From NBC/NJ's Tricia Miller
BEDFORD, N.H. -- Edwards distanced himself from actor Harry Belafonte's controversial comments on George Bush and Hugo Chavez at a house party today. Belafonte endorsed the former North Carolina senator in Charleston, S.C., last night.
 
"I speak for myself, as I always do, and you know, Harry Belafonte supported John Kennedy, supported Bobby Kennedy, and supported a whole host of presidential candidates over the years. I'm proud of his support, and I thank him for his support, but he doesn't speak for me," Edwards said in response to a question about Belafonte calling the president a tyrant and rallying in support of the Venezuelan leader.
 
In January 2006, Belafonte called Bush the "greatest tyrant" in the world and reassured Chavez that "millions of the American people" support him. Unlike its usual routine, the Edwards campaign did not send out a press release announcing the endorsement, instead alerting supporters about it on the campaign's blog.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
The fiscally conservative Club for Growth, which has been hammering Huckabee, will begin running an attack ad Monday against the former governor in Iowa and South Carolina. The ad attacks Huckabee's tax record and replays video of a heavier Gov. Huckabee talking about various tax increases which would be "fine" with him.

[YouTube:sNWoD2mzN04]

The week prior to the Aug. 11 Ames straw poll, the Club for Growth ran an attack ad in Iowa on taxes, equating him to another governor from Hope -- Bill Clinton. Huckabee still finished second at the straw poll with limited resources. 

This is a $175,000 ad buy, which will run on broadcast and cable in Iowa, cable in South Carolina and nationally on FOX News Channel.

From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy
CHARLOTTE, NC -- Although he didn't address the growing controversy over his involvement in the parole of Wayne Dumond, Huckabee did speak with the media this morning following a fundraiser here, weighing in on the president's plan to help sub-prime borrowers and his opponents' attempts to, as he claims, buy the presidency.

Huckabee first commended the president for not using any taxpayer money in his proposed solution to help out sub-prime borrowers saying, "I'm glad that the president did not use the tax payers' money to try to fix this because this is not a tax payers' obligation. People have to take responsibility for financial decisions they've made. You know, that's tough.

"What the president did was simply say this was a transaction between borrowers and lenders and let's see if they can create some reasonable ways to keep their transaction alive, but not at the expense of taxpayers. That was a good move on the president's part."

When asked about criticisms that despite a recent surge in the polls Huckabee hasn't seen enough of an increase in donors to compete nationally, the former governor and newly minted frontrunner dismissed the claim. He said that his campaign had between $2 million and $3 million in the bank, and that he has "raised more money in November than we have in the previous 11 months combined."

"Here we are at the top of the polls nationally," Huckabee continued, arguing that his success with such little money is actually indicative of the American people's distaste for money in politics. "Now how did we do that? Did we do it because we bought our way into it? No, we did it because there are a whole lot of American people who don't want to put the presidency up for sale. If they do they might as well put it on eBay."

Huckabee's campaign has spent just a fraction of the money spent by his competitors, and he now claims that finding success with so little money has taught him the fiscal discipline necessary to be president.

"I would suggest that the discipline that we've learned by not having a lot of money is exactly what a lot of Americans are wanting to see not just in a candidate," he said, "but in a president who would lead this country to a same kind of frugal budget management that they have to in their own homes. And when they see people running for president throwing money at everything and everybody they're saying, 'If they'll do that with a campaign what on earth would they do if they had the federal treasury to spend.'"

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Sean Penn will endorse Kucinich this afternoon at a press conference in San Francisco, a source close to the Hollywood actor said. He will also be speaking on "the Constitution, the media and Dennis Kucinich," the source said. Expect a political speech.

Penn has donated $4,600 to John Edwards' campaign and $2,300 to Kucinich during this cycle, per FEC campaign finance data.

In March of this year, Penn wrote in a WorldNetDaily column that, "As things stand today, I will be voting for Dennis Kucinich, who has fought this war from the beginning. You might say Kucinich can't win. Well, we have an opportunity to re-establish the credibility of democracy as viewed by the world at large."

Penn is set to deliver "a blistering indictment of political leaders and an impassioned endorsement of Presidential proportions," according to a Kucinich press release.

More: "Penn and Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich have been close friends for years, but the Kucinich campaign was not involved with Penn in preparing the remarks he plans to deliver today. 'Sean Penn is a good friend, but he's also a very intense, independent-minded person,' said a spokesman for the Kucinich campaign. 'He's going to say whatever he's going to say.'"

From NBC's Andy Merten
WASHINGTON, DC -- On the news the CIA destroyed at least two videotapes documenting "severe interrogation techniques" of al-Qaeda operatives in custody, Clinton did not explicitly peg blame to the Bush Administration. But Clinton, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, did say, "It raises some very serious concerns. So we're going to be looking into this vigorously to determine exactly what happened, what were the reasons for the destruction of the tapes -- what was the C.I.A. trying to protect." 

It's a topic that will likely provide attack fodder for her and her fellow Democratic presidential contenders in the coming weeks as questions are raised as to who in the Bush Administration knew what and when.

"We've got to really clean house here and get to the bottom of what has been going on in the last years," Clinton said. "It undermines our position in the world and our leadership."

VIDEO: Senator Hillary Clinton says the CIA's actions raise serious concerns and questions about the interrogation of the two terrorism suspects.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
A day after Romney's "Faith in America" speech, which some have said was about showing conviction more than it was about Mormonism, Romney is up with an ad in Iowa, touting his conviction. An announcer rattles things he "stood up for" even "when it wasn't politically correct."

"When it wasn't politically correct, he stood up for life in Massachusetts," the announcer says. "When it wasn't politically correct, he fought for English in the classroom. When it wasn't politically correct, he said marriage should be between a man and a woman."

