taxes, more spending and more programs were what they had in mind.”

Mike Huckabee may have committed a bit of a blunder in an interview on MSNBC yesterday — he joked about suicide.

Huckabee observed that while other candidates have worked extremely hard at fundraising, and have brought in a lot more money than he has, he's nevertheless catching up in the polls in Iowa. "If I were some of these guys, I'd have to be sitting in a warm tub of water with razor blades," he said.

The National Hopeline Network, the group that runs the 1-800-SUICIDE help line, was not amused. "When a leading presidential candidate uses suicide and specifically means to do it as a joke, it is grossly irresponsible and is a disgrace," the group said in a statement.

"It also must be met with an immediate rebuke from the mental health community," they added. "This is no joking matter. Lives are at stake."

Here are some highlights from today's Republican debate on economic issues:

• With this being the first debate featuring Fred Thompson, Maria Bartiromo decided to throw Thompson the first pitch of the event, asking why so many Americans feel pessimistic about the economy. He said that he did not feel pessimistic about the economy, with continuous economic growth, low inflation and other good fundamentals — but is worried about the long-term projections thanks to high government deficits and mandatory entitlement spending.

• Bartiromo very quickly shot back by rephrasing and re-asking her question about the average American's angst, as if to say that Thompson didn't answer it the first time. He then responded: "Well, I think there are pockets in the economy certainly that are having difficulty. I think there's certainly those in Michigan that are having difficulty. I think you always find that in a vibrant, dynamic economy." He then dubbed the overall economic success "the greatest story never told."

• After that initial flap, Thompson didn't do that bad a job — perhaps benefitting from low expectation as a result of his underwhelming performance on the trail these last few weeks.

• It didn't take Rudy Giuliani long to use a falsehood against Hillary Clinton: "The leading Democratic candidate once said that the unfettered free market is the most destructive force in modern America. I mean, just get an idea of where that philosophy comes from." In fact, as Media Matters has laid out, Hillary was using a quote by another author to say that the free market is most disruptive force in modern America, at once producing innovation but also causing upheaval in people's lives — a very, very different thing.

• Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney got into a good fight about Rudy's opposition to the 1990's Line-Item Veto Act, with Romney insisting that you need to be for the line-item veto in order to be a true fiscal conservative. "The line-item veto is unconstitutional," Rudy finally shot back. "You don't get to believe about it, the Supreme Court has ruled on it, so you can bang your head up against a stone wall all you want. He endorsed a constitutional amendment on the issue, and also turned it to his advantage with a Republican audience — by saying how he took President Bill Clinton to court and beat him.

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Things are in flux tonight behind the scenes as House Dems struggle to decide whether to support the FISA legislation that two House committees unveiled today. So here's what we're able to gather about the state of play right now.

The entire House leadership is supporting the bill, confirms Stacey Bernards, a spokesperson for House Dem leader Steny Hoyer. But where are the House liberals? They are the key group to watch, because their mini-revolt against the legislation last week was taken as a sign that there would be heavy pressure on the House leadership not to capitulate by giving the administration too much power over wiretapping.

So where are they? According to House Dem aides, House liberals appear to be leaning in the direction of supporting the legislation -- though nothing is at all certain. Earlier today, an aide says, an internal count of House members showed very strong opposition among liberals to the bill unveiled today. But later in the day, some liberals appeared to be privately concluding that many of their demands -- which they unveiled amid last week's revolt in hopes of influencing the process -- had been met, this aide says.

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Dennis Kucinich has pulled out of the renegade Michigan primary, leaving only Hillary Clinton and Chris Dodd on the ballot. The campaign said in a statement today:

The sworn statement requesting withdrawal was submitted via fax by Kucinich National Campaign Manager Mike Klein shortly before today's 4 p.m. deadline.

At the same time, the Kucinich campaign issued the following statement on behalf of the candidate, who is campaigning in Arizona today:

"We signed a public pledge recently, promising to stand with New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina, and the DNC-approved 'early window', and the action we are taking today protects New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary status, and Nevada's early caucus."

The statement continued: "We support the grassroots nature of the New Hampshire, small-state primary, and we support the diversity efforts that Chairman Dean and the DNC instituted last year, when they added Nevada and South Carolina to the window in January 2008. We are obviously committed to New Hampshire's historic role."

