From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan
CONCORD, N.H. -- Sen. Barack Obama may still shy away from directly attacking Sen. Hillary  Clinton by name, but in Concord today, he referenced her husband to distinguish his experience from those who have spent too many years in Washington.

"I remember what was said years ago by a candidate running for President."  He said, "The same old experience is not relevant.  You can have the right kind of experience and the wrong kind of experience."

"Well that candidate was Bill Clinton.  And I think he was absolutely right."

Obama toughened his lines on why "playing the game in Washington" was detrimental, tying those who taut their beltway credentials to the deaths of thousands of American troops in Iraq.

"There are those who say we they can play the game in washington. Well we shouldn't be playing a game when young men and women are dying in the battlefields of iraq," Obama told the crowd. "We don't need the kind of experience that leads people into war."

His speech stressed his years as a consensus builder in the Illinois state senate and his role in helping pass ethics reform in Washington.  Once again he would not refer to Sen. Clinton by name, but positioned himself as someone who was free of the special interest influence that could impede the passage of major legislative reforms.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich has decided not to run for president. Gingrich spokesperson Rick Tyler said the conservative icon was given legal advice yesterday that said a presidential campaign would have jeopardized the 527 status of American Solutions should Gingrich had remained involved. Exploring a run for president and continuing his work with American Solutions were legally incompatible and Gingrich chose his American Solutions project. All work that was supposed to go into the presidential exploration has been permanently halted.

While Tyler didn't say it, Gingrich basically was prevented from running for president by John McCain since the McCain-Feingold campaign finance regulations have made mixing political projects very difficult.

From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
LONDONDERRY, N.H. -- Mike Huckabee let his bass guitar do the talking as he kicked off a weekend trip to the Granite State by jamming at a local bar here.

Huckabee traded his band, Capitol Offense, for local rockers Mama Kicks Friday night as he played before a crowd mixed with supporters and curious onlookers. "Would you like a president who has pardoned Keith Richards?" asked Fred Bramante, Huckabee's state co-chairman, as he introduced the former Arkansas governor. "Would you like a president who knows how to rock?"

The performance at Whippersnappers was a limited engagement; Huckabee played seven songs, including "Born to Be Wild," "Jailhouse Rock" and "Sweet Home Alabama." He didn't know the set list before he got on stage, but seemed to have no trouble keeping up. "I just had to follow them," he said.

Huckabee was joined on stage for three songs by former Boston guitarist Barry Goudreau. Boston's Tom Scholz was also on hand. "I couldn't believe I met those guys," Huckabee said after. "I was like speechless. I really was like a little kid."

From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann
It's not every day that a hunky actor leaves a message on my cell phone.
 
TV actor and noted eye candy James Denton, better known as the plumber from hit series Desperate Housewives, recorded an audio message for supporters of John Edwards, who he'll be stumping for this weekend along with Edwards' daughter Cate.  Per my voice mailbox, he's in Iowa this weekend, and he'd "love to meet" me (and everyone else on the phone list) "along the way."
 
"It's so important that we have a president who actually listens to the American people," says Denton in the recording, "and who has the backbone to stand up to special interests and fight to make sure every American has the opportunities he had."
 
"John's has been doing this all his whole life, and that's exactly what he'll do as our president."
 
Oh, and he looks forward to meeting me this weekend.  

Okay, Jim. But I have to be home by ten-thirty or my dad will KILL me.

From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
Huckabee has just added a stop on his New Hampshire tour this weekend. He's taking Concord hair salon owner David Holden up on his offer to get a $400 haircut, with the proceeds going to autism research. Holden had invited all campaigns to take part after Edwards' expensive grooming was made public earlier this year. Holden said another candidate had expressed interest in coming, but Huckabee will be the first to actually stop by his Main Street Avenue salon when he comes Saturday morning.

"We're pretty excited to have a national candidate come," said Holden, owner of Hair Biz Salon. "We're not interested in poking fun at John Edwards ... The issue really is about giving exposure to the candidates and about giving exposure to autism research." Debra Vanderbeek, Huckabee's New Hampshire campaign manager, said she doesn't know whether Huckabee actually needs a haircut, but wanted to make a contribution.

From NBC's Joel Seidman
Prosecutors, in their continuing influence-peddling investigation of convicted super lobbyist Jack Abramoff, have issued subpoenas to California Republican Rep. John Doolittle and five of his staff members, seeking office records dating back more than 10 years.

Doolittle's attorney David G. Barger argued that the U.S. Constitution protects Members of Congress from legal inquiries into legislative acts. "These efforts raise serious Constitutional issues going to the very core of our separation of powers created by the Founding Fathers," Barger said in a statement.

Barger said the prosecutors wanted "virtually every record including legislative records for the congressman for the past 11 years."

Neither Doolittle nor his lawyer has indicated in their statement, which records prosecutors are seeking to obtain. In April, the FBI raided Doolittle's house in Oakton, Va., where his wife, Julie, ran a fundraising company linked to Abramoff. She owned Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions.

According to a Senate Indian Affairs Committee investigation released last year, the firm was retained by Abramoff's law firm, Greenberg Traurig, and earned $66,000 from Abramoff. The committee report also details money paid by Abramoff's law firm, which include eight $5,000 payments to Julie Doolittle beginning in July 2003.

