The attacks are flying fast in the Pennsylvania, with a new round of robocalls from the Hillary campaign going after Obama.

One call says: "Every gallon of gas takes over three bucks from your pocket. So, why would Barack Obama vote for a Bush-Cheney energy bill that has put six billion in the pockets of big oil? Enough talk. It's time for action."

And another: "Barack Obama's health care plan fails to deliver health care for every American, just what the HMO's and pharmaceutical companies want. What's more, Sen. Obama's healthcare plan imposes a $900 hidden tax on families. That's $900 more than anyone should have to pay to stay healthy."

A key military surrogate for Barack Obama went after Hillary Clinton on the Bosnia story today -- triggering an accusation of hypocrisy from the Hillary camp in light of Obama's own words about the controversy during this week's debate, when he said people should let the story go.

"One of the inherent duties of the president of the United States is to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Memorial Day," said Gen. Walter Stewart on an Obama campaign conference call this afternoon -- then proceeding to lambast Hillary over the Bosnia gaffes. "Imagine the lack of moral authority she has now to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Memorial Day."

Clinton spokesman Phil Singer immediately pounced: "When it comes to negative campaign tactics, Senator Obama has been a hypocrite from day one, decrying attack politics from one side of his mouth while he and his campaign wage a character assassination effort from the other."

Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan disassociated the campaign from Stewart's remarks: "We obviously do not agree with that sentiment."

Barack Obama has two new ads out for the home stretch in Pennsylvania, attacking Hillary Clinton on both her policies and her overall political character.

This one lists the newspapers endorsing Obama, quoting both their praise for his candidacy and their condemnations of his opponent:

And this one goes after her health plan:

Hillary Clinton has taken a one-point lead in today's Gallup poll. While it's not statistically significant, it's in fact the first time in a month that she's had any kind of lead in Gallup's tracker. Here are the numbers, compared to yesterday:

Clinton 46% (+2)
Obama 45% (-2)

Less than a week ago, Obama was enjoying an 11-point lead -- a sign that the rough debate on Wednesday might have combined with the "small town" controversy to drag his numbers down quite a bit.

Well, this should get anti-war voters angry with Hillary Clinton -- and be a real political headache for the home stretch in Pennsylvania.

The Huffington Post has gotten their hands on a secret tape from a closed-door fundraiser held just after Super Tuesday, in which Hillary lambastes "the activist base of the Democratic Party" and their views on national security:

"We have been less successful in caucuses because it brings out the activist base of the Democratic Party. MoveOn didn't even want us to go into Afghanistan. I mean, that's what we're dealing with. And you know they turn out in great numbers. And they are very driven by their view of our positions, and it's primarily national security and foreign policy that drives them. I don't agree with them. They know I don't agree with them. So they flood into these caucuses and dominate them and really intimidate people who actually show up to support me."

MoveOn executive director Eli Pariser has already responded in very strong terms:

Senator Clinton has her facts wrong again. MoveOn never opposed the war in Afghanistan, and we set the record straight years ago when Karl Rove made the same claim. Senator Clinton's attack on our members is divisive at a time when Democrats will soon need to unify to beat Senator McCain. MoveOn is 3.2 million reliable voters and volunteers who are an important part of any winning Democratic coalition in November. They deserve better than to be dismissed using Republican talking points.

A veritable super-delegate deluge...

After picking up the support of Ohio Rep. Betty Sutton today, Hillary adds two more super-dels, her campaign announces.

They are former New Jersey Governors Jim Florio and Brendan Byrne, who both threw their support to Hillary today after being picked yesterday as add-on super-delegates.

So, Hillary's total super-del haul today: Three.

The latest Associated Press tally of overall delegates:

Obama 1,645; Hillary 1,504.

Separately, the AP projects that when the voting is concluded, Obama is likely to be less than 100 delegates short of the 2,025 needed to clinch the nomination.

I'd been meaning to do this for a few days now, and this is as good a time as any. Here's the rundown of which Pennsylvania newspapers have endorsed whom...

Papers endorsing Obama:

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Citizen's Voice

The Scranton Times-Tribune

The Allentown Morning Call

The Patriot News

Bucks County Courier

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Philadelphia Daily News

Papers endorsing Hillary:

The Daily Pennsylvanian

For what it's worth.