You can read the full text of the House Dems' FISA legislation right here in our TPM Document Collection.

We're awaiting reaction from House progressives on this. We're told there may not be any reaction until tomorrow, as staffers are currently digesting the bill's contents. At any rate, you've got the full bill now, in case you feel like doing a bit of digesting yourselves. Enjoy.

Even though Larry Craig is sticking around the Senate, Republicans are already preparing for his (much-awaited) departure in 2008, when he will retire. Lt. Governor Jim Risch, who had been expected to be appointed to the seat if Craig had resigned as he originally announced, has now announced his candidacy for the seat.

Risch already has some big names from the state GOP establishment on board, with Senator Mike Crapo and former Governor Phil Batt co-chairing his campaign. So it looks likely that he'll be the Republican nominee against former Democratic Congressman Larry LaRocco, whom he already defeated by a wide margin in the Lt. Governor race last year.

While several of the Democratic candidates are pulling their names off the Michigan primary ballot due to the state's rogue primary, it turns out that Hillary Clinton and Chris Dodd are staying in.

"We will honor the pledge and not campaign or spend money in any state that is not in compliance with the DNC calendar," said Hillary communications director Howard Wolfson, "but it is not necessary to take the steps necessary to remove Senator Clinton's name from the ballot."

Dodd communications director Hari Sevugan has also explained their reasoning. "We are committed to the importance of the Iowa and New Hampshire going first, and we signed the four-state pledge to hopefully prevail upon the DNC and the state parties to add clarity to that situation," he said. "However, it does not benefit any of us if we are the nominee to pull our name of the ballot and slight Michigan voters."

With Hillary Clinton as potentially the only top-three name on the ballot, she's practically guaranteed to win the Michigan primary — with Dodd perhaps competing for second place with Dennis Kucinich, if he's unable to catch on nationally between between now and then.

However, the DNC will not be awarding any actual delegates to the primary, so it won't help Clinton directly — but it could still help her indirectly to have a news headline saying she won the Michigan primary by a mile.

There are a bunch of good Hillary posts floating around the web today that you shouldn't miss, so I thought I'd do a quick roundup of them:

Ana Marie Cox has an interesting take on the impact Hillary's standoff with that Iowa voter over Iran is having on her press strategy -- and a few notes about the power of Adam Nagourney.

Taylor Marsh takes a close look at video of the exchange and concludes, convincingly, that Hillary wasn't harsh to the voter at all.

Ben Smith says some interesting stuff about the excursions into YouTube experimentation by Hillary and the other campaigns.

And Garance Franke-Ruta points out that the ever subtle Matt Drudge actually posted a picture of Hillary in -- yep -- a witch's outfit. Had to happen eventually.

The President's top adviser has offered some very candid thoughts about the GOP candidates who want to succeed him. His verdict? They're a bunch of duds.

Dan Bartlett -- who recently stepped down as a top White House adviser and who is so close to the President that he's been described as his "alter ego" -- spoke out at length about the candidates at a recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce gathering. Bartlett's comments passed unnoticed, but The Washington Post has now published the goods on what Bartlett said.

Here's Bartlett on Fred Thompson:

"The biggest liability was whether he had the fire in the belly to run for office in the first place and be president," Bartlett said. "So what does he do? He waits four months, fires a bunch of staff, has a big staff turnover, has a lot of backbiting, comes out with his big campaign launch and gives a very incoherent and not very concise stump speech for why he's running for president."

Ouch. More from Bartlett after the jump.

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Attention, junkies -- staff notes!

Last week Ben Smith reported that Chris Dodd's campaign was getting ready to shift some staff and resources into Iowa in preparation for the long march to the caucuses.

Now a source in Dodd's camp tells me the specifics of this move have been decided on. The campaign is set to announce that the current national field director, Julie Andreeff Jensen, has been transfered into Iowa and will be named the new state director. Jensen ran Iowa for Kerry in 2004.

The source also says that 17 staffers will also be transfered into field positions in Iowa from New Hampshire and from Dodd headquarters in D.C. The source claims there are no layoffs or pay cuts attending this latest move. "We're following through on our strategic decision to shift resources into Iowa," the source says.

John Edwards and Barack Obama have just filed paperwork to have their names pulled from the Jan. 15 Michigan primary, the Detroit Free Press just reported moments ago. Richardson apparently sent a letter yesterday asking to be pulled from the contest, too.