Rep. Doolittle accepted $14,000 in contributions directly from Abramoff in 1999. The first contribution came just a few weeks before Doolittle endorsed the election of a key politician in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, a key Abramoff client at the time, according to the committee report. The last Abramoff contribution to Doolittle came as the Northern Marianas lobbying contract was expiring in December 2001. Doolittle helped block labor reforms the Marianas and also used Abramoff's luxury sports box for a fundraiser without initially reporting it.
 
According to the documents, Rep. Doolittle also wrote a letter to then-Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton in support of the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, an Abramoff client. The letter asked Norton to allow the tribe to re-open a gaming casino that had been shut down by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The letter was written at the same time that Sierra Dominion was receiving payments from Abramoff's lobby firm.

The five staffers who were served subpoenas are Alisha Perkins, the office scheduler; chief of staff Ron Rogers; deputy chief of staff Dan Blankenburg; Gordon Hinkle, Doolittle's field representative and spokesman in Granite Bay; and legislative director Evan Goitein. Blankenburg and Perkins appeared under subpoenas to testify before a federal grand jury investigating the lobbying scandal in U.S. District Court.

A release issued by Doolittle said, "The five staff members, who have been assured by DOJ that they are merely witnesses, will confer with the Office of the General Counsel for the United States House of Representatives to determine how to respond to these subpoenas."

Doolittle was also subpoenaed, along with 11 House members, by defense attorneys representing Brent Wilkes, the former defense contractor charged with bribing now imprisoned ex-Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Attorneys in the Office of General Counsel of the House of Representatives filed a motion Wednesday in federal court in San Diego to quash those subpoenas.
 
Abramoff is currently serving a five-and-a-half-year sentence for his conviction in the Florida-based SunCruz Casinos gambling boat fraud case. He has yet to be sentenced for his role in the Washington lobbying scandal.

From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli and NBC's Chuck Todd
The New Hampshire filing period has just been announced and it is Oct. 15 to Nov. 2nd. This doesn't mean we know what the primary date will be; it simply means that Nov. 2nd is the last day Al Gore or Newt Gingrich can file.

*** UPDATE *** It will likely be another month until we know the date of the New Hampshire Primary.

Secretary of State Bill Gardner announced this afternoon that the filing period for the primary will begin Monday, October 15, and end Friday, November 2. That means Gore and Gingrich, if they want to participate in the first-in-the-nation primary, must make up their mind in the next month.

NH law calls for the filing period to be the first Monday through the third Friday of the November. That's when it was in 2003, for the primary held January 27, 2004. Gardner said in a phone interview this afternoon that moving the filing period up three weeks does not necessarily indicate that the primary would move likewise. "Nothing will happen now at least until the filing period begins," Gardner said of his timeline for an announcement.

Gardner did confirm that it means there is a chance the primary "could be in December." "We would be ready," Gardner said. "This allows us to be prepared by moving [the filing period] ahead."

Candidates who want to participate in the primary can file beginning at 8 am on the 15th. All you need is $1,000. Filing closes before 5 pm on November 2nd. Gardner said he would immediately then begin printing absentee ballots.

From NBC/NJ's Tricia Miller
In a memo obtained by NBC News/National Journal, Edwards campaign manager David Bonior tried to reassure supporters that the campaign made the decision to accept public financing on principle, not because it was struggling financially.

"It became clear if we didn't lead by example, no one would," Bonior wrote.

An aide to the campaign expounded: "He's been thinking about it for a while now and watching Clinton on the Sunday shows talk about how public financing was the answer to all this, [we] figured we'd call her bluff."

In the memo, Bonior explained that Edwards would still operate comfortably within its four-state strategy, which the campaign has previously said would cost $40 million.

"This in no way handicaps us in the early primary states, and it does not put us at a disadvantage going into the general election," he wrote.

Clinton and Obama have said they support public financing of all elections but have made no move to accept public financing for this race. Edwards said he would also challenge the eventual Republican nominee to accept public financing, but he has also said his decision to accept matching funds in the general would depend on his opponent's decision.

In the memo Bonior wrote: "John Edwards believes the best thing and the right thing would be to operate the campaign under the public financing rules for the entire presidential campaign. But he also understands that almost none of the Republican candidates share this commitment. Accordingly, we will continue to raise money for the general election so we will be ready to compete against the Republican nominee.

"Once we win the nomination, John will challenge the Republican nominee to join him in accepting public financing. ... If they refuse, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it and make the decision at that time about whether to accept public financing."

The aide insisted, as Bonior did, that the decision was made on principle.

"[Voters] can choose between a candidate bought and sold by special interests or someone who's campaigning within the ethical guidelines established by public financing," the aide said.

But coming just three days before the end of the third quarter fundraising period and since he didn't do so when this campaign started, they may have an uphill battle in selling this message. Considering all the negative press coverage Edwards received today regarding this decision, this memo was a necessity.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
The Lombardo Consulting Group, of DC, put together pretty comprehensive look at this election based on publicly available survey data since 2005.

Some bullet points from LCG's report:
-- Hillary Clinton has taken command of the Democratic nomination for President.
--The Obama campaign is becoming less and less relevant with each passing day.
--Rudy Giuliani is running a general election campaign built on his "electability" and no-one on the Republican side is challenging this premise.
--Romney's advertising-fueled, early lead in Iowa and NH is eroding.
--Thompson may regret going on Leno instead of debating in NH.
--If McCain is to come back from the dead it will happen in New Hampshire.
--The Giuliani campaign won the award for best tactical maneuver in September

--Polling indicates that Republican primary voters are substantially more satisfied with the GOP candidates they have to chose from then they were in July.
--On the other hand, voters still know very little about the candidates.
--A just released CBS News survey shows that job approval rating for the Democratic-controlled Congress is at 27% which is 6% BELOW the President's job approval rating.
--Michigan matters and the media will amplify this.
--Every eventual GOP nominee since 1980 has won South Carolina.  (Yes, they also won either NH or Iowa but the fact is that South Carolina may be more important than either of those two early states.)