On the heels of today's Gallup tracking poll finding the race tightening to within three points comes this new Newsweek poll finding that Obama is pulling away and now leads Hillary nationally by 19 points among registered Dems.

Here are the numbers, compared with the last Newsweek poll finding a statistical dead heat in March:

Obama 54% (45%)

Hillary 35% (44%)

One key finding with regard to the debate: The poll was taken on April 16th and 17th -- which is to say, on one day before the debate, and on one day after. And the Newsweek pollster says that there was no real shift in support from one day to the next.

Separately, nearly half (46%) of Dems say super-dels should use their own judgment in picking which candidate to support, while 38% want them to back the popular vote winner, and only 12% want them to pick the winner of the pledged del count.

As I've said here before, if Obama were to emerge as the clear winner of both the pledged del count and popular vote, these numbers might shift -- perhaps dramatically -- in his direction.

Hillary gets a super-del -- Ohio Rep. Betty Sutton, her campaign announces.

"On March 4th, the majority of Democratic voters in the 13th Congressional District and Ohio chose to support Senator Hillary Clinton with their vote," Sutton said, according to Camp Hillary's release. "As the Representative for Ohio's 13th Congressional District, I am pledging my support to her as well."

Okay -- this is as good a time to make this point as any.

One thing that's polluted this whole debate badly has been the constantly shifting definitions people have been employing for "will of the people." The Obama campaign has actually been largely consistent on this point, saying that the super-dels should follow the winner of the national pledged del count.

But many super-dels have decided whom to support based on other metrics. Some have backed the candidate who won his or her state. Others have endorsed the one who won a majority of his or her Congressional district. The super-dels are obviously free to employ whichever metric they wish. But this constantly shifting definition of "will of the people" has only contributed to the messiness and confusion surrounding the process, which is already screwed up enough as it is.

Two of Hillary Clinton's most prominent fundraisers tore into Howard Dean in interviews with me today, sharply criticizing the DNC chair for saying yesterday that super-delegates should say which Dem candidate they support "starting now."

"Governor Dean should do what he has said he will do -- refrain from injecting himself into the primary process, as millions of Democrats have yet to cast their votes," Hillary national finance chair Hassan Nemazee, one of the most influential fundraisers in the Democratic Party, told me today.

"If he wishes to do something productive," Nemazee continued, "he should exhibit the leadership necessary to resolve the Florida and Michigan impasse, which has disenfranchised millions of Democratic voters."

A second prominent Democratic fundraiser, Robert Zimmerman, a Democratic National Committeeman and key Hillary fundraiser, sounded a similar note in an interview with me today.

"Howard Dean is more committed to pressuring the super delegates to make up their minds before the voting is done than he is to ensuring that Michigan and Florida's votes are counted," Zimmerman charged.

He added that Dean could "best ensure that we have a strong Democratic nominee and a united party" by focusing on those two states, rather than pressuring super-dels.

It's unusual for major institutional players like Nemazee and Zimmerman to attack the party chair in such biting terms, and the comments represent the boiling over of tensions between Dean and top Hillary money people that have simmered out of view for weeks.

Read more »

Today's Gallup national tracking poll finds that the Democratic primary race has tightened, with Hillary closing to within three points -- a finding that the pollsters say provides indications that Wednesday's debate could be undermining Obama's support.

Gallup finds that Obama is leading Hillary 47%-44%, down from an 11 point lead earlier this week. Gallup adds that last night's interviewing is the first they did since the debate, concluding:

In Thursday night's interviewing, Clinton received a greater share of national Democratic support than Obama, the first time she has done so in an individual night's interviewing since April 3. That stronger showing for Clinton helped to snap Obama's streak of statistically significant leads in the three-day rolling averages Gallup reports each day. Until today, he had led Clinton by a statistically significant margin in each of the prior 11 Gallup releases.

The full impact of the debate -- and the ensuing media coverage of it -- will be apparent in the coming days, and it will soon be clear if the debate has produced a shift back to a more competitive race, or if Clinton may have received just a temporary boost in support.

Former Senators Sam Nunn and David Boren, in a joint statement, throw their support to Obama -- giving him two high-profile southerners that are both key foreign policy voices in the Democratic Party.