[YouTube:DX9qQrQ8F2Y]

From NBC's Abby Livingston
Almost without fail, the most interesting part of candidate events on the trail are the question-and-answer sessions. As a means to get a candidate off his or her stump, it can be fascinating, dangerous, scandalous or, as when a child asked Giuliani about extraterrestrial life, just plain weird.
 
It can also be annoying. Instead of asking a candidate questions, prospective voters or caucus-goers sometimes deliver long-winded speeches of their own rather than asking an actual question. Yet, one candidate actually solicits such situations, and that has shaped his policy. After McCain delivers his stump, he often not only invites questions but also comments. He respectfully engages with the speaker and promises to study up on the commenter's position.
 
Most prominent is immigration. Even as late as yesterday, when he was asked about immigration, the issue that wounded his campaign, McCain politely answered, "I got the message, my friends," as he has often said of late. But he did not stop there. After he explained his position, he actually asked his inquirer, "Do you have a follow up?"
 
And McCain follows up as well. Climate change has evolved into a more and more conspicuous part of his stump. Often it is the centerpiece of his speech, rivaling the Iraq war in McCain intensity. While speaking before employees of the Timberland Company in New Hampshire, McCain addressed the issue. "What I really want to talk to you about for just a minute is your commitment to the environment and mine," McCain began. "I won't take long because I want to hear from you. This is what it's all about is me hearing from you as much as you hearing from me.

"But in 2000, when I campaigned here across this state, in town hall meeting after town hall meeting, young people would stand up and say, 'Senator McCain, what are you going to do about global warming or climate change? What are you going to do?' I'll tell ya, I didn't know anything about it. I'd heard it. I'm not totally unaware. But I went back, after I lost...I was chairman of the Commerce Committee, and I started holding hearings...I learned that climate change is real, my friends."
 
In contrast to 2000, McCain can sound like a card-carrying member of the Sierra Club. Huckabee is the only other Republican candidate who comes anywhere near matching McCain's zeal for fighting global warming. McCain quotes Teddy Roosevelt on conservation, advocates for alternative forms of energy (including nuclear) and brags that he is known as "the Grand Canyon's best friend."
 
Indeed, an interesting change in environment.

From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan
Can sleet, snow, and ice keep them away? Will Obama surge in the polls after appearing with the woman who seems to have a golden touch? Just how powerful will the Oprah Effect really be? These are just a few of the questions that those of us in the media will try to answer this weekend while chasing after Obama and Oprah through Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire.

In order to understand just how many people Oprah could reach and perhaps influence, NBC News contacted Nielsen to get ratings and demographic information on just who watches Oprah Winfrey nationally, and also in the early states of Iowa and South Carolina. Since New Hampshire is included in the Boston media market, an accurate picture of just how many people watch Oprah in the Granite State could not be drawn.

Oprah's audience is predominantly female, white, and over the age of 55. Nationally 7.4 million people watch Oprah daily -- about 2.6% of American households. Four percent of American women (about 5.7 million) watch her daily, compared with 1.2% of men (1.7 million people). Overall, 2% of all 18- to 49-year-olds watch Oprah.

Oprah has the highest ratings among older Americans -– a critical caucusing or voting block. 3.7 million people age 55 and older watch Oprah, and 2.7 million of these individuals are women. Eleven percent of all older black women watch Oprah, and 7% of all older white women watch the show everyday.  

Oprah's audience is also predominantly white: 5.9 million of whites watch Oprah, compared with 1.4 million blacks. Her reach among the Hispanic population is tiny -- only about 230,000 Hispanics watch the show daily. 

But what about in the early primary states? Across Iowa's four major media markets, 56,000 households watch Oprah everyday. In the Des Moines/Ames media market, 32,000 of 407,000 (or 7.7%) of all households in the Des Moines area have Oprah playing on their TV sets between 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm every day. To put that number in context, consider that only about 150,000 people in the state caucused in the last primary.

In the Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Dubuque media market, 18,000 of 339,000 households in the area (5.4%) watch Oprah. 

Both the Cedar Rapids and Des Moines markets reflect the largest concentration of people and Democrats in Iowa. Across other parts of the state, 5.9% of homes in the Sioux City area watch Oprah and in Davenport and Moline in the eastern part of the state, 4.6% of homes watch the show.

In South Carolina, Oprah is even more popular. In the Columbia area, where Oprah and Obama will appear together on Sunday afternoon at an 80,000 seat arena, 30,000 households have the channel set to the Oprah Winfrey show daily. That's about 8% of the 384,000 households in the area.

From NBC/NJ's Tricia Miller
SENECA, S.C. -- Edwards couldn't have been any less than completely overwhelmed as he pushed his way through a crowd of well-wishers at the new Oconee County Democrats office yesterday. With his parents Wallace and Bobbie trailing behind, Edwards received a hero's welcome in his hometown.
 

Edwards spoke briefly, telling the crowd how he believed his run for the presidency would bring hope to people who grew up like he did. He paused a couple times to point and wave at family members in the audience. Though most of the crowd wore Edwards '08 buttons, not all of them planned to vote for him, and a few Republicans snuck in as well.
 
Afterward reporters followed Edwards to his boyhood home, the infamous "little pink house," where he spoke with reporters and then headed to Walhalla High School, his father's alma mater. There, awaited an auditorium full of high school students who will turn 18 by Nov. 4, 2008, and are therefore voting for the first time in this election. Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship sponsored the event, during which attendees registered to vote. SAGE members sat on the riser behind Edwards and asked him questions about the impact of the youth vote on the 2008 election.
 
After a couple of stops in Charleston, Edwards wraps up the whirlwind tour of his home state and flies north for a 2-day swing through New Hampshire.