From NBC's Andy Merten
Obama spoke this afternoon at Howard University here in Washington to lay out his policy proposals to address the disparities in America's criminal justice and voting systems. He was met by a wildly enthusiastic audience at the historically black university's fall convocation ceremony, and called for new measures to advance civil rights.

"It's not enough just to look back in wonder of how far we've come -- I want us to look ahead with a fierce urgency of how far we have left to go," Obama said, citing Thurgood Marshall, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the everyday people who participated in the Civil Rights Movement.
 
But on top of the strong and lofty rhetoric that has become a trademark of Obama's "hope" and "change" message, the Illinois senator used his forum today to present a list of policy proposals to tackle today's civil rights shortcomings. His approach is five-pronged: (1) rid the Department of Justice of "political cronies" and instead staff the civil rights division with qualified attorneys; (2) create a voting rights division within the DOJ to track and prosecute voter fraud and intimidation; (3) recruit more qualified public defenders by providing college and law school loan compensation as incentives for new attorneys; (4) close the disparity between punishment for crack-cocaine and powder cocaine; and (5) review mandatory minimums, offering first-time, non-violent drug offenders the chance to serve their sentence in rehab instead of jail, when appropriate.
 
In addition to his agenda run-down, Obama also solicited adoring support from the audience in addressing the issue of the Jena Six, a week after the Rev. Jesse Jackson criticized him for saying that the issue wasn't a matter of "black and white," but instead, "right and wrong." But the presidential hopeful stepped up his criticism of the situation in Louisiana, today.

"You have to understand how badly our system of justice failed those six boys in the days after that fight," Obama said, adding later, "Like Katrina did with poverty, Jena exposed glaring inequalities in our justice system that were around long before that schoolyard fight broke out."
 
While Obama kept nearly all of his political jabs aimed at the other side of the aisle, he did take a moment at the conclusion of his speech to poke fun at the media, and possibly, Clinton. Telling the Biblical story of Moses and Joshua -- in which Joshua was called upon to finish Moses' job of leading people out of Egypt -- he told the young audience they are the Joshua generation, called on to finish the job of past civil rights leaders. In describing Joshua's doubts about his ability to lead, Obama deviated from his prepared remarks, adding that some thought he was not "experienced enough." The crowd quickly understood the implicit comparison and awarded the senator with laughter and a standing ovation.
 

Today's speech at Howard University is followed by an address to the Congressional Black Caucus' Legislative Forum. Clinton addressed the group this morning.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
When veteran field organizer Moses Mercado joined Obama's campaign, but his hire is "making waves," the Washington Post reports, because of his "other line of work -- as a lobbyist with Ogilvy Government Relations who is registered to represent several dozen big-name clients, including the National Rifle Association, the Carlyle Group, the Blackstone Group, Monsanto, Pfizer Inc., United Health Group, Sempra Energy and Constellation Energy."

More: "His resume seems to contradict one of Obama's central themes on the campaign trail -- that as an outsider he can fend of the powerful business interests that he has argued have contributed to the income gap between rich and poor and has frustrated attempts to address issues such as high prescription drug costs and global warming."

The campaign's response: "They have not settled on exactly what role Mercado will play, but he will not take on any job until he has ceased his lobbying work. Obama aides said yesterday no one can work on the campaign and still be registered on behalf of clients as a lobbyist, and Mercado will not be exempted from that requirement."

From NBC/National Journal's Aswini Anburajan
HANOVER, N.H. -- In a speech to students at Dartmouth University Wednesday, Obama's New Hampshire's State Director told students that a win in the Granite State could be decided by the youth vote. "If we can get two to three thousand extra votes from you guys that could be four to five, six, seven percent of the vote," Matt Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez pushed students to register and vote in New Hampshire and to encourage their friends and dorm mates to do the same. His speech reflected a campaign strategy to increase turnout among young voters in New Hampshire. Obama's campaign has five dedicated college organizers to get out the vote on campuses across the state. Their efforts appear to be paying off at least at Dartmouth, where Obama signs and t-shirts are ubiquitous across the picturesque New England campus.

 
But the Obama campaign's emphasis on campaigning among college students and young voters has raised eyebrows, especially in Iowa where the youth vote is not seen as a constituency that can be relied upon to turnout. "If it's a battle between Hillary and Barack, it doesn't take a lot to win -- 30,000 votes," Rodriguez said. "Think about what a few thousand young people would mean.
 
Both Rodriguez and Jim Demers, a Democratic strategist working with the Obama campaign, stressed the potential idea of students being part of a historical sea change in politics should they help elect Obama.

"Young people connect with Barack Obama better than any other candidate," Demers said. "If this guy wins, it would be the first time since the Vietnam War that the youth vote made a difference," Demers said.

Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean also acknowledged the potential impact of the youth vote.