Both will serve on Obama's national security team, giving the Obama camp an effective weapon against the Hillary campaign's claims that Obama has not passed the "commander in chief test."

Their full statements after the jump.

Read more »

You may have forgotten that there's this other guy out there who's also running for President, and he happens to be the GOP nominee.

It's easy to lose sight of John McCain amid the constant crush of news about the Dem primary, but even as the Dems continue to bludgeon each other, McCain is quietly building up his campaign apparatus -- something we hope to be tracking here a bit more closely in the weeks ahead.

At any rate, there's a bit of McCain news today that you shouldn't miss:

* McCain released his tax returns, reporting an income of nearly $260,000 (not including that of his far richer wife). Hey, maybe that's a good "gotcha" question for George Stephanopoulos to ask McCain on Sunday -- why won't you release your heiress wife's tax returns?

* McCain continued building up his campaign today, adding a new pollster and a new campaign official to oversee the key battleground states of Pennsylvania and Ohio.

* Yet another national poll finds McCain closing the gap with the Dems.

Here, from Obama spokesperson Bill Burton, is the response to Hillary's criticism of the Illinois Senator this morning for "complaining" about Wednesday's debate...

"Considering the fact that Senator Clinton sat on stage at the last debate and complained to all of America that she always gets the first question, her blatant hypocrisy here is stunning. But if she'd rather spend her time talking about the same distractions and divisions that Washington is obsessed with, that's her business. Barack Obama believes the American people deserve a real debate issues that actually matter like health care, the economy, bringing this war to an end."

The Obama camp's rapid response crew also blasted out this YouTube of Hillary talking at the last debate about always getting the first question.

The new Rasmussen poll shows the Pennsylvania primary tightening -- here are the numbers, compared to last Monday:

Hillary 47% (50%)

Obama 44% (41%)

One interesting tidbit from the poll: A surprising 12% say something they saw in the debate caused them to change their mind about how they're voting. This is a bit of a murky stat, but taken with the tightening of the race it could be a sign that the debate may have played against Hillary.

However, the poll also finds that Obama's support "appears to be a bit softer" than Hillary's, with six percent of Obama backers saying there's a good chance they could change their minds, while only two percent of Hillary supporters say that.

Total undecided: Nine percent. Total who still might change their mind: 12%.

Total knowledge we have about what's going to happen on Tuesday: Zero.

According to his calender, John McCain will appear on This Week with George Stephanopoulos this Sunday.

Something tells me that a lot of people will be watching to see if Steph asks McCain tough "gotcha" questions designed to gauge his "electability" and his ability to handle future attacks, as he claimed to be doing at Wednesday's Dem debate.

Anyone offering odds?

Late Update: John Aravosis has a good list of questions Steph might ask McCain.

Hillary does local Philly TV this morning, and opens up a new line of attack against Obama for "complaining" about what happened at Wednesday's debate...

Key quote:

We were both asked some pretty tough questions. That's part of what happens in a debate and a campaign. And I know he spent all day yesterday complaining about the hard questions he was asked.

But you know, being asked tough questions in a debate is nothing like the pressures you face inside the White House. And in fact when the going gets tough you can't just walk away...

I think we need a president who can take whatever comes your way.

Note that this follows Bill's suggestion yesterday that Obama was "whining," and note that Hillary hit the word "complain" again later in the broadcast -- suggesting that the Clinton camp has settled on a message that it'll be hitting hard for the next few days.

We'll bring you Obama's response when we get it.

Late Update: The Obama camp responds.

Did Hillary get a bounce after Obama's rough night in the debate on Wednesday?

Not if you believe Zogby's tracking poll of Pennsylvania. It finds that yesterday Hillary edged up two points from Wednesday, the day of the debate, while Obama only lost one. She now leads by four points, 47%-43%.

One bright spot for Hillary that could have something to do with Obama's "small town" comments: Zogby found that 56% say Hillary better understands the state, while only 28% -- half as many -- said the same of Obama.

Still, if Zogby is to be believed, the numbers are way too close for comfort for Hillary.

Curious to know more about the 25 Dean-appointed members of the convention credentials committee members who, if the race goes all the way to the convention, could decide Hillary's fate?

Meet them all right here.