Dem candidates were under pressure to pull out of the primary to protest the state's decision to push forward its primary ahead of the Iowa and New Hampshire contests, in violation of party rules. Two of the top tier Dems -- Edwards and Obama -- have now complied.

The big question now: What will Hillary do?

More in a bit.

Late Update: Here's the statement on this from Edwards campaign manager David Bonior:

“It'’s important we respect the role that the four early states play in the nominating process. In Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada voters can look their candidate in the eye and determine who is best to bring about real change in America. In these early states issues matter more than money, celebrity and advertisements. Voters want and deserve a candidate who represents real people, not corporate special interests, and this primary process will help ensure that’s exactly what the American people get.”

Late Late Update: CNN reports that Joe Biden is pulling out of the Michigan contest, too.

Don't miss this one. A GOP House candidate whose brother was the airline pilot of one of the hijacked planes that crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11 is airing a new, heavily emotional, must-see TV ad that contains testimonials to his later brother and images of the towers.

The ad is the work of Republican Jim Ogonowski, a hard-charging candidate vying for the vacant seat of Democrat Marty Meehan in a special election this month. In it, Ogonowski's sister-in-law praises Jim for taking over the family farm after the brother's death while an image of a jet a second away from contact appears on the screen. "I don't know that we would have been able to keep this house and farm if it weren't for Jim. He's someone that you would want representing us in Congress."

Ben Smith has a great scoop: It seems yet another member of Rudy's inner circle is turning out to be a real live one:

A prominent Texas Republican has sued Rudy Giuliani’s law firm and a close friend and partner of Giuliani’s, Kenneth Caruso, alleging that Caruso, the firm and others “schemed and conspired to steal $10 million.”

J. Virgil Waggoner, a Houston businessman and philanthropist, filed the previously unreported suit in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan in July. He alleges that Caruso, his former lawyer, conspired with Waggoner’s investment adviser to cover up the disappearance of $10 million Waggoner invested through a Caribbean bank, the British Trade & Commerce Bank.

Waggoner claims Caruso “may have also been romantically involved” with the investment adviser.

The Caribbean bank was shut down after its handling of Waggoner’s investment came to light, and its president was later jailed for money laundering.

Remember Bernie Kerik? How about Alan Placa, the childhood priest of Rudy accused of molesting boys?

In this case, Caruso isn't just a business partner -- he's a close friend of the Mayor who worked on his mayoral campaigns and even advised him when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. As this story reminds us yet again, Rudy really has a talent for attracting the most savory of characters to his side. Smith's whole tale is really worth a read.

A new Gallup poll shows Rudy Giuliani continuing to lead the national Republican field with 32%, followed by Fred Thompson at 20%, John McCain at 16%, and Mitt Romney with 9%. While Rudy continues to lead, this is way down from his post-declaration heights, and he's topped out at the low 30's in Gallup polling ever since the Spring.

Thompson's numbers have been very stable/flat since he first started looking at the race back in February. So if he wants to become the social conservative alternative to Rudy, he needs to put in a good performance at today's debate and on the campaign trail in general.

As for McCain, the numbers represent a mini-comeback since his nadir back in August, when Romney had overtaken him for third. But on the other hand, he's still no better than he was back in July.

Romney, meanwhile, continues to languish at the back of the pack nationally. But if he's ahead in Iowa and New Hampshire, is that all that really matters?

Here it is: A summary of the specifics of the controversial FISA bill. It was just released by House Dems moments ago.

The gist of the compromise legislation, as Dems are billing it, is that the bill would allow so-called "umbrella" warrants from the FISA Court for bundles of oversees communications, as this morning's Times put it. That year-long umbrella would extend to communications into and out of the United States, and clarifies that foreign to foreign calls or communications don't need a warrant.

In return the Dems are getting more transparency than they had in the earlier, more controversial version of the bill, which passed this summer to the dismay of civil libertarians. There will be quadrennial audits of the program, and restores "review" of the agency's targeting by the FISA court, though it's unclear as yet exactly what this will mean in practice.

Check out the House Dems' full summary of the bill after the jump.

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Congressman Lincoln Davis (D-TN) has announced that he will run for governor in 2010, when incumbent Democrat Phil Bredesen will be term-limited, potentially setting up a primary with former Congressman and 2006 Senate nominee Harold Ford.