"The 18-to-29-year-old vote increased by 20 percent in the 2004 election," Dean said and added that in the 2006 election participation by this bloc had increased by 24%. But, according the Vanishing Voter Project at the Kennedy School of Government, voting by eligible Americans under 30 years of age only increased by 9% in 2004, and in the swing states Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, their participation exceeded 60%. In Iowa in 2004, there was a four-fold increase in caucus participation by 18-to-29-year olds, but in New Hampshire, by contrast, turnout levels remained the same, according to the project.
 
Demers, when speaking to the students about electability, addressed the potential hurdle Obama faces as the first African-American president. He compared the notion that no one would vote for a black candidate today to the idea that no one would vote for John F. Kennedy because of his religion.  

"Everyone said a Catholic couldn't win the presidency," Demers said, "and Barack Obama as an African-American candidate there are those that say he can't win. But the Americans stepped up and did it."

When asked by Dartmouth student Anna Bufa, 20, about whether Obama could win a general election, Demers echoed the theme that the Obama campaign has tried to stress all week -- greater national electability. "With Hillary Clinton, the biggest concern I have is national polls saying 43 percent of Americans don't want to vote for her," Demers said. "My fear is that we have a map that looks like the last two elections, and it will become about a race for a win in one state. That's how we got George W. Bush."

Appearing to channel the recent campaign endorsement given by former Democratic Party Chair Gordon Fischer in Iowa, Demers also said that Obama would provide coattails for other Democrats on the ballot, and referenced the potential race between Jean Shaheen and John Sununu for Sununu's New Hampshire senate race in 2008.

If the Obama campaign is counting on students to register and vote in New Hampshire, the eventual dates of the primary calendar could have a tremendous impact on youth turnout.  Should the New Hampshire primary be held before students return to school from their winter break, students that had registered to vote in New Hampshire would have to vote by absentee ballot. Students from New Hampshire who had registered to vote on their college campuses rather than their hometowns could also be at a disadvantage. 

Also, a recent change in New Hampshire's voting laws allows same day registration, which could help turn out the youth vote.  But if the primaries take place before the students return to campus, there may be few youth to actually turnout.

From NBC's Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro
Check out the "Senator A" vs. "Senator B" sidebar in this column by National Journal's Jonathan Rauch.

Here are two quotes. One by Clinton, one by Obama. Can you tell which senator said what?

Senator A: "The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq's leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year -- now."

Senator B: "It is long past time that the president ended American combat involvement in Iraq's multisided, sectarian civil war.... It is time to begin ending this war. Not next year, not next month, but today."

Very interesting. This is just one example. There is a whole column of these. Certainly says a lot about how Clinton has blurred the lines and how Obama has not distinguished himself.

The column becomes quite complimentary toward Biden:

"By now, even cynics can't help noticing something different about Biden. Different from his previous presidential run, in 1987, and different from the other candidates today. The glibly garrulous wonder boy of two decades ago can still talk a blue streak; but age (he is 64), his institutional position as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and the prospect of a devastating U.S. setback in Iraq have made him the leading contender for the most beloved (among columnists) and dreaded (by candidates) designation in American politics: that of the grown-up in the race."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Check out American Spectator's Jennifer Rubin's take on last night's GOP PBS forum:

"The GOP candidates don't just avoid Tavis Smiley. With the exception of the omnipresent John McCain and Mike Huckabee (who never met a talk show host he didn't like), the presidential contenders do not frequent the Sunday talk shows, go on network news or subject themselves to interrogation by CNN or MSNBC reporters outside the few debates they have done.

"This is a mistake. Simply put, GOP candidates are ignoring Willie Sutton's advice. Sutton of course was the prolific bank robber who was said to have replied "that's where the money is" when asked why he robbed banks. Likewise, the GOP contenders would be wise to go where the voters are, especially voters they are losing."

From NBC's Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro
Check out Giuliani's latest spin on the phone call with his wife per an interview with CBN's Brody:

Brody: Do you care to clear that up?

Giuliani: "Sure. My wife calls me when she gets on a plane. We'd just gotten back from England, hadn't had much sleep. I knew she was going to take a plane, but I didn't know which one she was going to take back to New York, and quite honestly since Sept. 11 most of the time when we get on a plane we talk to each other and just reaffirm the fact that we love each other. Sometimes if I'm in the middle of a very, very sensitive meeting, I don't take the call right then I wait. But I thought it would be kind of nice if I took it at that point, and I'd done that before in engagements, and I didn't realize it would create any kind of controversy, I would be insulted by it?? I'd done it, usually when I do it I put her on the phone and I have her say hello, but she was rushing to get on the airplane at the time, so I started to put her on the phone, but then I realized she was trying to get on the plane. I think she was at Regan Airport, and she was trying to get to her plane, so I gave her regards. I'd  probably don that a half a dozen times before.

"But you know, look, sometimes your opponents kind of push these things sometimes other people kind of push these things -- every little thing is analyzed differently. Did I do this on purpose? Was this a tactic? Was I doing it to try to get the family values vote? Was I trying to distract from some position on -- it was quite an honest act.

"I think people will find with me that that's, I'm a spontaneous person, which leads to sometimes making a mistake, but I think it's better. I came to that conclusion when I was the mayor of New York City. Why the heck to I want to fool people? This is who I am. This is what I'm about. I found that when I had to deal with crisis it was a great strength that they knew who I really was -- the good parts and the bad parts.

"And that it wasn't the same -- there wasn't like a different person before this interview with you David. It's the same -- you know me. We talked to each other. I talk to you the same way before we had this interview as we do, while we're having it and afterwards. There isn't like two or three different people.

