Mark Penn, on a conference call with reporters just now, suggested that that the controversial red-phone-ringing-at-3-A.M. ad is resonating with "millions" of voters.

Asked for some evidence of this, Penn asserted that the campaign's internal polls support the claim. "What we're seeing internally," Penn said, is that the ad has kicked off a new round of debate and that it has persuaded women that "she is the one ready to be commander in chief."

He added that the internals show that the ad has people saying, "Oh yeah, maybe we didn't realize that national security and commander in chief [credentials] have been important and will be important in trying to defeat Senator McCain."

All in all, another sign of the extent to which the Hillary camp has pushed all its chips on this effort to sow last-minute doubts about Obama's fitness to be commander in chief, in an effort to sway the late-breakers her way. "We expect to fully blunt" Obama's momentum, Penn concluded.

In less than 48 hours, we'll know if it worked.