From NBC's Andrew Merten

In light of what has been a tough week for McCain -- with yesterday's failure of comprehensive immigration reform and unease on Iraq expressed by Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar -- the Arizona senator spoke about the state of his presidential campaign in Chicago today.  Regarding the Senate's resistance to end debate and move ahead on the immigration bill he has championed, McCain expressed disappointment, saying, "We're still left with de facto amnesty because we still have 12 million people in this country, and we don't know who they are or what they're doing."  He went on to explain that 40 percent of illegal immigrants did not cross the border illegally (they came in on visas that later expired), and that tougher border security alone will not solve the problem of people who are already here.

On Lugar, McCain told reporters that he has "great respect" for his GOP colleague, but indicated that his position is not likely to change, saying:  "I always appreciate the advice and counsel of any of my colleagues, but my positions, especially on national security issues, are certainly thought through." 

Finally, McCain commented on the state of his campaign's fundraising, shielding himself from what will likely be a disappointing quarter in comparison to opponents Romney and Giuliani, saying, "Money is not going to win this campaign," explaining that he hopes to still have the chance to meet face to face with enough voters in New Hampshire, Iowa, and South Carolina.  He used the opportunity to revisit the topic of immigration, saying, "They'll support me in the end, because they know I'll always do what I believe is right, and if it happens to have some political damages, I'm happy to absorb that damage."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro

As is becoming a pre-debate/forum/being-in-the-same-room-as-Romney ritual, Brownback is attacking Romney's controversial stance on… agriculture? (They're going to be in Iowa tomorrow -- there's the hook -- for the Iowa Christian Alliance/Iowans for Tax Relief Forum)."Romney suggested eliminating the Department of Agriculture and reducing farm subsidies during his unsuccessful 1994 Senate race in Massachusetts," the first line of the memo states. By contrast, Brownback "grew up on a farm" and "has always made farmers and agriculture a priority," says his Iowa communications director.

We'll let you know when we hear of -- yet another -- response from the Romney campaign.

********UPDATE************The Romney campaign got back to us with a response. Here's what they wrote:

"Governor Romney believes that investing in agriculture is key to our economy and families. America's farmers not only provide food for the dinner table, but they will play a critical role in lessening our reliance on foreign sources of oil.  Governor Romney is strongly committed to family farmers across this nation and is optimistic for the role the agriculture community will play in providing alternative and renewable sources of energy."

From NBC's Andrew Merten

For a good part of the last five years, Dennis Kucinich has held two jobs: Ohio congressman and quixotic presidential candidate. In fact, if his White House bid lasts well into next year (which it probably will), he will have spent two of his last three congressional terms running for president — a sizable amount of time for someone who garnered just 1 percent of the vote in the 2004 Iowa caucuses, and who remains buried beneath other 2008 Democratic presidential contenders in current polls.

His time on the presidential campaign trail hasn't gone unnoticed by his critics. In his 2004 congressional re-election bid, his two opponents — Republican Edward Herman and Independent Barbara Ferris — brought up the votes he missed while running for president, arguing that he was distracted from meeting the needs of his constituents in Cleveland, Ohio.

For more on the story, click here.

From NBC's Mike Viqueira

Congressional Democrats will spend July getting back to the issue of Iraq, trying different legislative ways to force a troop withdrawal and re-gain the favor of disaffected anti-war voters in the bargain."We have many arrows in our quiver, and we are sharpening them," Speaker Nancy Pelosi says of the measures under consideration. She announced that the House will once again take up legislation that would require a withdrawal to begin within 180 days, with a goal of complete transition into a non-combat role by April 1, 2008.

This time, the move will NOT be attached to a funding bill, but on a measure that authorizes Defense Department operations. Many Democrats felt that they had put themselves in a box last time out, as they had pledged not to cut off funding for troops in the field yet were using a funding bill to try and end the war. We all know how that ended up.

Other steps are under consideration:
-- a move to effectively rescind the Fall 2002 authorization of the war in Iraq;
-- legislation that would force the closing of Gitmo;
-- language that would forbid the establishment of permanent military bases in Iraq;
-- and an attempt to use the regular Defense Department funding bill to bring an end to American involvement.

From NBC's Mark Murray

Per WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh: "Romney answered questions about a Boston Globe feature story that mentions how he strapped his dog's cage, with the animal inside, to the top of his family's car during a 12-hour road trip 24 years ago. He said Thursday that the pet enjoyed the experience, and he took a shot at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a group that has labeled his actions as cruelty."