"It's me. I'm spontaneous. People get to evaluate that. If they're insulted by it it's not meant that way. If I do something wrong I try to correct it, but basically I'm going to try to be able to be myself. I think, gosh with the pressures that you have being mayor of New York or President of the United States -- you better know who the heck you are, or you shouldn't be running for this job.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Isn't this statement -- and audio recording -- from Dodd on Dems not ruling troops in Iraq until 2013 two days late:

"I think it is shocking that so-called frontrunners of this race for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency cannot tell the American people without any qualification that they would end this war by 2013. It's indefensible that they would allow this war to go on for another six years and become the longest war in American history, at tremendous cost in terms of human life and to our treasury.

"As President of the United States, I will certainly end the war by 2013, as I said last evening, but we cannot afford to wait until then, or even 2009 for that matter. I think we need to end this war now. That's why I'm fighting to use Congress' power of the purse to stop financing this disastrous policy. It hurts our country, keeps us less safe, more vulnerable, more isolated in the world. By every measure this war has made us far less secure as a nation. I understand that, the American people certainly know that, but I am deeply disappointed that my colleagues, my opponents for the Presidential nomination, apparently do not." 

From NBC's Mike Viqueira
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the president this morning and let him know that she was "hoping and praying" that he would change his mind and sign the children's health insurance bill.

Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid appeared at a ceremony to sign the completed legislation and hand it over to the House Clerk, who in turn is charged with sending it down the Avenue to the president's desk. The leaders were flanked by a boisterous group of toddlers and older kids who were goo-goo-ing and ga-ga-ing throughout. The kids were said to be beneficiaries of the SCHIP program.

A certain veto awaits. Nevertheless, Pelosi says she "called to tell him that he is in my prayers." She described the conversation as "friendly" and that "the hand of friendship was extended to each other." The president, according to the speaker, told Pelosi that he "admires people who don't give up." Pelosi aides said that the speaker called the White House without warning and that she was immediately connected to the president.

Reid was not feeling so spiritual towards the president this morning, however. When asked what he has learned about the best way to get things down with Republicans, he answered, "Get a new president."

Reid says that there is no room for further compromise on the measure, describing it as "a wash rag that is wet...we have squeezed everything that we can out of it." Compromise on the bill, Reid said, "is something that will not happen."

From NBC's Athena Jones
Every baby born in America should receive money that can later be used to pay for college, Clinton told the crowd at the Congressional Black Caucus annual legislative conference in Washington on Friday.

"I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grow over time, so when that young person turns 18, if they have finished high school they will be able to access it to go to college," Clinton said, calling it one way to give young people a chance to save money tax free.

Clinton also said the GI bill should be expanded and talked about the importance of making college affordable for everyone. She touched on the need to end discrimination in hiring practices, so that when people graduate college, they can make a decent living. She added that politics should be about giving young people the opportunities to live up to their potential. "Everything we do, I believe, is about young people," she said.

Clinton said the greeting most common among the Masai tribe of Africa is not, "How are you?" It's "How are the children." This is the question we should ask ourselves, she said. 

Clinton and Obama have been working hard to court black voters, a key Democratic constituency.

***UPDATE***Clinton spoke to the crowd of more than 500 for about an hour, taking questions from mostly young people in the audience and interrupting herself at times to greet politicians she spotted in the room. At one point she said the questions being put to her at the forum were better than the questions asked at Democratic debates. 

She opened by saying she wanted to have a conversation about the issues facing the nation and touched on the celebration this week marking 50 years since the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., and last week's march in Jena, LA in support of six black teens charged in beating a white student at a high school.

She called the two events bookends that marked the progress made by the civil rights movement. "There has been a lot of forward movement, but there is such a long way to go," she said.

Clinton talked about efforts to ensure environmental justice, saying asthma, learning disabilities and birth defects caused by the environment affected minorities and the poor disproportionately. She nodded her head as a young woman from Texas talked about problems black college students faced getting on the voting rolls in 2004 and 2006 anf pledged to make it easier for people to vote.

Clinton said it was important to ensure everyone a living wage. "No one who works fulltime in our country should end up with income below the poverty line," she said, to applause. She also talked about the need to enforce gun laws and to provide better treatment for youth with mental health issues and she called the government's handling of Katrina an embarrassment.

From NBC's Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro

*** Match game: Edwards has struggled to remain in the so-called top tier of Democratic candidates ever since Clinton and Obama both doubled and then tripled Edwards fundraising over the last 9 months. Well, that struggle became even greater yesterday with the campaign's decision to accept matching funds. While the campaign is desperately spinning that this decision means they'll have $20 million to spend at the start of the year, it means the campaign has no long-term strategy. They are going for a quick knockout blow.
 
*** Knock down, drag out: But Clinton and Obama both will have the resources to drag out this contest if necessary. Edwards has foreclosed that option because accepting matching funds means accepting a fundraising and spending limit that the campaign will likely reach by the end of January. It's exactly what happened to him in '04. He ended up having to pick and choose where to play after the early states. This decision will make it easer to dismiss Edwards as a first-tier candidate, particularly when both Clinton and Obama triple his fundraising... again Sunday.
 