Davis, a relatively conservative Democrat, doesn't seem to worry that a primary will actually happen. "I've made up my mind to run for governor," he told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "I don't think [Ford] is going to run because Lincoln Davis is going to run. I would imagine that if I'm in the race, he'll step aside."

There is also a strong chance that former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist could end up being the Republican nominee for governor — so keep an eye on this gubernatorial race to be a fun one in 2010.

Mike Huckabee, who received an appreciable boost in a recent Iowa poll, seems to now be the target of some unwanted attention. The Huckabee campaign is working fast to refute a recent hoax e-mail, claiming that their Iowa chairman has resigned and will support another candidate.

The source of the e-mail was unknown, but a copy found its way into a Huckabee campaign aide's inbox.

A second Republican has thrown his hat into the ring to vie for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Pete Domenici: Oil industry investor and political neophyte Spiro Vassilopoulos.

Vassilopoulos joins Rep. Heather Wilson, who has also declared her candidacy in the Republican primary. However, he believes that the toughest opponent to beat will actually be New Mexico's other Republican House member, Steve Pearce, who looks like a much stronger potential nominee than Wilson.

"Pearce is a fellow oil man and someone I consider to be intellectually honest," Vassilopoulos said. "I have great admiration for his abilities."

In short, this primary could get very crowded, and very soon. And if Wilson was hoping for an easy primary — she was long viewed as a political protégée of Domenici — it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

Senate Democrats are apparently feeling optimistic about 2008 — Roll Call reports that some of them are privately predicting a net gain of nine seats for a 60-seat, filibuster-proof majority.

Publicly, many of them are trying to keep expectations down. But not all of them are following the program. For example. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) is openly soliciting contributions of $60 for his re-election, in honor of the 60-seat goal.

So can it be done? Theoretically, yes, but factors like Democratic recruitment, Republican recruitment, GOP retirements, and the overall political climate would all have to go for the Dems in a very big way. And Democrats would have to knock off Republican incumbents in some pretty big places — such as Elizabeth Dole (NC) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY).

But the Dems do have one advantage: They only have one or two endangered seats so far, while the Republicans' problem seats just keep piling up.

Tom Tancredo has pushed hard throughout his career for a fence along the Mexican border. Now that one has been enacted into law, though, actual construction has been thwarted by mayors along the Southern border who don't want the fence disrupting their communities and local commerce.

So Tancredo has an interesting solution: He would "build the border fence north of these communities."

"These mayors have already demonstrated that their hearts and loyalties lie with Mexico," Tancredo said. "Perhaps they'd feel more comfortable if their cities were geographically located there as well."

Is this a joke, or is he serious?

A new SurveyUSA poll of New Mexico tests a wide range of Democratic and Republican candidates for Senate — those who might announce they're running, those who have already announced they're running, and those who have already announced that they're not running — and here are the results:

Udall (D) 55%, Pearce (R) 37%
Richardson (D) 60%, Pearce (R) 36%
Pearce (R) 56%, Chávez (D) 35%
Pearce (R) 54%, Madrid (D) 38%
Pearce (R) 58%, Wiviott (D) 23%
Udall (D) 56%, Wilson (R) 38%
Richardson (D) 62%, Wilson (R) 35%
Wilson (R) 48%, Chávez (D) 44%
Wilson (R) 46%, Madrid (D) 45%
Wilson (R) 51%, Wiviott (D) 34%

The strongest Democrats in the poll are Bill Richardson and Tom Udall, who have already said they're not running, while the others are all struggling. Bill Richardson is committed to the presidential race, so this poll might cause the DSCC to ask Udall to reconsider. On the other hand, the others could still improve their standings through a vigorous campaign.

Also worth noting is that Congressman Steve Pearce, a very right-wing Republican, does much better than Congresswoman Heather Wilson, who has already announced her candidacy. It could be that Pearce is a familiar name in the state who is viewed somewhat positively, while Wilson may have been damaged by the U.S. Attorney scandal. The poll should probably give some encouragement to Pearce if he's looking for reasons to enter the race.

Also, the poll did not test Democratic Lt. Governor Diane Denish, who has reportedly been looking at the race.