"You know, PETA has not been my fan over the years," Romney said. "PETA has been after me for having a rodeo at the Olympics and were very, very upset about that. PETA was after me when I went quail hunting in Georgia. And PETA is not happy that my dog likes fresh air."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
In an effort to set expectations the day before the second fund-raising quarter ends, the Obama campaign wants to make clear the distinction between primary and general election money. In a memo e-mailed by Obama's camp, they point out that "the only figure that truly matters is the total money raised for the primary."

"The eventual nominee will be able to raise sufficient funds for the general election, so there is no strategic advantage to raising general election funds now," the campaign writes. "In reality, the funds raised for the general election serve no purpose other than inflating a candidate's total."

The Obama campaign's obvious intent here is based on the expectation that Clinton will have raised a lot of general election funds as she did in the first quarter.

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carly Zakin

*** The Reviews Are In: Due to the format and the lack of engagement between the candidates, it was hard the judge the performances in last night's Democratic debate. If you twisted our arm, we'd guess Biden, Clinton, and Obama stood out the most to us. The reviews, however, seemed to be unanimous: Clinton had the strongest performance. She won the post-debate spin and the clip war. That was crystal clear this morning.

***VH-1's "Worst Week Ever": Meanwhile, the other consensus from this morning's clips: Bush seems to be done. His immigration bill died in the Senate. Key Republicans are beginning to abandon him on Iraq. And today, Bloomberg writes that Bush will pay a political price if he pardons Scooter Libby or not. Is this the worst week of his presidency?

*** SCOTUS Politics: Well, one good thing for Bush: this week's (and term's) Supreme Court rulings. Elections have consequences, right? For years, the right griped about a liberal and activist Court, and it used that to rally its troops on Election Day. But in this 50-50 Nation (or 52-48 Nation, take your pick), will the Roberts-led Court begin to become a rallying cry for liberals? We did start to see that at last night's Democratic debate.

*** If Hillary's The True Front-Runner, Why…: With the Clinton campaign essentially conceding the 2nd fundraising quarter to Obama, we can't help but ask this question: If Clinton's political victories this month were as great as the campaign (and many in the media) believe, then why did she lose to Obama on the money front? Money isn't EVERYTHING, but it's something. And if Clinton can't turn what has been a strong two months into a financial momentum stopper for Obama, what does that mean for the fall?

*** On The Trail: Clinton has private events in Florida; Edwards raises money there too; Gilmore is in Virginia; Huckabee campaigns in Iowa and holds a conference call with reporters in the afternoon; Kucinich appears on Letterman; McCain has a media avail in Chicago; Obama heads to Minnesota for his campaign kick off there; Richardson raises money in El Paso, TX and Las Cruces, NM; and Romney travels to Iowa.

Countdown to the Ames Straw Poll: 43 days
Countdown to MA-05 Special Election: 65 days
Countdown to LA GOV election: 113 days
Countdown to Election Day 2007: 130 days
Countdown to LA GOV run-off (if necessary): 141 days
Countdown to Iowa: 209 days
Countdown to Tsunami Tuesday: 220 days
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 494 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 571 days

The Los Angeles Times notes the candidates "presented a largely united front." The report called the Biden-Obama AIDS test moment the liveliest exchange, and observes that both Obama and Rev. Al Sharpton seemed perplexed about Biden's remark. "At that, Obama shot Biden a you've-got-to-be-kidding glance. A television camera caught the Rev. Al Sharpton in the audience looking appalled."

The Washington Post: "The forum at Howard University seemed to be a guaranteed fit for Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), the only black candidate in the race… But the audience largely embraced the other seven Democrats on stage as well."

The New York Times adds: "The foreign policy flash points that had produced conflict between the Democrats at their earlier debates — in particular, the war in Iraq — were largely absent as the candidates spoke easily, finishing one another's sentences and offering jokes and compliments… None of the candidates appeared to stand out, and each of the best-known ones drew relatively similar reactions from the audience." 
 
The Boston Globe: "The gathering allowed the Democrats to highlight the relative diversity of their candidates compared with the 10 candidates for the Republican nomination, all of whom are white men."

The New York Daily News says Clinton and Obama came out of last night's debate "the way they went in -- co-leaders in the race for the African-American vote." The crowd may have shouted "Obama!" during introductions, but "Clinton scored repeated points by acknowledging the pervasiveness of racism and inequality more forcefully than the other candidates."

The Politico's Simon also says that Clinton and Obama came out on top.

Bloomberg -- the news organization, not the possible candidate -- has the following headline that will make the RNC research department salivate: "Clinton, Obama, Democrats Back Higher Taxes on Wealthy at Forum."

Democratic strategist/Gore '00 manager Donna Brazile on Obama: "'He didn't knock it out of the park,' Brazile said, adding that Clinton was a standout.