My understanding of this suggests that it's unlikely that there will be a showdown on the credentials committee, however. It's unlikely that the credentials committee will vote on a proposal to settle the Michigan and Florida delegation problem that is flatly opposed by either candidate.

What's more, it's unlikely that in the end Hillary forces on the committee will bring a minority report to the floor if they oppose the majority-agreed-upon decision, because it would be all but certain to fail and she'd be blamed for the ensuing mess. But it's theoretically possible that it could play out this way, of course.

Here's a very useful roundup of today's super-delegate news.

Many super-dels are unswayed either by Hillary's arguments about Obama's supposed electability problem -- but some also are unswayed by the Obama camp's argument that her high unfavorables render her problematic, too.

And despite Howard Dean's demand that the super-dels start picking sides right now, dozens of them say they feel no rush to pick sides before the voting is over.

More super-del tidbits here.

Stephen Colbert had three very special guests tonight: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. Clinton and Edwards were in the studio, and Obama appeared via satellite.

The show broadcasts tonight at 11:30 p.m. ET, so here's a thread for you to share your views on the how the two candidates and one ex-candidate came off.

Howard Dean is moving up his ultimatum for superdelegates to make their decisions by July 1: "I need them to say who they're for starting now."

"We cannot give up two or three months of active campaigning and healing time," Dean elaborated. In other words, the pressure is on to get a Democratic nominee as soon as possible, perhaps especially in light of the attacks that were flying around at last night's debate.

Obama isn't the only pol using last night's debate to his advantage. On the trail today, Bill Clinton waded into the skirmish over ABC's performance, pointing to the loud complaining coming from Obama backers in order to rally his own wife's supporters:

"When I watched that debate last night, I got kinda tickled," the former President said at an American Legion Hall event in St. Mary's, Pennsylvania, "After the [debate], her opponents', oh, the people working were saying, 'Oh this is so negative, why are they doing this.' Well they've been beatin' up on her for 15 months. I didn't hear her whining when he said she was untruthful in Iowa or called her the senator from Punjab."

"And, you know, they said some pretty rough things about me, too. But you know, this is a contact sport. If you don't want to play, keep your uniform off," Clinton told a loudly cheering crowd.

Obama, seeking to turn his rough night at the debate to his advantage, takes shots at ABC's debate performance on the trail today in North Carolina -- and places himself above both ABC and Hillary by saying she "looked in her element"...

One thing Obama has been very adept at doing: When he takes a political hit, he neutralizes it by decrying it as the very sort of negative politicking he's trying to rise above.

In this case, he did this by describing the debate as "precisely why I'm running for president -- to change that kind of politics."

Hillary has tried this before, but it's not the sort of liberty the political press and pundits have been willing to permit her to take.

ABC debate moderator George Stephanopoulos responds to Obama, and defends his handling of the debate, here.

At some point amid the hailstorm of criticism that greeted ABC's handling of yesterday's Dem debate, moderator George Stephanopoulos received an email -- one of the many, many missives about the debate he's received -- from an Obama adviser.

"Feel like a candidate today?" the adviser asked.

In an interview with me moments ago, Stephanopoulos strongly defended his handling of the debate. He dismissed criticism that it had focused too heavily on "gotcha" questions, arguing that they had gone to the heart of the "electability" that, he said, is forefront in the minds of voters evaluating the two Dems.

"Overall, the questions were tough, fair, relevant, and appropriate," Stephanopoulos argued. And he rejected the claim by many Obama supporters that the debate had been stacked against him, saying Hillary had faced sharp questioning, too.

Today on the campaign trail Obama criticized ABC's handling of the debate, characterizing it as "the roll out of the Republican campaign against me in November."

Asked to respond, Stephanopoulos said that getting criticized "comes with the territory."

"Our job is to ask the questions," he said. "His job is to go out and win votes."

Asked to defend the fact that policy didn't come up for the first 40 or so minutes of the debate, Stephanopoulos said:

"We decided to focus at the top on the issues that had been at the center of the debate since the last debate. Everything we brought up in that front section had not come up since the last debate. And they all focused on the same theme -- which candidate would be a stronger Democratic candidate in Novembber."

"This is the core question for the campaigns, and a lot of Democratic voters right now. That's why we decided to lead with it."