*** Clinton vs. Clinton: One of the developing stories from Wednesday night's debate is Clinton v. Clinton. Or more specifically, the growing demand the media and the Clintons' opponents are putting on the frontrunner to distinguish herself from the FPOTUS. Bill Clinton added some fuel to the fire yesterday by answering a question that his wife didn't answer at the debate. On the issue of donor transparency, Bill Clinton both answered the question and provided a loophole around disclosure saying he anticipates disclosing all donors to his various foundations (including the library) but only beginning in the future. They will not go back in time and release those donors.
 

*** Expectations, expectations: This week seems to be a day where everyone on the GOP side is trying to re-calibrate expectations, and it should be no surprise since Sunday is the last day of the 3rd quarter fundraising period. It all started earlier this week with Giuliani when he let go of his finance chair (potential sign that he'll report an underwhelming number for a frontrunner?).
 

*** Re: Slipping? Then there's the Romney campaign memo, which is trying to explain away why they won't budge in the national polls despite still polling well in Iowa and New Hampshire. Also, don't miss the fact that the Romney camp seems to embracing the idea that Giuliani has caught them in New Hampshire. They'd love to make a New Hampshire victory more meaningful again.
 

*** A tale of two knives: Speaking of expectations, we're curious to see by how much Thompson outraises McCain this quarter. Does he double him or are the two much closer? The two may seem like allies, but are both going in opposite directions on policy. McCain is sharpening his policy knife, drawing real distinctions with the rest of the field. Meanwhile, Thompson is still struggling on issues. He appeared stumped again in Tennessee on a local issue. How long can Thompson get away with not knowing about controversial local issues?
 
*** On the trail: Clinton and Obama participate in the Congressional Black Caucus' issue forum in DC. Clinton appears at 9:00 am ET, Obama at 1:15 pm ET. Romney speaks to the Council for National Policy in Salt Lake City; Dodd speaks in Iowa on rural economic development; Edwards speaks on economic fairness and attends a bluegrass concert in New Hampshire. He also holds a low-dollar fundraiser with a local plumbers union in Ohio; Giuliani and Gravel campaign in California; Huckabee delivers a foreign policy speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and raises money in DC. He'll also be playing bass guitar with a local rock band, Mama Kicks, in New Hampshire; Obama delivers Howard University's Opening Convocation address; and Paul campaigns in Massachusetts.
 
Countdown to LA GOV election: 22 days
Countdown to Election Day 2007: 39 days
Countdown to LA GOV run-off (if necessary): 50 days Countdown to Iowa: 108 days Countdown to SC GOP primary: 113 days Countdown to Tsunami Tuesday: 130 days Countdown to Election Day 2008: 403 days Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 480 days

BIDEN: Biden scored his 10th Iowa state legislative endorsement yesterday.
 

Biden's hometown paper, the Wilmington NewsJournal praises him in an editorial for passing his Iraq legislation, saying it "marked a successful day in his presidential campaign … and has also made Sen. Biden stand out from the rest of the Democratic presidential candidates as the only one to have a specific idea to implement." 
 

CLINTON: Is Hillary presidential? That's what Salon's Tim Grieve asks in an article about Wednesday night's debate: "We thought Hillary Clinton finally came off like the front-runner that she is in Wednesday night's Democratic debate in New Hampshire. John Edwards and Barack Obama both looked worn down and thin, and neither scored anything like the knockout blow that must be feeling increasingly necessary." 
 
The Washington Post's Howie Kurtz gets both the editor of GQ and the writer of the spiked GQ-Hillary story, Josh Green, to talk. GQ claims they spiked the story because it wasn't the piece they expected. Green said, "GQ told me it was a great story and a hell of a reporting job, but they didn't want to jeopardize the Clinton-in-Africa piece," he said. "GQ told me the Clintons were unhappy and threatened to revoke access to Bill Clinton if the Hillary story ran."
 
Green's article for GQ dealt with the history of conflicts in the coterie of staff surrounding Clinton. It focused in particular on complaints about her campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, and questions about the compensation of communications director Howard Wolfson.
 
The L.A. Times looks back at Wednesday night's debate and concludes that all of Clinton's rivals are getting more comfortable taking on Clinton more directly over her role in the first Clinton admin. Although nobody directly addressed the impeachment fight that defined so much of President Clinton's second term and still colors the way many Americans view the Clintons, it was clearly a backdrop to the discussion -- as when Biden, filling an awkward silence following his "old stuff" remark, added: "When I say 'old stuff,' I'm referring to policy -- policy."
 
EDWARDS: NBC/NJ's Tricia Miller reports that after a town hall in Conway, N.H., Edwards defended his choice to ask for public financing this far into the campaign. "I don't think anybody anticipated the amount of money that would be raised in this campaign," he said.
 

The former North Carolina senator said he was not concerned about state campaign finance limits. "One thing that's clear is that we have plenty of money to compete," he said. In a sign that the campaign is struggling to raise money and to meet its original $40 million '07 goal, the campaign announced it would accept public financing. The move means that on Jan. 1, the campaign will have achieved short-term financial parity with Clinton and Obama but will limit the campaign's ability to raise or spend much money for the Feb. 5 states.
 
The campaign apparently will raise somewhere between $7-8 million this quarter, which ends Sept. 30. At best, that amount could be only a third or less of what Clinton and Obama raise. 
 
Many reports note the spending limits the campaign COULD face in Iowa and New Hampshire as well, but there are enough FEC loopholes to allow the campaign to get around that. The big impediment that accepting public financing creates is that the campaign will face an OVERALL spending limit.
 