Barack Obama has now joined John Edwards in slamming Hillary for her vote for the Kyl-Lieberman amendment, which says Iran is responsible for problems in Iraq and designates the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization:

"Senator Clinton obviously in 2002 voted to authorize the war in Iraq," Obama told ABC News' Sunlen Miller. "And her willingness to once again extend to the president the benefit of the doubt I think indicates that she hasn't fully learned some of the lessons that we saw back in 2002."

"We have to be very cautious in how we approach these kinds of issues, because we've already seen enormous damage done to U.S.'s prestige around the world, the U.S.'s strategic interests in the world," he added. "Part of the reason Iran has been strengthened is because of that war that had been authorized in Iraq."

The Hillary campaign has just hit back in this statement sent over to us moments ago by Hillary spokesperson Phil Singer in which he says Obama's attack is motivated by dropping poll numbers and a "flagging" campaign:

It's unfortunate that Senator Obama is resorting to the same old attack politics as his poll numbers start falling. He knows that Senator Clinton was one of the first in Congress to say that Bush must seek an explicit authorization from Congress for any military action against Iran and that she is the lead co-sponsor of legislation by Jim Webb to prohibit funds for military action in Iran without approval from Congress. A flagging campaign is not an excuse to distort anyone’s record.

Hillary supporters will also note that Obama co-sponsored a bill designating the Iran Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, though the Obama campaign has said that their objection to Kyl wasn't to that facet of it but to the fact that it blamed Iran for problems in Iraq.

Late Update: Obama spokesman Bill Burton emails this response to Camp Hillary's response:

"It's clear that Senator Clinton can get irritated by questions about her Iran vote but the Lieberman-Kyl amendment does indeed make a case that military action against Iran could be a part of the ongoing war in Iraq. And in 2002, the vote to authorize war in Iraq was not a vote for diplomacy and inspectors. Senator Obama is focused instead on ending this war in Iraq, and preventing another disastrous foreign policy mistake."

Here's the new ad from Americans United For Change, being run against President Bush's veto of the SCHIP bill:

The narrator says that Bush's veto was not simply of the program, but of the individual children who would have benefitted. She then says sternly, "George Bush and his backers would rather send half a trillion to Iraq than spend a fraction of that here, to keep our kids healthy."

The ad buy comes to about $1 million, targeting 20 Republican members of the House in order to bring public pressure for a veto override.

One of the most sought-after union endorsements in the Democratic primaries, that of the Service Employees International Union, will be going to ... nobody.

SEIU announced today that the national union did not come to an endorsement for any one Dem candidate. Instead, locals will be permitted and encouraged to make their own endorsements on a state by state basis.

In that case, it's a safe bet that the candidates will be courting the SEIU locals in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, etc.

It's official: After some indecision, Rudy's campaign has accepted an invitation for him to speak at the Family Research Council's "values voter" summit this weekend in D.C. That means that the pro-choice Rudy will be speaking before an event that bills itself as "the largest gathering of pro-family activists in the nation's capital."

The appearance follows a similar Rudy speech to the National Rifle Association, a group he once derided as "extremists." Rudy rose to the challenge by explaining that his views on gun control had been changed by Sept. 11. So perhaps this weekend Rudy will argue that "values voters" shouldn't decide whether to elect him on the basis of his abortion views...because of Sept. 11. That, after all, is his campaign message in a nutshell, isn't it?

In all seriousness, this will be a must-watch event. As David Brody says, this shows yet again that Camp Rudy "will not concede the social conservative vote," that Rudy advisers believe "they can win over quite a few social conservatives." And why is this? All together now: It's because of Sept. 11.

It was reported earlier today that former Senator George Allen (R-VA) and Liz Cheney, daughter of Dick Cheney, would be working the post-debate spin room tomorrow night for Fred Thompson. But now it turns out that the two will not be going there.

The Thompson campaign is officially citing scheduling conflicts as the reason for the two to not come. But it is worth wondering if they were worried about any potential fallout over having an ex-Senator tarred by the macaca scandal, plus Dick Cheney's daughter, showing up to promote their candidate on national television.

The first high-profile Democrat is set to announce his candidacy for the seat of retiring Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM). Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez will announce tomorrow that he is running for the seat, in a race that will be heavily targeted by the national Democrats.