Read more »

Suddenly, NAFTA mailers are everywhere. Here's Hillary's Pennsylvania mail piece -- forwarded to us by a political operative -- going after Obama on NAFTA by recycling the Goolsbee tale.

Click on the image to enlarge...

Obama hits Hillary on NAFTA in a Pennsylvania mailer. Click on below images to enlarge:

On an Obama campaign conference call moments ago, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe offered a novel push-back against Hillary's claims that she's better prepared for a general election.

Plouffe argued that because the Obama campaign hasn't run as brutal a campaign against Hillary as she has against him, she has not been thoroughly vetted and hence would also be vulnerable against the GOP, despite claiming the contrary.

"We have not run a scorched earth campaign," Plouffe claimed, adding that as a result, "the Republicans are going to have any number of issues to use against Senator Clinton."

The Clinton camp argues that the Obama campaign has repeatedly attacked Hillary's character as untrustworthy and unscrupulous, and has repeatedly questioned Hillary's electability without facing the same criticism for doing so.

Indeed, Plouffe did so on the very same call, saying: "The American people are not going to elect a president that they do not trust." It's hard, however, to see that as being quite in the same league with the hits on Wright, and now, Ayers.

Either way, one thing that's interesting about Plouffe's latest argument -- that their supposed lack of negativity would leave her vulnerable against the GOP -- is that it's kind of an inverse of the Clinton camp's argument that their harsh criticism of Obama is fair game in that it will air out Obama in advance of the general, should he be the nominee.

Late Update: Here's the audio from the conference call:

While both Democratic campaigns are arguing that they're the best ones to compete in the swing states, a new polling analysis from Gallup finds that they are equally competitive against John McCain in the key areas.

In the 12 states where President Bush or John Kerry won by less than six points, Obama leads McCain by a margin of 47%-43%. For her part, Hillary Clinton leads McCain by ... 47%-43%.

Don't worry, though -- we're sure each of the campaigns' spinmeisters will find something to pick through here.

While the GOP is having a terrible time raising money for their House and Senate races, portending further Dem gains in Congress, the Republicans are in fact having huge success in another area.

The Republican National Committee has announced that they have $31 million cash-on-hand at the end of March, money that can be used to assist John McCain as well as down-ballot races this Fall.

Quarterly figures aren't available yet for the DNC, but it's likely they'll be way behind -- at the end of February, they only had $4.8 million on hand, with $250,000 in outstanding debts.

This is essentially a tradeoff that comes with Howard Dean's 50-state strategy -- if the DNC's primary mission is to act as a financial and organizational clearinghouse for state parties and candidates, it ends up not raising very much money for itself. We'll find out in the months to come whether the Republicans can successfully exploit this weakness.

Late Update: A DNC source reminds us that the Dems don't have a nominee yet. When that happens, the DNC is confident that the fundraising will pick up significantly.

David Corn of Mother Jones and Hillary spokesperson Howard Wolfson went at it hard on the Hillary conference call today -- with Corn repeatedly demanding to know what Hillary thinks of the fact that her husband pardoned two members of the Weather Underground.

Wolfson said he'd ask her. It's probably a question that the Hillary campaign will be pressed on in the days ahead.

Hillary hit Obama hard over his ties to former Weather Underground member William Ayers at the debate yesterday. And on the call today, Hillary advisers kept up the pressure, pointing out that Ayers hosted an event at his home for Obama when he ran for state senator and that this was a legitimate topic for journalistic scrutiny.

It's an intriguing move, to say the least. The Clinton camp was so eager to get Ayers' name into the political conversation that they were willing to risk not one, but two possible blowbacks: First, the inevitable criticism they'll take for going so negative; and second, questions about Bill's pardons.

The Clinton camp appears to have gotten what they wanted -- for now. As Ben Smith notes, "Ayers" is "the fifth most searched term on Google, according to Google Trends."

But it remains to be seen whether there will be voter backlash over this, and whether reporters will pressure the Hillary campaign to respond to questions about Bill's pardons.

Late Update: Here's audio of the conference call:

On a Clinton campaign conference call this morning, Hillary's advisers were asked directly what their basis is for denying outright that she said "screw 'em" about white working class southerners in a meeting in 1995, as author Benjamin Barber alleges.

In response, the Hillary campaign floated the name of a new witness who hasn't yet been mentioned: Bruce Reed, the domestic policy adviser at the time.