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro

*** If we could Ask Mitt Anything… : Twenty-seven days until Iowa… Not surprisingly, coverage of Romney's speech on faith dominates today's political news, and many of the reviews are positive (the editorial pages of the New York Times and Washington Post are exceptions, however). To us, the speech was about Romney, who has been criticized for being a flip-flopper, showing conviction on something -- anything. That said, will the speech lead to more questions about his faith or his line that "freedom requires religion"? We can't wait for the next Ask Mitt Anything ... or the GOP Des Moines Register debate. The one thing this speech did was make questions about his religion fair game. Still, the campaign deserves kudos for its wall-to-wall news cycle dominance.

*** The beginning or the end? This coming Sunday -- Day Two of Oprah-palooza -- will mark the four-year anniversary of when Al Gore endorsed Howard Dean. It was the pinnacle of Dean's campaign and then, of course, everything came crashing down. Will Oprah campaigning for Obama be the Illinois senator's high-water point? Or will it be just the beginning? We will find out 27 days from now. Obama certainly has the momentum (in the

polls, with Oprah, and with a new TV ad in Iowa that appears to make his closing argument). Can he keep it up? It could be the campaign is gambling that while the calendar says 27 days left, the holiday interruption means it's just 17 days. Plus, Obama's college supporters may be leaving Iowa and New Hampshire in days, so giving them a reason to come back early is necessary.

*** Oprah-palooza II: One more thing to keep in mind with Oprah. NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan checks in on the Queen of all media's Nielsen ratings and finds the prototype Oprah watcher is the protoype Iowa caucus-goer. That is, older, female, and white... Is this the ultimate micro-targeting play of the cycle?

*** Drip, drip? Just when we thought the Judi story was out of the news, the New York Daily News is reporting that she received "taxpayer-funded chauffeur services from the NYPD earlier than previously disclosed." Can we add to the list of question NBC's Tim Russert will likely ask Giuliani when he appears on Meet the Press this Sunday? Rudy's been an afterthought in the race this week. He could use a big moment or two that has nothing to do with his marriage to get some mojo back.

*** Huck still has the mo'… : The momentum for Huckabee in Iowa and South Carolina has now spread to national polls, as the second major national poll this week shows him in second place. But here's something that's been bugging us for a while: Why is it that Huckabee and Thompson both were able to use their momentum (Thompson's was three months ago) to pop in the national polls, but Romney has never been able to do so? Should anything be made of that? Will yesterday's speech change that?

VIDEO: NBC's Deputy Political Director Mark Murray gives his first read on Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee's jump to 2nd in GOP race in national polls and Oprah's influence on Obama's campaign.

*** … But the Dumond story isn't going away: Two former parole board members, who served during Huckabee's time as governor and voted on Wayne Dumond's parole, told First Read that Huckabee initiated and encouraged Dumond's parole. Huckabee earlier told NBC's Kelly O'Donnell that he did not pressure the board in anyway. "My mistake was in thinking that everybody who was talking about him -- from the prison system on -- was right… I supported the parole. And I regret that. Because it was horrible what ended up happening. But his commutation was actually something that happened when Bill Clinton was governor, and Jim Guy Tucker signed as lieutenant governor. The parole board that paroled him was all Clinton and Tucker appointees. So when people say I pressured the board, that's nonsense!" But the board members who spoke to First Read disagreed (more on that below).

*** On the trail: Biden campaigns in Iowa; Clinton participates in a "Take Your Buddy to Caucus" event in Des Moines, IA; Dodd also is in Iowa, where he attends town halls in Davenport and Iowa City; Edwards stumps in New Hampshire; Giuliani travels to Chicago, where he speaks at the Illinois Manufacturers' Association Annual Meeting; Huckabee makes stops in both North Carolina and South Carolina; Kucinich hits a fundraiser in Charlottesville, VA; McCain is in New Hampshire, where he commemorates Pearl Harbor Day, attends a town hall, and later speaks to the media; Obama hits a Change Rocks Concert in Chicago; Romney campaigns in Des Moines, IA; and Thompson is in Ohio and Iowa. 

Countdown to Iowa: 27 days
Countdown to New Hampshire: 32 days
Countdown to Michigan: 39 days
Countdown to Nevada and SC GOP primary: 43 days
Countdown to SC Dem primary: 50 days
Countdown to Florida: 53 days
Countdown to Tsunami Tuesday: 60 days
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 333 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 410 days

Click here to sign up for First Read emails. 

The Boston Globe: "Under pressure to confront suspicions about his faith, Romney attempted to strike a delicate balance, and drew mixed reviews. Many religious conservatives applauded his acknowledgement of the role of faith in public life, but other evangelicals said he did not fully address their concerns about Mormonism. Some civil libertarians said they were unnerved by Romney's impassioned call to expand the role of religion."

The New York Times: "The passing mention of his Mormonism in his 20-minute speech here at the George Bush Presidential Library underscored just how touchy the issue of Mr. Romney's faith has been since he began running for the Republican nomination. He and his aides agonized for months over whether to even give the speech, with those who argued against it saying there was no need to do it because he was doing so well in early voting states, advisers said."

Also: "Afterward, Mr. Romney's advisers said privately that they hoped the speech would help him with his other, arguably larger, obstacle: lingering questions about the firmness of his convictions given his shifting positions and tone on issues like abortion, gay rights and gun control over the years."

USA Today: "Reaction was mixed. Rob Schenck, president of the conservative

USA Today: "Reaction was mixed. Rob Schenck, president of the conservative National Clergy Council, said it was "courageous" and 'should go a long way to relieve worries' about Romney's faith. 'He did what he needed to do. He defended the right of a Mormon to run for president,' said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, who attended the speech. Bill Keller, a self-described Internet evangelist, said Romney is 'trying to pass himself off as a Christian.'"