Chávez also said that he received a personal assurance from Bill Richardson that the governor and presidential candidate will not run for the seat, even if he is forced to drop out of the presidential race after the first primaries.

Chávez is on his third term as mayor. He was first elected in 1993, and left office after one term for an unsuccessful run for governor. In 2001 he returned to the mayor's office, and was re-elected in 2005. He has built up a reputation as a moderate, pro-business Democrat.

On the Republican side, Congresswoman Heather Wilson is already in the race.

Senate Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) has picked up her first official challenger for her 2008 re-election fight. Investment banker and long-time Democratic fundraiser Jim Neal has entered the race.

Neal has wide connections within the Democratic Party, having raised money in the past for Wesley Clark and John Kerry, but has never run for office before — so he'll have to work hard and early in order to raise his name recognition. He now has a rudimentary Web site up, containing a brief biography.

In other news, state Senator Kay Hagan, who had been a prospective candidate, has announced that she won't run, after all. This leaves state Representative and Iraq War veteran Grier Martin as another possible candidate who has yet to finalize his plans.

A new poll of North Carolina from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling shows the state's Dem primary to be a dead heat between Hillary Clinton and native some John Edwards, with Fred Thompson leading on the Republican side:

Democrats:
Clinton 32%
Edwards 31%
Obama 20%

Republicans:
Thompson 31%
Giuliani 20%
McCain 11%
Romney 11%

Hillary leads Edwards 38%-28% among women, with Obama at 19%. Edwards, meanwhile, leads among men with 35%, followed by Hillary at 24% and Obama with 22%. Among whites, Edwards wins with 38% to Hillary's 32%, with Obama at 11%. Among blacks, Obama leads with 45%, followed by Hillary at 33% and Edwards at 12%.

The Democratic survey has a margin of error of ±3.9%, while the Republican survey's margin is ±3.5%.

Obama is about to deliver his energy speech, and we have the full text for you. It's worth restating that he really does aim for some lofty rhetorical notes on occasion -- and even hits them, too:

We are the country that summoned the courage of its people to build an arsenal of democracy that freed a continent and brought peace to a world at war. We are a land of moon shots and miracles of science and technology that have touched the lives of millions across the planet. And when that planet is challenged or when it is threatened, the eyes of the world have always turned to this nation as the “last, best hope of Earth.”

That is the America I want to lead as President. I believe that when it comes to the issue that will determine the very future of life on this Earth, we are still Earth’s best hope.

One key policy takeaway is that Obama is proposing that we reduce America's dependence on foreign oil and to battle global warning with a "cap and trade" auction system that would make companies pay for the right to emit sources of carbon. The idea is that charging people for the right to pollute is a more effective deterrent than government regulation is.

The full speech after the jump.

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This is interesting: Jane Hamsher brings word that bloggers are bringing their activism on the battle over SCHIP to a new level. This morning Blue America joined up with BlogPac to fund robo-calls into the districts of five Democratic members of the House who voted against the kids' health care bill.

The five are: Jim Marshall (GA), Baron Hill (IN), Gene Taylor (MS), Bob Etheridge (NC), and Mike McIntyre (NC).

The idea here is to supplement efforts by the DCCC, who are putting pressure on Republicans in moderate districts to vote for the measure. The blog campaign is focused on conservative Dems who continue to hold out against SCHIP -- people whom the DCCC would obviously not be targeting.

You can listen to the robocalls, which Hamsher says were recorded by Michelle James, a full time working mother who can’t afford health care for her son who has bronchitis, right here.

A familiar name pops up on the new list of Fred Thompson's campaign co-chairs: George Allen.

That's right, the former Senator from Virginia is now on board for Thompson's campaign. It's an interesting turn for Allen — if not for his political implosion and re-election defeat last year, he might have been the Southern conservative candidate this cycle, not Thompson.

Also on the list is Washington lawyer and former State Department official Liz Cheney, daughter of Dick Cheney. Could this be a clue as to where the vice president's sympathies lay?

Update: George Allen and Liz Cheney will also be working the spin room on Thompson's behalf after tomorrow night's Republican debate — Thompson's first debate. This should be fun.

During a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Saturday, Mitt Romney was confronted by a rough political issue: Medical marijuana. A man named Clayton Holt discussed his use of marijuana to treat the symptoms of his muscular dystrophy, at the same time emphasizing that he is opposed to total legalization of marijuana for recreational use.