As best as we can determine, he hasn't been quoted publicly on this yet.

Right now, as the Obama campaign points out, three eyewitnesses are alleging that she made the comment: Barber, Harry Boyte, the director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Democracy and Citizenship, and Alan Wolfe, who said flatly that "Barber and Boyte have it right."

Who is saying she didn't make it? Don Baer, a Clinton speechwriter at the time, and, now, Reed, who obviously isn't a neutral observer.

We'll let you know if Reed speaks out.

Late Update: Baer, it turns out, is now chairman of Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates.

Late Late Update: I should have made it clearer that the Obama campaign is pushing this issue with reporters, sending out links proving that the three witnesses have confirmed that she made the remarks. Hence the headline. I've edited the above to reflect this.

Looks like a pro-Obama outside group is coming in to rescue him from the "small town" flap. SEIU's new ad for Obama in Pennsylvania pushes back against Hillary Clinton on the "small town" controversy, using the energy issue as a pretext:

It's not exactly coordination so much as outright imitiating the themes in Obama's latest ads, that he doesn't take money from energy company lobbyists. But the imagery of ordinary, working-class people talking about how Barack Obama is different definitely seems to be a rebuttal to Hillary's own ad on the "small town" comments, which is running as her only ad in many parts of the state.

In a further indication that the House Democrats are going into this cycle in much better shape for the general election than their GOP counterparts, the Democratic candidates have more money on hand in about two thirds of the key races, ranging from Dem-held seats picked up in 2006 to newly-targeted seats this cycle.

For example, Democratic challengers have more than the Republican incumbents in four cases: Reps. Tim Walberg (R-MI), Randy Kuhl (R-NY), Jean Schmidt (R-OH) and Dave Reichert (R-WA). And also in nine open Republican-held seats, the Democratic candidates have out-raised the GOPers aiming to hold on to those seats.

In a sign that the Obama campaign is still working to push back on the "small town" flap, the campaign has rolled out the endorsement of Oklahoma superdelegate Reggie Whitten -- with an official press release that includes the phrase "small town" in a good way twice.

"I'm from the small town of Seminole, Oklahoma: a city that is predominantly hard-working middle class citizens," Whitten says. "It is important that our next President keep small towns like Seminole in mind when he talks about our economy. I am very sincere in my belief that Senator Obama will do just that."

A new Zogby poll of Pennsylvania shows a close race in the Democratic primary: Clinton 45%, Obama 44%.

The internals show Obama winning Philadelphia and the overall eastern region of the state, which if it pans out would guarantee a close delegate margin for the primary as a whole.

One word of caution: Zogby's record this cycle has had some notable misfires, including a predicted close race in Ohio and an Obama win in California.

A few last-minute odds and ends on the debate...

* There were questions about Wright, "small town," and Obama's flag-pin (or lack thereof), and none about Mark Penn or Colombia. The Clinton camp, which has been arguing that Obama hasn't received the front-runner's treatment yet, is very happy about this tonight.

* The Obama campaign, perhaps in a sign of urgency, rushed out a statement from campaign manager David Plouffe, emphasizing Hillary's attacks again and again. An excerpt...

"Tonight we saw a real choice between the old politics of point-scoring and distraction and a politics that focuses on bringing us together to actually solve the challenges we talk about every single election. Continuing the theme of her campaign, Senator Clinton used every single opportunity she had to launch misleading attack after misleading attack against Barack Obama, which is why polls show that most Americans think she's running the most negative campaign and don't believe she's trustworthy."

By contrast, the Hillary campaign didn't send out any statement; they think they won. Instead, their official reaction to the debate was to post this vid of a Philly focus group reacting to it...

* In an intriguing post-script, Hillary spokesperson Howard Wolfson appeared to defend ABC's silly gotcha conduct tonight. Asked on MSNBC by Keith Olbermann whether the candidates should really agree to debates such as these, Wolfson said that he thought that there were in fact some substantive questions, then added...

I think it's appropriate here for viewers at home here in Pennsylvania and around the country to look at these candidates. And how they answer some of the political questions that also come up because this is a political campaign and I think Senator Obama was asked a number of those kinds of questions, the kinds of questions that he's likely to see if he's the nominee in the fall. And he didn't handle them very well. And I think that voters watching at home will certainly take that into account.