The Washington Post's editorial on the speech: "Where Mr. Romney most fell short, though, was in his failure to recognize that America is composed of citizens not only of different faiths but of no faith at all and that the genius of America is to treat them all with equal dignity. 'Freedom requires religion, just as religion requires freedom,' Mr. Romney said. But societies can be both secular and free. The magnificent cathedrals of Europe may be empty, as Mr. Romney said, but the democracies of Europe are thriving."

The AP's Ron Fournier on Romney's speech: "Mitt Romney's religion is only part of his problem. A bigger threat to his Republican presidential candidacy, advisers say, is a record of policy flip-flops and nagging doubts about his credibility. And so Romney's highly anticipated address Thursday was as much about his character as his Mormonism. He used an intensely personal issue -- his religion -- to address voters' concerns about his authenticity and integrity, about the strength of his convictions."

Time's Sullivan writes: "Still, Romney did little to put to rest persistent questions about what exactly he believes. The candidate promised at the beginning of his address that 'I will offer perspectives on how my own faith would inform my Presidency,' and asserted throughout that he was shaped by his religious beliefs, but he left the details vague. He mentioned the word 'Mormon' only once, in a passage forcefully refusing to distance himself from his faith, and referred instead to 'my faith' or 'my church' on ten other occasions."

Adds the Washington Post's Gerson, who liked the speech: "These arguments will go only so far for Romney. His biggest problem is not his religious beliefs but persistent questions about his core political beliefs, provoked by shifting views on abortion, gun rights and immigration. Whatever Romney's religious faith, his greatest need is to demonstrate a fighting faith."

The New York Times' David Brooks also liked the speech, though he admits his reaction was more "muted" than others: "It is not always easy to blend an argument for religious liberty with an argument for religious assertiveness, but Romney did it well. Yesterday, I called around to many of America's serious religious thinkers — including moderates like Richard Bushman of Columbia, and conservatives like Neuhaus and Robert George of Princeton. Everyone I spoke with was enthusiastic about the speech, some of them wildly so."
 
The Washington Post's Dionne even seemed to like it. " Romney's speech at the George H.W. Bush library in College Station, Tex., was by turns brilliant and frustrating, inspiring yet also transparently political in its effort to find the precise balance that would satisfy Republican primary voters."

AP-Ipsos is the latest national poll that has Huckabee in second place. Giuliani leads at 26%, followed by Huckabee at 18% (an 8-point increase from a month ago), McCain at 13%, Romney at 12%, and Thompson at 11%.

GIULIANI: "Drivin' Miss Judi" is on the cover of the New York Daily News. From the article: "Judith Nathan got taxpayer-funded chauffeur services from the NYPD earlier than previously disclosed - even before her affair with then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani was revealed, witnesses and sources tell the Daily News."  More: "'It went on for months before the affair was public,' said Lee Degenstein, 52, a retired Smith Barney vice president who formerly lived at 200 E. 94th St., Nathan's old building. 'It was going on longer than anybody thought,' added Degenstein, who, along with others in the neighborhood, said they often saw Nathan hopping into unmarked NYPD cars in early 2000, before the affair was revealed that May."

"When pressed by The News Thursday, aides to the Republican presidential hopeful conceded that Nathan got police protection 'sporadically' before December 2000 - the previously acknowledged beginning of her taxpayer-funded detail." 
 
More not-so-great press in the Boston Globe, which writes about criticism Giuliani has received from gay-rights groups over his AIDS policy while NYC mayor.

HUCKABEE: Huckabee said of Romney's speech. "I think it's a good thing and healthy for all of us for people to discuss faith in the public square. I have nothing but respect for his coming forth and sharing what he did. I've been very clear about my own personal views. I think all of us who seek the office of president should be candid with the American people."

Two former parole board members, who served during Huckabee's time as governor and voted on Wayne Dumond's parole, told First Read that Huckabee initiated and encouraged Dumond's parole. Huckabee earlier told NBC's Kelly O'Donnell that he did not pressure the board in anyway. "My mistake was in thinking that everybody who was talking about him -- from the prison system on -- was right... I supported the parole. And I regret that. Because it was horrible what ended up happening. But his commutation was actually something that happened when Bill Clinton was governor, and Jim Guy Tucker signed as lieutenant governor. The parole board that paroled him was all Clinton and Tucker appointees. So when people say I pressured the board, that's nonsense!"
 
But the board members who spoke to First Read disagreed. "He did come and mention the Dumond case. We would have no reason to mention the Dumond case to him," said Deborah Sutlar, a Democrat and a Gov. Jim Guy Tucker-appointee, who is not shy about the fact that she campaigned against Huckabee when he ran for governor. She served from 1994 to 2001 and said she is supporting Obama in the presidential race. Sutlar said Dumond's parole had been denied every other time it came up, but Huckabee came to the board and encouraged the board to parole Dumond and that the board then held an executive session to discuss the case.
 
Huckabee met with the board "to encourage them to parole Wayne Dumond," added Erma Pondexter, a Bill Clinton appointee, who was a part-time board member and considers herself "non-partisan." She said she is undecided in the presidential race but leaning toward either Clinton or Romney. She said she liked some of the things Huckabee did as governor, but is unsure of him for president, though she said she'd consider voting for him.
 
Pondexter said she wasn't at the initial meeting with Huckabee, but that at the full meeting "it was shared what the concerns were and the concerns of Governor Huckabee. I was approached by the chair and other board members that Huckabee wanted Dumond paroled, and I went along with the crew." She added, "I don't think he'd want that on his shoulders -- to pardon him. I'm quite sure from a political standpoint that would be devastating, therefore he used the parole board to do that."
 
The Huckabee campaign didn't return an email and phone message for comment.

On MSNBC's Live with Dan Abrams last night, Pondexter and Dr. Charles Chastain, a professor at the University of Arkansas and former parole board member, echoed the sentiments. "There's no question that the governor brought up the issue of releasing Wayne Dumond," Chastain said. "The governor said things like, 'I know this is a difficult job, I know you do a good job, good service, but there is one case I would like to talk to you about,' whereupon the chairman of the board immediately said, 'we'll go into executive session.'"
 