This is what happened to Edwards in '04. After he won the South Carolina primary, he had to pick and choose what states he could seriously contest while Kerry, who didn't accept public financing and therefore wasn't constrained by an overall spending (and fundraising limit), could contest every state. Nevermind the issue of what happens if Edwards actually became the nominee; he'd be without money until Labor Day.
 
Some other takes: Politico's Cummings: "Edwards' decision to accept public matching funds to finance his campaign is a political blow but it's probably also the only lifeline he has to stay in the race." 
 
The Boston Globe: The move "allows Edwards to take up to about $21 million in matching funds in exchange for abiding by a primary-season spending limit of $50 million. But the move is likely to be perceived as an acknowledgment that he has been unable to compete with senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the fight for Democratic dollars."
 
Edwards answered town hall-like questions in an online forum co-sponsored by MTV.com and MySpace. "Despite having the technology to give him a virtual thumbs-down, the online instant-polling tool showed that 90 percent of viewers liked what they saw of Edwards overall. And viewers soon will get a chance to have the same experience with other candidates. " Most of the other frontrunners (on both sides) plan to also participate in this series of MTV/MySpace town halls. The forum, in fact, will include every major candidate -- except Fred Thompson, who, apparently, doesn't want his MTV.
 
NBC/NJ's Tricia Miller reports Edwards took a variety of questions at the forum, many focused on foreign policy and education, from a crowd of about 300 students at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. To fund a College for Everyone program that would allow students to work their way through college, Edwards said he would get rid of banks as intermediaries on student loans and collect capital gains taxes that aren't currently being paid.
 

OBAMA: The campaign held a rally in NYC last night where they attracted some 20,000+ supporters. In a giant rally in the backyard of Senator Hillary Rodham, Mr. Obama, of Illinois, drew distinctions between himself and his leading rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, insisting that only a fresh candidate could truly change Washington. Twice, he singled out Mrs. Clinton. "Even your senator from New York wasn't clear about the Yankees," he said, laughing at his own joke. "I know who I'm rooting for!" Obama was referring to Clinton's waffling on who she would root for in a Yankees-Cubs World Series. 
 
So we know definitively that Michelle Obama didn't say if Obama loses Iowa, it's over. But even though she didn't say it, what was attributed to her was actually a very truthful statement. Frankly, if Obama doesn't win Iowa, it's hard to imagine how he wins the nomination.
 
The AP reports that the Obama campaign is trying to soften Michelle Obama's comments that "If Barack doesn't win Iowa, it is just a dream." The campaign's Iowa spokesman said: "Every campaign has said it's important to do well in Iowa, and that's our goal."
 
Portfolio's Matt Cooper wonders if Obama doesn't get too hot at a debate because of his race. 
 
NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan gets a peak at Obama's convocation speech today at Howard University. At this historically black university, He make an appeal to African-American voters and try to put to rest criticism that he may not be committed to civil rights issues. "Like Katrina did with poverty, Jena exposed glaring inequities in our justice system that were around long before that schoolyard fight broke out," Obama will say according to excerpts released by the campaign.

Obama will outline the disparities that continue to persist within the American legal system. "We can have a crime policy that's both tough and smart," Obama will say. "If you're convicted of a crime involving drugs, of course you should be punished.  But let's not make the punishment for crack cocaine that much more severe than the punishment for powder cocaine when the real difference between the two is the skin color of the people using them."

Other aspects of the plan include: (1) strengthening the civil rights division at the justice department; (2) the creation of a voting rights section within the justice department; (3) increase the number of public defenders; (4) equalize the punishments for illegal substances including crack cocaine versus powdered coke; (5) review mandatory minimum drug sentencing.

The first question at last night's debate forced the candidates to react to the decision by the four frontrunners to not show. Huckabee said he was "embarrassed." Brownback said it was a "disgrace." The other candidates didn't use as harsh of language.
 
Des Moines Register's Yepsen called the entire GOP a "loser" for its frontrunners deciding to skip the event. "For a party already in minority status in much of the country, it defies political logic to just brush off these constituencies. Republicans don't need to win the votes of everyone in those groups, but they must carry a big enough slice to deny victories to Democrats in close contests."
 
The Washington Times notes, "The first 10 minutes of the debate were dedicated to bashing the four no-shows and, in some cases, Republicans as a whole."
 
BTW, the GOP candidates are being offered a second bite at the Univision debate apple, on Dec. 9. 
 

GIULIANI: NBC/NJ's Matthew Berger reports Giuliani, who suddenly is within striking distance in New Hampshire, has been increasing his mail presence there. According to Marc Ambinder, Giuliani has mailed at least seven glossy pamphlets to Republicans and independents in the state, and has conducted surveys of voters. The mail stress Giuliani's immigration policy, as well as his broader "12 Commitments."
 
MCCAIN: USA Today does the "is McCain on the comeback" story. We'll get a true sense of McCain's place in the campaign when we get a look at his 3rd quarter FEC report. Does he outraise Thompson? If he does, it will be a perception boost for the one-time frontrunner. But if the other three top-tier candidates out-raise him by double or triple, it's going to be a sign of just how long the road is for McCain.
 
McCain unveiled his first TV ad of campaign, a bio spot that shows McCain as a P.O.W. "Titled "One Man," the ad hammers home that McCain knows war in a way no other candidate does, drawing a sharp -- if subtle -- contrast with three other men: fellow Republican candidates Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson. None of them served in the military."