It's in keeping with the Hillary camp's increasingly frequent argument that the Repubs are going to hit Obama with this stuff should he become the nominee -- so, hey, there's nothing wrong with us hitting him with the same stuff now.

Nonetheless, ABC is going to take a tremendous hit for this one. Obama supporters -- and perhaps some high-profile surrogates, as well -- will be expressing their displeasure with the network in no uncertain terms in the days ahead.

Now, over to you....

...with more wingnut-frame questions, including ones on gun control and even about affirmative action and Obama's well-off daughter.

So, thus far, questions on:

"Small-town" comments

Wright

Weather Underground

Flag-pin/patriotism

Gun control

Affirmative Action

...we miss any?

It appears that ABC is working hard to prove that it's capable of fielding debate moderators who bow to no one in their capacity for inanity, not even Tim Russert. After asking questions about Wright and the "small town" comments, the ABC moderators go on to ask Obama to account for his years-old connection to...

....former Weather Underground member William Ayers.

Obama, offering his explanation, seemed genuinely puzzled to be getting asked about this, saying that Ayers was merely a "guy who lives in my neighborhood," and made a surprise reference to Senator Tom Coburn...

The fact is that I'm also friendly with Tom Coburn, one of the most conservative Republicans in the United States Senate, who during his campaign once said that it might be appropriate to apply the death penalty to those who carried about abortions. Do I need to apologize for Mr. Coburn's statements?

In response, Hillary actually hit Obama over the Ayers connection (with a bonus reference to 9/11 thrown in):

I also believe that Senator Obama served on a board with Mr. Ayers for a period of time, the woods foundation, which was a paid directorship position. And if I'm not mistaken, that relationship with Mr. Ayers on this board continued after 9/11 and after his reported comments, which were deeply hurtful to people in New York, and I would hope to every American, because they were published on 9/11, and he said that he was just sorry they hadn't done more....

I know Senator Obama is a good man, and I respect him greatly. But I think this is an issue that certainly the Republicans will be raising.

Obama appeared to have a response ready:

President Clinton pardoned or commuted the sentences of two members of the Weather Underground, which I think is a slightly more significant act than me serving on a board with somebody for actions that he did 40 years ago.

Asked about Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright, Hillary slips a reference to the fact that the 9/11 attackers hit "my city" into her critique....

Obviously, one's choice of church and pastor is rooted in what one believes is what you're seeking in church, and what kind of fellowship you find in church.

But I have to say that for pastor wright to have given his first sermon after 9/11, and to have blamed the United States for the attack, which happened in my city of New York, would have been just intolerable for me. And therefore I would have not been able to stay in the church.

A bit later comes her claim that Wright's a legit topic, as well as a reference to Farrakhan and Hamas...

As leaders we have a choice of who we associate with, and who we apparently give some kind of seal of approval to. And I think that it wasn't only the specific remarks, but the relationship with Rev. Farrakhan, with giving the church bulleting over to the leader of Hamas to put a message in. These are problems, and they raise questions in people's minds. This is a legitimate area, as everything is when we run for office, for people to be exploring, and trying to find answers.

That's a lot of buttons pushed in a few short moments.

Hillary's attacks on Obama -- such as her claim that only she and McCain have met the "commander in chief test" -- have angered a lot of Dems who say she's never clearly stated that Obama can win a general election.

Well, now she has. It took George Stephanopoulos a couple tries, but after asking Hillary a second time whether she thought Obama can beat McCain, she said:

"Yes. Yes. Yes."

Hillary added that she thinks she's the candidate better positioned to beat him. When Obama was asked whether Hillary can beat McCain, he said, in what was perhaps a sly reference to her reluctance to admit that he can win:

"Absolutely. And I've said so before."

The debate's underway. ABC's Charlie Gibson quotes former New York governor Mario Cuomo, and asks the two Dems: Why not just agree to share a ticket, already?

Needless to say, neither candidate directly answered; Obama says it's premature; Hillary promises that no matter who wins the nomination, Dems will unify, yadda, yadda, yadda.

In response, Gibson allows: "I don't think Governor Cuomo has any takers yet."

And he never will.

We're blogging the debate right here.