During the session, Chastain recalls Huckabee said, 'Well the case that I want to talk to you about is this Wayne Dumond, I just have looked at this case, quite a bit and I think that maybe he's just a guy from the wrong side of the tracks, who got a raw deal, after all he got a pretty stiff sentence.' And I responded by saying, 'Governor, if you rape a cheerleader in a small town like that, you're going to get a long sentence, if you're convicted. And furthermore, that sentence had been changed by former Gov. Tucker to 39½ years.'"
 
Huckabee, though, acknowledged on Meet the Press with Tim Russert that he met with parole members "to get acquainted with them because I hadn't appointed any of them."
 
Russert asked, "You never mentioned Wayne Dumond?"
 
No, they brought it up to me," Huckabee responded.

NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy was with Huckabee last night in Greensboro.  For his part, Huckabee seemed comfortable in the spotlight, if not just a bit unprepared. After botching what he called "an ambush question" from a reporter earlier in the week on the content of the most recent NIE released by the Bush administration, Huckabee addressed its findings and his earlier lack of information. "It came out at ten in the morning," Huckabee said. "I think it was late that afternoon and the reporter said have you read it. You know, George Bush had had it for four years and he hadn't read it yet, so I don't really know that it was a big deal that I had not yet seen it and read it because we had been on the campaign trail nonstop. In fact I was saying to the reporters, you know the reason I haven't seen it is because you guys have been tailing me all day asking me questions."

Per USA Today, has Huckabee manager Chip Saltsman said that "Huckabee draws bigger crowds these days and collected more than $2 million online in November -- double his take from July to September. The campaign recently has taken in an additional $250,000 over the Internet."

MCCAIN: The Wall Street Journal does the "is McCain on the comeback in NH" story. "Now, Mr. McCain's chief rivals are running into turbulence. Mitt Romney has been overtaken in the polls in Iowa by Mike Huckabee, raising broader concerns about Mr. Romney's viability among the evangelical base. Rudy Giuliani faces new questions about his ethics as mayor. Fred Thompson continues to be dogged by doubts about his energy for the fight. All of that may be prompting Republicans to give Mr. McCain a second look -- particularly in New Hampshire. He recently won the endorsement of the state's largest newspaper. And on a weeklong campaign swing this week, he is drawing capacity crowds at the diners and townhall meetings where much of state's campaigning takes place."

The latest AP-Ipsos poll shows that the Democratic field is virtually unchanged from a month ago. "Hillary Rodham Clinton has about a 2-to-1 lead over Barack Obama, 45 percent to 23 percent, with John Edwards at 12 percent."

CLINTON: The Los Angeles Times looks at Dem women who aren't with Clinton right now and finds they'll be with her if she's the nominee. "For upscale women on the left -- historically her toughest crowd -- negative reaction has been more nuanced. Polls show that blue-collar women see her as a defender of their economic interests. But their well-educated upper-middle-class sisters, who aren't as worried about job security, feel free to judge her as they would a peer. She has recently gained substantial ground with this constituency, but polls continue to show that fully half of college-educated Democratic women do not support her." 
 
Just what the Clinton camp needed today: a possible endorsement from Gennifer Flowers.

Clinton is sticking to her guns on Social Security, reports the Concord Monitor. "Citing her grasp of Washington politics, Hillary Clinton said yesterday that it was a 'mistake' for her Democratic presidential opponents to outline specific plans to shore up the federal Social Security program. Any solution, she said, would come from bipartisan compromise. 'Most of my opponents are more than happy to throw out all their ideas,' Clinton said at the Gunstock Lodge in Gilford, in response to a question about whether she'd consider more payroll taxes on higher-income earners. 'I just know - maybe it's because I'm a student of history and I've been studying this - I know that eventually you've got to have a bipartisan commission. That's the only way we're going to resolve this.'"

Billed as a holiday celebration with Hillary Clinton and John Grisham, Clinton supporters had a lot of time for the celebration but little time with the candidate and the writer, reports NBC's Lauren Appelbaum. Clinton's 24-minute address to her supporters in Washington DC did not deviate from her stump speech. She emphasized her desire to end the Iraq War, return to fiscal responsibility, bring green collar jobs to the country, provide quality affordable healthcare, and end cronyism in the government. During a time filled with heated exchanges between candidates on the stump, Clinton offered only a veiled dig at her chief opponent Obama. "Change is just a word if you don't have the experience to bring it," she repeated in Union Station, discussing her 35 years of experience.

"Everyday I get up thinking about Americans being left behind."

More than 1,200 people attended last night's fundraiser and the Clinton campaign raised one million dollars. In an effort to attract families, the Clinton campaign offered a family deal for $1000. Individuals paid between $250 and $2300. Clinton arrived at the event late due to flight delays into Washington, but most people in attendance did not seem to mind. "I'm not sure who is at fault," Grisham said about the tardiness, "but I guarantee you it's not going to be me and it's not going to be Hillary."

EDWARDS: The Columbia State covers Edwards' visit to the state yesterday: "Edwards returned to his hometown of Seneca again, with his mother and father, Wallace and Bobbie Edwards, to renew his bid for the White House in 2008."

OBAMA: Bloomberg News previews Oprah-palooza.

The New York Times' Krugman once again writes on Obama and health care, although this time he's not as critical of Obama. "[B]efore I go any further, let's be clear: there is a huge divide between Republicans and Democrats on health care, and the Obama plan — although weaker than the Edwards or Clinton plans — is very much on the Democratic side of that divide. But lately Mr. Obama has been stressing his differences with his rivals by attacking their plans from the right — which means that he has been giving credence to false talking points that will be used against any Democratic health care plan a couple of years from now."