Des Moines Register's Yepsen also scored the debate for Clinton. "Clinton was crisp, cogent and methodical in her answers. She understood better than any of the other candidates the need for terse answers when so many candidates are given so little time in which to answer questions… Obama held his own, but at this stage in the race, he needed something more stellar to show he's got some depth on issues."

The Chicago Sun-Times' Mitchell leads, "For a presidential candidate who has refused to be pigeon-holed as the "black candidate," Sen. Barack Obama found himself fading in a staged battle for the hearts of black voters."

And dial-testing analyst Rich Thau oversaw a group of 15 Democrats in Iowa who watched the debate last night and found Clinton and Obama scoring highest on the presidential "comfort" scale. The three candidates who saw their pre- and post-debate "comfort" scores move the highest: Kucinich (who moved the most), followed by Clinton and Dodd.

***Update*** We forgot to include that Edwards actually had the highest score on this -- although his post-debate score dropped slightly from his pre-debate one.

A Washington Post news analysis observes that Bush admitted defeat after the immigration bill he supported died in the Senate yesterday. "It was, in the end, simply a statement of reality after the Senate buried his proposal to overhaul immigration laws. But for a president who makes a point of never giving in, even when he loses, it was a striking moment, underscoring the depth of his political travails. It took almost two years before Bush acknowledged, just months ago, that his effort to reshape Social Security had failed. Now he has surrendered in what was probably his last chance of securing a legacy-making second-term domestic victory."

The Los Angeles Times sums up Bush's terrible week: "Bush began the week struggling to salvage his most important foreign and domestic initiatives: the war in Iraq and an overhaul of the nation's immigration laws. He ends it closer to losing both than at any time in his presidency. And in a remarkable reversal for a president who once commanded nearly unflagging loyalty from lawmakers in his party, those most responsible for his setbacks are Republicans."

The New York Times has this nugget: "Mr. Bush placed telephone calls to lawmakers throughout the morning. But members of his party abandoned him in droves, with just 12 of the 49 Senate Republicans sticking by him on the important procedural vote that determined the fate of the bill… The outcome was a bitter disappointment for Mr. Bush and other supporters of a comprehensive approach… The vote reflected the degree to which Congress and the nation are polarized over immigration. The emotional end to what had been an emotional debate was evident, with a few senior staff members who had invested months in writing the bill near tears."

As mentioned yesterday, all the presidential candidates currently serving in the Senate (Democrat and Republican) voted for cloture to end debate on immigration bill -- all except Brownback, who voted for it and then voted against it. His Senate office and presidential campaign then released twin statements about his opposition to the bill, despite his earlier support. Giuliani and Romney also issued statements in opposition to the legislation.

McCain, who supported the legislation, said in his statement: "I am disappointed that the Senate was unable to conclude its debate on comprehensive immigration reform. However, the American people will not settle for the status quo – de facto amnesty and broken borders. I am hopeful that we will have another chance to address this critical national security issue that affects people throughout our country."

Soon-to-be candidate Fred Thompson said on FOX yesterday, "Sometimes not making the wrong move is better than nothing at all. And I think that they had an immigration bill that didn't secure the border. I think that shows a disconnect with the American people that they thought that they could convince them."

BROWNBACK: The campaign announced this morning the release his new book "From Power to Purpose: A Remarkable Journey of Faith and Compassion" on July 3. "If we ever lose our goodness, we will surely lose our greatness," writes Brownback. "If America is to stay great, the moral character, shared beliefs and common sense of her people will once again have to step up in order for us to achieve our true destiny and purpose."GINGRICH: He stumped in Iowa yesterday, attracting over 100 folks in the Iowa City area.

GIULIANI: Campaigning in California yesterday, Giuliani "applauded the defeat" of the immigration reform bill in the Senate. Giuliani: "It was a typical Washington mess in every respect. It could've made things worse." Giuliani's "decision to spend this week raising cash has angered many Latinos because he and the other Republican presidential candidates had been expected to attend the national conference of Latino elected officials today. Instead, Giuliani will be raising cash in Southern California."

MCCAIN: The New York Times profiles wife Cindy. "With two sons in the military, including one who is about to be deployed to Iraq, she is far from the demure campaign wife [she was in 2000], especially when it comes to the winner of that South Carolina primary, George W. Bush. 'I'm angry at them,' Mrs. McCain, 53, said when questioned about the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq. She said that the administration was paying the price for not having listened to her husband."

More from her: "'I really do wish they'd listen to my husband,' Mrs. McCain said. 'He's a man of experience. And he tried to tell them in the early days when he went over there and the guys were saying we need more boots on the ground. And he went back and said: "Look this is what I was told. I know it, I saw it." He speaks from experience, and yet they weren't listening.'"