His question to Romney was straightforward — and he probably wasn't happy with the response:

"My question for you is will you arrest me or my doctors if I get medical marijuana."

"I am not in favor of medical marijuana being legal in the country," Romney said as he moved on to greet other people.

Holton continued, "Excuse me, will you please answer my question?"

"I think I have. I am not in favor of legalizing medical marijuana," the Massachusetts Republican said.

Obama is giving a big speech on energy this afternoon in New Hampshire. According to advance excerpts of the speech, he'll be attacking Hillary without naming her by blaming Washington insiders for our current energy crisis, a case he'll build with veiled but obvious references to several Hillary ethanol votes:

“There are some in this race who actually make the argument that the more time you spend immersed in the broken politics of Washington, the more likely you are to change it. I always find this a little amusing. I know that change makes for good campaign rhetoric, but when these same people had the chance to actually make it happen, they didn’t lead. When they had the chance to stand up and require automakers to raise their fuel standards, they refused. When they had multiple chances to reduce our dependence on foreign oil by investing in renewable fuels that we can literally grow right here in America, they said no.”

That first line is clearly a reference to Hillary's argument that she has the "experience" to bring about change. The other references are apparently to votes and positions against ethanol Hillary has taken as a Senator, which she has said she did to defend the interests of her upstate farmer constituents.

In response to the speech, Hillary supporters are likely to point out that Obama voted for the widely criticized 2005 Bush energy bill, while Hillary voted against it.

Obama will also unveil a range of energy proposals, such as an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse emissions. More speech excerpts after the jump.

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There's been some surprising movement for Mike Huckabee in the polls and the press lately. The former governor and minister, who has been practically living in Iowa, got a boost from his second-place showing at the Iowa Straw Poll, and has been busy on the trail since — but he's still got a long way to go.

The new Des Moines Register poll shows Huckabee now tied for third with Rudy Giuliani and nominally beating him, taking 12% to Rudy's 11%.

On the other hand, Huckabee still has his work cut out for him if he wants to rise up — he only raised $1 million in the third quarter, with a paltry $600,000 on hand. In fact, Ron Paul out-raised him by a 5-1 margin.

So can Huckabee make it, picking up support if Iowans become disillusioned with the top four candidates, or will he sputter out from lack of funds and organizational support?

MSNBC has just reported that Iowa Republican leaders agreed during a Friday night conference call to formally recommend January 3, a Thursday, as the date for the caucus — effectively setting the date for both parties, as the Dems would be highly unlikely to pick a different night. This also means the New Hampshire primary will probably be held the following Tuesday, January 8.

So there you have it — the potentially make-or-break Iowa caucus will be held a mere two days after New Year's, and a whole ten months before the general election.

Ben Smith has some great color from an event over the weekend where George McGovern endorsed Hillary for President. The former presidential candidate called John Edwards a "brilliant young man" and said of Barack Obama: “I hope I live long enough to see a black president in the White House.”

Nonetheless, McGovern is going with Hillary:

“But we have an old rule of currency in the United States: Ladies first,” McGovern said. “These two young men I just mentioned, they will be around a long time. My choice is Hillary Clinton...I think if we can elect her president, she will be a greater president than even her brilliant husband.”

Hillary Clinton got into a rough verbal exchange at an Iowa town hall yesterday, when New Hampton resident Randall Rolph asked some pointed questions about Hillary's vote for the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment.

Hillary differed with Rolph's interpretation — that the amendment was a de facto authorization for the White House to use force against Iran — saying that the truth differed with "what you read to me, that somebody obviously sent to you."

Rolph shot back that this was his own research, and nobody else put him up to the question.

"Well, then, I apologize," said Clinton. "It's just that I've been asked the very same question in three other places."

Rolph was obviously not impressed with the conversation. "I came here with an open mind, that's why I had to ask this question," he said. "By asking this question, that was going to be the defining moment for me. But it has been a defining moment."

The new Des Moines Register poll shows Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney leading their respective parties in the Iowa caucus:

Democrats:
Clinton 29%
Edwards 23%
Obama 22%
Richardson 8%

Republicans:
Romney 29%
Thompson 18%
Huckabee 12%
Giuliani 11%
McCain 7%

The margin of error in each survey is ±4.9%.