"I'd add, however, a further concern: the debate over mandates has reinforced the uncomfortable sense among some health reformers that Mr. Obama just isn't that serious about achieving universal care — that he introduced a plan because he had to, but that every time there's a hard choice to be made he comes down on the side of doing less."

Obama gets some criticism/advice from… Michael Dukakis. Per the Boston Globe, "Dukakis, who has not endorsed anyone in the Democratic presidential race, said Wednesday night at Emerson College that Obama has not yet tapped the power of the crowds that turn out to hear him speak and has not capitalized on the hundreds of thousands of Internet contributions he's received. He said his wife, Kitty, an Obama supporter and contributor, routinely gets e-mails from the campaign asking her to donate more money, but the e-mails never ask her to volunteer to run a precinct for the campaign."

The Des Moines Register covers Obama's school aid plan.

RICHARDSON: "Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson has a Christmas wish for some of the state government employees in his administration: pack your bags and head to Iowa. The two-term governor is asking governmental appointees and other state employees to volunteer to help his campaign by traveling to Iowa before the Jan. 3 leadoff presidential contest." More: "Critics say Richardson's appeal for campaign volunteers makes it difficult for state workers to say no to their ultimate boss."

A new Pew poll shows Hispanics moving toward the Democrats. "Gains made by Republicans among Hispanic voters in the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 have been erased over the past year, with Hispanics returning to earlier levels of strong preference for the Democratic Party, a survey released yesterday by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington shows."

This could be trouble for the GOP in places like Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada.

The latest Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll finds "Families with ties to the military, long a reliable source of support for wartime presidents, disapprove of President Bush and his handling of the war in Iraq, with a majority concluding the invasion was not worth it."

More: "Nearly six out of every 10 military families disapprove of Bush's job performance and the way he has run the war, rating him only slightly better than the general population does. And among those families with soldiers, sailors and Marines who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, 60% say that the war in Iraq was not worth the cost, the same result as all adults surveyed."

"Brushing aside a veto threat from the White House, the House passed a package of energy measures on Thursday that includes a 40 percent increase in fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks sold in the United States," the New York Times says. "But the complex and costly bill is all but certain to be radically rewritten when it reaches the Senate because of opposition there to two provisions: $21 billion in new taxes, mostly on the oil industry, and a mandate that electric utilities must generate 15 percent of their power from alternative sources, like wind or solar. The White House threatened to veto the bill if the final version contains those or several other provisions passed by the House."

The Washington Post: "Eleven months after adopting stringent new rules aimed at reining in the federal deficit, the Senate last night shrugged off its pledge of fiscal rectitude and overwhelmingly approved a measure to spare millions of families from the growing reach of the alternative minimum tax without providing an offsetting tax increase. The Senate's 88 to 5 vote blew a $50 billion hole in the Democrats' promise not to pass any spending or tax measure that would add to the deficit. The outcome brought a furious response from conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats in the House, who assailed the Senate and vowed to block passage of any tax measure that would add a cent to the federal debt."

And the new chairman of the Senate GOP Conference, the No.3 position in the Senate GOP leadership, is Lamar Alexander, who beat out Sen. Richard Burr for the post. "The opening was created after the decision by Sen. Trent Lott (Miss.) to abruptly retire, leaving the post of minority whip vacant."

From NBC/NJ's Matthew Berger
SARASOTA, Fla. -- Giuliani said the United States needed to be "cautious" about listening to a new intelligence report regarding Iran's nuclear weapon program, but said the report's findings show that a tough position against Iran has worked. 

"The best way to make sure they don't resume is to make it clear that we will not allow them to become a nuclear power," he said today at a press conference. "And if we're clear about that, I think the sanctions would have a better chance of working. If we become ambiguous, if we go back to a more defensive posture … it would seem to me that would be a mistake."

Giuliani said he was cautious because the report said it was "highly confident" that Iran had suspended its nuclear program in 2003, but only "moderately confident" that it hadn't resumed it later.

"You have to pause at the two different standards," he said.

Giuliani also said he agreed with everything he heard in Romney's speech in Houston Thursday.

"I thought Gov. Romney said everything I agree with," he said. "Everything he said, at least the parts that I heard, I think I heard most of it, I agree with."

He used the question to showcase his view on religious tolerance.

"I guess it would be better if he didn't have to do that," he said. "This is no reflection on Gov. Romney, he did what he thought he had to do. But from the point of view that you would wish that everybody would move beyond that. I believe his talk helped to put that issue to rest.

"There is no religious test for office," he said. "There shouldn't be any religious test for office."

Giuliani picked up the endorsement Thursday of the 10-13 Association, which represents retired New York Police Department officers. He will also participate at his second online house party.

From NBC's Chuck Todd and Mark Murray
Earlier today, we noted the Washington Post/ABC poll that has Clinton with just a six-point lead over Obama in New Hampshire (35%-29%) -- but with more solid support than her rival from Illinois. One of the reasons for Clinton's more solid support, we speculated, is due to the fact that Obama's base in New Hampshire comes from independents, while Clinton's comes from rank-and-file Democrats.

But Democratic pollster Thomas Riehle, who isn't affiliated with any of the presidential campaigns, offers another view. "Candidates who are gaining support or losing support both tend to have a lot of soft support along a hierarchical vote continuum," he emails First Read. "Supporters have either just arrived from undecided and arrive as soft supporters, or supporters are preparing to depart to undecided, and soft support is the way station. That's why a lot of Obama support would be soft support.
 
"Candidates who have gained and held support for a while, or who have already lost a lot of support, both would show a large proportion of strong supporters -- either because soft supporters gained earlier have been locked in as strong supporters after a period of time, or because all that's left after a bad stretch are hard-core supporters.
 