Also, the piece recounts the time when the McCains' daughter discovered the news recently (via a Google search) of the whisper campaign that involved her during the 2000 South Carolina primary.

For the second time this week, McCain had to deny he would drop out. Will local reporters continue to hound him wherever he goes if his fundraising is too far behind Romney and Giuliani?

ROMNEY:

The Boston Globe's sixth part of its seven-part series on Romney details his rise to the governorship of Massachusetts after the Salt Lake City Olympics. He was rumored to be mulling a run for governor in either Massachusetts or Utah, but wanted a "position with enough national exposure to launch a presidential campaign. Massachusetts was clearly the bigger launch pad." The Boston Globe's Lehigh writes about the dog-on-the-rooftop incident: "… Poor Seamus Romney… If the rooftop ride really was such a smart solution, at the very least Mitt could have taken a turn up there himself. Certainly he's proved resolute in the face of risk … and I have it on good report that the hair product he uses is guaranteed to hold fast in gusts of up to 70 miles an hour."

The AP says that Romney, who was facing a deadline today, "won't have to disclose details of his financial holdings until mid-August, under an extension obtained from the Office of Government Ethics" because aides were still compiling data on his blind trust.

This can't be good. There are questions around the Big Dig safety review. "The SEC is probing whether Romney administration officials intentionally misled potential investors by inaccurately stating in four separate bond statements between August, 2005 and April, 2006 they were reviewing the safety of the mammoth project."

F. THOMPSON:

Fred Thompson's stop in New Hampshire yesterday gets a solid review in today's Union Leader. The Politico says that "for Thompson's all-but-declared presidential bid, the prospect of being a favorite son of the South could be a key strategy for besting the rest of the GOP field."

The Hill reports on something we've been wondering ourselves. Could the FEC determine that Thompson spent June more as a candidate than as someone "testing the waters" and therefore violate election law if he doesn't file an FEC report by July 15? Thompson spokesperson Mark Corallo on the anonymous complains of the "testing the waters" committee. "All of the Thompson testing-the-waters committee activities have been and continue to be performed pursuant to these regulations which have been on the books for decades," Corallo said in an e-mail. "I suppose those legal ignoramuses (or is it ignorami?) forgot to check the rules. They could have made a quick call to the [former New York City Mayor Rudy] Giuliani campaign which started out as a testing-the-waters committee this cycle."

The Politico reports, "Speaker Nancy Pelosi … and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid … are expected tomorrow to announce a new coordinated effort to force votes in July to end the Iraq war, according to Democratic insiders. Reid has already publicly declared that Senate Democrats will offer four Iraq-related amendments to the upcoming 2008 Defense authorization bill, including a proposal by Reid and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) to set a firm timetable to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by next spring. Pelosi is planning to announce that the House will also vote on a bill setting a new withdrawal timetable of April 1, 2008, although the details of the proposal were still up in the air at press time."

The New York Times covers the money race between Clinton and Obama, noting that Clinton's camp "announced yesterday that it would raise 'in the range of $27 million' for the second quarter of 2007… While Mr. Obama has declined to provide an estimate of second-quarter fund-raising figures, the campaign yesterday sought to signal its financial strength by disclosing that more than 250,000 people had contributed to his presidential race."

In fact, the Obama campaign said it surpassed 250,000 donors yesterday. And Obama himself called the 250,000th donor -- Angela Berg, a teacher from Washington State -- to thank her for the contribution.  She gave $100 last night.

The New York Times notes that a presidential campaign would cause the very private Michael Bloomberg to make a major adjustment. "And, as the revelation this week that he had a heart procedure in 2000 shows, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Mr. Bloomberg to keep that privacy bubble from popping." Hmmmmm. Anonymous automated calls are going out to people living in the New York metropolitan area asking if they would vote for Bloomberg for President.

Speaking of Bloomberg, The Politico's Wilner looks at all of the business tycoons who are running -- or might run -- for president. "It seems like just yesterday that self-made multimillionaire and billionaire businessmen who presumed their private-sector credentials would translate easily into high-level electoral success often flopped. One fabled example in political circles: Al Checchi, another Harvard MBA who amassed a net worth of $600 million, self-financed a run for governor of California in 1998, and was stymied in the Democratic primary by methodical bureaucrat Gray Davis."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Richardson, Dodd, Kucinich (and his really tall young wife -- no making out) and Gravel made it into the spin room. Richardson gave a good bite on immigration.

Bob Menendez was there spinning Clinton, saying she "had the moment of the night" on her answer on HIV/AIDS.