VIDEO: NBC's Political Director Chuck Todd offers his first take on John McCain and John Edwards using personal sufferings in their political adds.

McCain has started to go on the offensive against other candidates, including implicitly in his ads invoking words like "judgment," "experience," and "leadership." His campaign manager tells the Boston Globe, ""I do think people's credentials are going to be debated in this election, and this is a very important one in this time of war." Davis also insisted in the Nashua Telegraph: "We've got enough money to run a campaign that will be effective and will work."
 
The AP notes McCain's renewed bluntness: "'We don't have time or opportunity for on-the-job training, and the other candidates for president I don't believe have the qualifications that I do to hit the ground running and immediately address these serious challenges,' the four-term Arizona senator and Vietnam veteran told reporters following a speech on the military. 'The country would be safer with me as its leader,' McCain added. He said that while he respects his opponents, "this is all about who is best equipped to take on the challenge of radical Islamic extremism."
 
McCain also wrote a piece in the National Review saying, "America's dependence on foreign oil is a major strategic vulnerability for our nation" and that he has "an energy plan that won't be another grab bag of handouts, a full employment act for lobbyists, nor another round of tax breaks and other subsidies to big oil. It will recognize the fundamental truth that our oil problem is an automobile fuel problem and break the dominance of oil in our transportation sector just as we diversified away from oil use in electric power generation 30 years ago."
 
McCain renewed his call for a new U.N. of sort, called the "League of Democracies." He has voiced increasing frustration with the shortcomings of the United Nations and its inability -- through the intransigence of two Security Council members, China and Russia -- to tackle a succession of major international political disasters. He has worried aloud that the world body will be inadequate to the task of heading off the threat to Israel and the Western world posed by a nuclear-equipped Iran, not least in the Islamist state's capacity to provide terrorists such as Hezbollah with a nuclear weapon. 
 
Some active-duty soldiers may have violated a Pentagon policy by participating in a McCain campaign event in N.H. Seven personnel from a Manchester, N.H., recruiting station appeared in uniform and briefly addressed the crowd. A Department of Defense directive signed in August 2004 by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz prohibits on-duty members of the armed forces from "speak[ing] before a partisan political gathering, including any gathering that promotes a partisan political party, candidate, or cause."
 

ROMNEY: The campaign is circulating another Alex Gage-written strategy memo that attempts to re-calibrate expectations a bit. "It is likely that Gov. Romney will continue to hover around 10 percent in national polls as he has for the past several months, and that he will gradually gain ground toward the end of the year as voters begin to pay more attention to the race," the memo continues. "But we should not expect him to be competitive in national polls with better-known celebrity candidates like Giuliani, Thompson, or McCain until after Iowa and New Hampshire."
 
Perhaps the most striking declaration in the memo is the reminder to "interested parties" that the campaign does not expect to win both Iowa and New Hampshire. "Giuliani is already on the air with radio advertisements in both states, and McCain is about to begin his television and radio ads in New Hampshire; we know we will have an uphill battle." This memo comes just days after a new New Hampshire poll shows Romney and Giuliani in a dead heat, a switch from the last few months when Romney consistently led the field by double-digits (in some cases).
 
But Romney's camp insists it's not worried about NH poll slip.
 
The winner of the Romney ad make-your-own-ad campaign was announced yesterday, and NBC/NJ's Erin McPike reports the winner is from Utah. Today, Romney speaks in Utah before Council for National Policy. Although the council's meetings are closed to the public and details are supposed to be kept secret, according to an investigative report in the New York Times from 2004, the Romney campaign did include on its schedule as early as Wednesday that the candidate will speak before the conservative group. The campaign estimates several hundred supporters will attend today's rally, which wraps a week of fundraising rallies to end the third quarter.

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THOMPSON: Following a week where Thompson seemed to be unaware of the key issues facing Florida voters, Thompson found himself similar situation in Tennessee -- his HOME STATE! Thompson said Thursday he was unaware a federal judge had ruled last week that lethal injection procedures in his home state were unconstitutional. Thompson also told reporters he was unaware that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed this week to consider a Kentucky case about whether lethal injection violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
 
Thompson's support for the death penalty was a major part of his campaign platform when he first ran for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee in 1994. Asked for his response to the recent Tennessee and Kentucky cases, Thompson responded, "I hadn't heard that. I didn't know."
 
Thompson is in Tennessee this week to raise money and fast. Just how much does he have to raise by the end of the year? Some estimates hit $50 million, which translates into about $10 million a month.

The Washington Times looks at the difficulty the religious right is having rallying around one candidate. "Many of the top leaders on the religious right privately say it's impossible to name a top-tier, declared Republican hopeful who can pass the "straight face" test as someone social conservatives can honestly say they would trust if elected."
 
In California, It appears the GOP effort to put a ballot initiative on the state's ballot that could split up California's electoral votes is coming apart. Two of the campaign's top consultants have quit the effort.

The Washington Post's Baker looks at Bush's decision to begin taking on the challenge of global warming as a sign he's looking to improve his legacy.

From NBC's Andy Merten
After about 20 minutes of acknowledgements -- which should really be done before the cameras start rolling -- and ending the debate nearly ten minutes early, Smiley was able to get in about only an hour worth of actual time with the candidates.  By our count, he got in only eleven questions.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
We were a little distracted here... The Daily Show's crew, like we said, is on site, and we might wind up in a couple of these shots. They want to know where all the journalists are, which is something we noted earlier.