"Obama's not necessarily weaker, because the proportion of his support that is soft is larger than the proportion of Clinton vote that is soft. Obama might be stronger, if his high proportion of soft support is simply an indicator that momentum is on his side -- that is, if he is able to start converting soft supporters to strong supporters while at the same time continuing to pipeline undecideds into the soft support category. Clinton might be approaching a point where she is left with only hard-core supporters and no pipeline of undecideds into her soft support category. Time will tell!"

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
For the first time, a South Carolina poll shows Huckabee leading. An InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion poll conducted Dec. 3-4 shows Huckabee in first place with 23%, ahead of Giuliani and Thompson, who are tied with 17%. Romney is fourth with 14%; McCain is also in double digits at 10% -- though he's taken the biggest dip of any of the candidates since the poll was last conducted in October.

Huckabee has gained 12 points since October; McCain fell by 6; Thompson dropped 4 points; and Romney dipped 2. Ron Paul, who came in at 6%, saw a gain of 3 points.

From NBC's Mark Murray
CBN's Brody: "The speech was sweeping, lofty and presidential. He looked natural and spoke passionately. Mitt Romney didn't just look like a President today. He sounded and behaved like one too. It's not often a presidential candidate gets the limelight all to himself. But such was the case Thursday."

Red State's Hunter Baker: "I have not seen the speech, but I have read it. Religion and politics is my academic specialty. While I would quibble with the way Romney presents the founding of the Republic and what it did or didn't settle about religious liberty, I think he did an outstanding job of framing the overall discussion... Overall, this speech showed tremendous sophistication on religion and politics. I'm not a Mitt supporter. But he listened to someone who understands the issues well."

The American Spectator's Jennifer Rubin: "I think whoever thought these lines were a good idea may be queasy about now: 'Americans do not respect believers of convenience. Americans tire of those who would jettison their beliefs, even to gain the world.' Those who raved about The Speech are getting feedback like this and others label it the worst line of The Speech. This is where some self-awareness would have helped the Romney Team -- if you understand the biggest problem for your guy (credibility/conviction) you shouldn't advertise it in neon lights in the most picked over speech of the campaign. (And no I don't for a minute think Romney 'wrote it himself' unless he's spending time pawing through books for John Adams quotes.)"

Hugh Hewitt (who is a BIG Romney fan): "Mitt Romney's 'Faith in America' speech was simply magnificent, and anyone who denies it is not to be trusted as an analyst. On every level it was a masterpiece.  The staging and Romney's delivery, the eclipse of all other candidates it caused, the domination of the news cycle just prior to the start of absentee voting in New Hampshire on Monday -- for all these reasons and more it will be long discussed as a masterpiece of political maneuver."

 

From NBC/NJ's Erin McPike
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- In what some may consider the biggest moment of his political career, Romney this morning gave a speech on faith and the degree to which his own would factor into his presidency. 

His overarching point here from the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum auditorium was that the United States has had a long history of religious tolerance, and therefore he ought not be "elected" or "rejected" on the basis of his faith. He explained in several ways that his faith would not inform his presidential decisions, but he did point out the values system that stems from his faith, and noted, "You can witness them in Ann and my marriage and in our family."

VIDEO: Mitt Romney makes a landmark speech on religious freedom and how his Mormon faith would inform his presidency.

As far as addressing some of the concerns non-Mormons have about his denomination, Romney addressed one thing only: his beliefs about Jesus Christ. About a quarter of the way through his remarks, he explained: "I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the savior of mankind," but he conceded, "My church's beliefs about Christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths."

"I thought it was a remarkable speech, it was an eloquent speech," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, who spoke with reporters in the auditorium after the address. Land, who said he will not endorse as a matter of personal policy and obligation to his church, added he thought it was "Kennedy-esque." Land said he thought Romney's points were right, and that discriminating against him on the basis of religion would be un-American, as Romney has said before. Asked if he thought there was anything he thought was missing from the speech, Land said he couldn't think of anything.

But Palmetto Family Council President Oran Smith circulated via e-mail an "Evangelical Review" of the speech. There was one point that caused Smith concern: "Yes, he said Jesus is "Savior of the world," and he called Jesus "the Lord," but how is salvation gained." He provided nine points that he liked, including Romney's decision not to "go into the specific doctrines of Mormonism."
Smith also liked his "emphasis on breakdown on family," his denouncement of secularism and the lack of "the old pre-1993 pro-abortion, pro-gay Mitt." What Smith liked most of all was Romney's "sadness over sophisticated religious coldness of Europe," writing "Wow. Loved that. That was big."

Romney's biggest applause line of the speech occurred near the end when discussing the United States' founding fathers: "And so together they prayed, and together they fought, and together, by the grace of God… they founded this great nation." Romney received a standing ovation at the line, as well as when he took the podium and when he concluded.

There were slightly more than a dozen applause lines in total, and Romney stuck to the script of the speech. While on the stump, he doesn't follow the same speech from event to event. Instead, he swaps out sections and inserts sections from location to location. Many of his lines are the same on the stump, but they don't appear everywhere, and his order is never the same. One note, when discussing radical jihad in this speech, Romney did not give his pronouncements with the same conviction that he usually gives on the stump. 
 
Leading up to the remarks, silence fell over the auditorium at 10:23 -- nearly 10 minutes before President George H.W. Bush and Romney took the stage. In his introduction of the candidate, the former president lavished praised on Romney and his family, including Romney's father, George Romney, who ran for president in 1968. He said, though, that he has too much respect for many of the candidates to issue an endorsement and has been pleased that many of them have chosen to speak at the library.
 
Bush also introduced Romney's sons, four of whom were in attendance. Son Ben, a medical student, was not there. After the speech, joined by Ann Romney and George and Barbara Bush, the candidate motioned to his sons to join them on the stage, mouthing, "Come on up, come on up." There, began an assembly line of hugs. When Romney left the stage, he went immediately to the audience to greet supporters and religious figures.