And of course, Al Sharpton was there too.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro

Twice in almost the same breath, Obama made a point that the president needs to be "in touch with the needs of New Orleans before the hurricane hits" and that "we've got to have a president who understands the reality that people in New Orleans were being neglected prior to the hurricane."

Here's the full quote:
"I think that what's most important, though, is that we have a president who's in touch with the needs of New Orleans before the hurricane hits. Because part of the reason that we had such a tragedy was the assumption that everybody could jump in their SUVs, load up with some sparkling water, and check in to the nearest hotel.  And we've got to have...we've got to have one person in charge, we've got to have a FEMA director who's reporting to the president, but we've got to have a president who understands the reality that people in New Orleans were being neglected prior to the hurricane. And there are potential Katrinas all across this country that have been left unattended."

****UPDATE******
The above quote was from a raw transcript. It has now been updated and should more accurately reflect Obama's language.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
In a debate with an opportunity to put each of the candidates on the record on their stances on affirmative action, not a single question was asked on the topic. Why?

And the format really led to a big problem -- boilerplate questions, lead to boilerplate answers.

From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
At the beginning of the debate, Gravel called it the fairest one so far. Unlike previous debates where the front-runners received more questions than the rest of the candidates, in this debate each candidate got to answer every question. But the format may not have allowed for the most amount of total candidate on air time. There were a total of only eight questions.
 
We kept track of how much time each candidate held the stage, and neither Clinton, Obama, nor Edwards spoke the most amount of time -- that honor went to Richardson, who was the only candidate to speak for more than eight minutes. Obama was next, with Dodd and Clinton following. At the beginning of the debate, Dodd looked like he would receive the crown for longest speaker, but after Smiley chastised him, Dodd kept his answers to the time limit.
 
The rest of the candidates spoke for less than seven minutes. Although the format should have allowed for each candidate to speak for a similar amount of time, Gravel spoke the least, barely over six minutes, and Kucinich spoke for less than 6 1/2 minutes.

Here's our rough count of the time for each candidate:
Richardson 8:15
Obama 7:42
Dodd 7:25
Clinton 7:20
Biden 6:58
Edwards 6:36
Kucinich 6:29
Gravel 6:08

From NBC's Andrew Merten
It looks like Chuck was right. By our count so far, the word Iraq was mentioned just four times in tonight's debate.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
As I wrote about constantly during the live-blogging session, this format was awful. I understand what the organizers were trying to do but it didn't work. And that means it was hard to view this debate as having a real impact on this campaign. None of the candidates came into this debate with an intent on creating a contrast. If you twisted my arm, I guess I'd say Biden, Clinton and Obama stood out a bit. Gravel stands out, but for all the wrong reasons (and what was with the casual khakis). Richardson, once again, had some uneven moments; he's lucky these debates haven't impacted him much; he certainly didn't act like a first tier candidate tonight. Edwards was more robotic than he has been in the first two debates. It could be the format that contributed to it for him. Dodd actually seemed to be better with the 30-second limit than during the 1-minute portion.  

BTW, does PBS really believe that Tavis Smiley is going to be able to get the Republican candidates to come to a debate? I just don't buy it. Then again, if Smiley and PBS promise to make the debate as long and tedious as this one came across, where it took a half hour to get to the second question, well, then maybe. After all, the Republicans will LOVE to do a debate that doesn't mention the word "Iraq," right? (Actually, I think Iraq was mentioned four times total, but I'll have to double check my TiVO.) Seriously, the Republican candidates aren't going to come to a debate if they think the moderator or questioners will attack them.

From NBC's Mark Murray
Gravel, when asked about Darfur, said that dealing with it comes to moral judgment, and he said that his opponents on the stage don't have it. Ouch. And wow!

From NBC's Chuck Todd
Why does the debate have to end on time if it didn't begin on time?

Richardson repeated his argument to put pressure on the Chinese when it comes to Darfur by threatening to boycott the 2008 Olympics.

"I believe fighting genocide is more important that sports," he said.

From NBC's Mark Murray
It's on Darfur. But how many more questions could have been asked had the actual debate started at 9:00 pm ET, as was scheduled?

From NBC's Mark Murray   
She just buzzed through another question... "$300. Can I hear $400? Sold to the gentleman in the yellow hat..."

From NBC's Chuck Todd
That's a tough charge from Clinton on the Bush admin, "criminal indifference."  By the way, this 30-second format, as Mark pointed out, is not good for Clinton. She's used the phrase "10 point plan" and then ticked off numbers the other time.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
...came out strong, but he seems tired. He's sounds like he's running out of gas...