From NBC's Mike Viqueira
It turns out that there will likely be some more war funding coming from the Democratic Congress this year after all.

Democrats had been adamant that their pre-Thanksgiving package of $50 billion for the war -- with conditions -- was a take-it-or-leave-it piece of legislation. No more.

The Administration and GOP campaign to highlight the possibility of mass Defense Department layoffs should no more money be forthcoming has paid off politically. Speaker Nancy Pelosi now says that there will likely be money in an end of the year spending bill targeting the civilian Defense employees, numbering in the tens of thousands, who would be notified in coming weeks of a furlough should Congress fail to act before the holiday break. Democrats were concerned about this potential development, and they now ready to act to avert it.

Pelosi also said that there might be money for the war in Afghanistan. Democrats have largely been supportive of the war effort there, as opposed to Iraq. Yet critics will see this as a shell game, since earmarking money for Afghanistan will free up money for the Administration and the Pentagon to send to Iraq.

Pelosi had promised anti-war Democratic members that she would stick by her guns and not put forward any more legislation this year that would fund the war in Iraq. This nascent arrangement -- hinted at for days on the Hill -- would allow her to stick to the letter of that pledge.

From NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro
With 28 days to go until the Iowa caucuses, we aren't quite yet at DEFCON 1 in the advertising war -- it's more like DEFCON 3. An Iowa TV ad the Clinton unveiled yesterday featured Wes Clark saying "that Hillary's opponents have started attacking her." He added, "That's politics. What this country needs is leadership."

Now comes Obama's new TV ad in Iowa, which replays his well-received Jefferson-Jackson dinner speech -- containing these subtle digs at Clinton: "We are in a defining moment in our history," Obama says in it. "Our nation is at war. The planet is in peril... And that is why, the same old Washington textbook campaigns just won't do."

Obama continues: "America, our moment is now. I don't wanna spend the next year or the next four years re-fighting the same fights that we had in the 1990's."

It's not quite an attack ad. But we're almost getting there.
 
[Youtube:K38JnVMpzRs]

From NBC's Mark Murray

So far, it's mostly positive...
National Review's Kate O'Beirne: "I predict it will get rave reviews. Mitt Romney, who sure looked presidential, explained effectively that he is a man of faith who is committed to America's values. He was sure-footed and polished as usual but appeared today to be fighting back strong emotions when he talked about American exceptionalism."

Ed Morrissey: "Interesting, and somewhat better than I thought. I still think that he won't have convinced people disinclined to vote for Mormons to support him, but at least he may have made some evangelicals more comfortable with his candidacy."

National Review's Mona Charen: "That was perhaps the best political speech of the year. It was well-crafted and delivered with conviction and — this is unusual for Romney — considerable emotion. I thought his contrast of the empty cathedrals of Europe with the violent jihadis was particularly adroit. He managed to make this a speech about patriotism as much as about religion. Brilliant."

National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru: "It would have been nice if Romney, while making room for people of all faiths in this country, could have also made some room for people with none."

National Review's Jonah Goldberg: "I thought it was a very good speech too. I agree with Ramesh that the failure to mention agnostics and atheists was an oversight... The thrust of the speech was that all believers are good, all believers are Americans. That's a nice sentiment and its message of inclusion would encompass Hindus. But would it encompass non-believers? I'm sure Romney himself would say it would if asked. But he didn't say it in the speech."

The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan (although many Republicans would not label him a conservative): "Romney flip-flopping on faith?"
"I do not define my candidacy by my religion. A person should not be elected because of his faith, nor should he be rejected because of his faith," - Mitt Romney, at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum today.
"We need to have a person of faith lead the country," - Mitt Romney, February 17, 2007.

From NBC's Joel Seidman
On Monday, I interviewed two veteran Little Rock journalists -- Paul Greenberg, the editorial editor of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and Gwen Moritz, editor of the Arkansas Business Journal -- who have lots to say about the tenure of Huckabee tenure as Arkansas governor.

Greenberg says, "He does have a tendency to take criticism very personally. Or at least he did. You wouldn't know that from the Mike Huckabee that has been on the presidential campaign."

Moritz chimes in: "He gets kind of huffy. Some of the columnists refer to him regularly has 'his huffyness."

Greenberg talks about Huckabee's religious perspective: "The national race may not have come to appreciate the kind of old fashioned moralist Huckabee is," he says. "You saw that come out in the Iowa debate about whether we should allow the students of illegal immigrants who go to school in Arkansas to compete on an equal playing field for college scholarships. I can just hear the old reverend Huckabee of Pine Bluff, Arkansas say, 'We are a better people than to punish the children for the sins of their parents.'"

"I think that Mike Huckabee would be the first to recognize that being a preacher doesn't mean that you are not a sinner," he continued. "He did accept gifts that he really should not have just for the sake for the sake of appearance. and I think he is going to learn a lesson about that too, when it come back to haunt him."

Gwen Moritz goes even further on the ethics complaints: "Most of the ethics complaints against him, most of the ethical questions that came up have to do with the fact that he doesn't like to turn down any gifts. He appreciates things, he wants things, he likes things, but he doesn't think there is anything that anyone offers him that he should have to say no to. He tried to enrich himself or at least make his life more comfortable with using funds that he wasn't really entitled to like, the mansion maintenance fund, at the governor's mansion. But all through his tenure he has I think a problem perceiving how it looks for him to just collect things that are given to him. In one calendar year, he accepted more than $100,000 worth of gifts. You have to understand that is three times, almost three times the average household income in Arkansas. And he didn't think that anyone should question that whether it was right or good or the appearance was right for him to take so much stuff from people for whatever reason."

And on the controversial Wayne Dumond pardoned he granted, Greenberg says, "For a large part, it was a preacher in office who believes in mercy as well as justice and he let mercy dominate."