From NBC/NJ's Tricia Miller
MUSCATINE, Iowa -- One sign of momentum for Edwards five days before the Iowa caucus may be picking off caucus-goers from other campaigns. In a press release preceding the day's first event, the campaign named 45 Iowans who supported either John Kerry, Howard Dean or Dick Gephardt in the 2004 caucus but plan to caucus for Edwards next week.

Meanwhile, at the event, a Kucinich supporter stood and said that he caucused for Edwards in 2004 after his first choice wasn't viable. (In January 2004 Edwards and Kucinich each advised their supporters to move to the other's camp if one of them was not viable.) The questioner said he was considering Edwards again.

"I was proud to caucus for you last time after campaigning my heart out for Dennis Kucinich," he told Edwards and asked if the candidate would support Kucinich's proposal for a Cabinet-level Department of Peace.

"Well, I'm not for a Department of Peace, so I'm going to give you an answer you don't like. I think that -- and it's a perfectly fine idea. I'm not saying it's a bad idea. It's just not what I would do," he said. "I think the way the president of the United States approaches the rest of the world is more important than any of these bureaucracies, and the engagement and the constructive engagement with the rest of the world in a way that creates peace and security is the most critical element."

Edwards was introduced at the event by his state co-chair, Roxanne Conlin, a trial lawyer and the first female gubernatorial candidate in Iowa, and by state Rep. Nathan Reichert from Muscatine. Reichert likened the former North Carolina senator's campaign to a Big Ten football game.

"These folks who are in this room know that John Edwards has run a steady, grinding -- what I would call a good-time, smash mouth Big Ten football campaign. It has been 3 yards and a pile of dust, three yards and a pile of dust, three yards and a pile of dust," he said. "It's been Muscatine and West Liberty and Wapello and all those little towns all across Iowa."

Edwards has three more events today, ending the day with a rally in Des Moines. He was joined in Muscatine by his son Jack and daughter Emma Claire. His wife Elizabeth and older daughter Cate are also traveling Iowa on his behalf today.

From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann
Why attack one candidate when you can attack three instead?

Richardson is hinging much of his run for the White House on his call for an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. A new mailer going out to Iowa Democrats highlights his plan and slams the three Democratic frontrunners for their more gradual strategy to pull US forces from the region.

"Clinton, Edwards, Obama: Tens of Thousands Left Behind" reads the bold-lettered text.

A carefully footnoted series of paragraphs follows: "Clinton, Edwards, and Obama have said they would leave tens of thousands of troops in Iraq."

"What's more," it continues, "each has 'refused to promise to bring all American troops home from Iraq by January 2013.'"

The mailer goes on to quote journalists and rival campaign web pages to illustrate each candidate's plans to potentially keep non-combat troops in the region "indefinitely."

"No wonder none of them are talking about their plans to end the war," it concludes.

From NBC/NJ's Erin McPike
The Romney campaign is pulling out all the stops on McCain in New Hampshire now and not being bashful in promoting its negative ads just more than a week away from the Granite State primary.

There's yet another new spot out there this morning that takes McCain to task on illegal immigration. Despite McCain's attempts to change course on the issue, acknowledging that the American people spoke by coming out in force against the comprehensive immigration legislation that he co-sponsored, the first thing the ad reminds voters is: "McCain championed a bill to let every illegal immigrant stay in America permanently."

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Just before issuing the ad, the camp blasted out a release about McCain in which spokesman Kevin Madden stated: "Senator McCain has a troubling history of neglecting substantive issues and getting personal in his attacks against those who happen to disagree with him. It's the McCain way."

Despite the volley with the McCain campaign, team Huckabee is coming out against Romney in force in Iowa. A Huckabee supporter has been trailing the campaign at a couple of events in the Hawkeye State over the last couple of days and has been approaching the press. Today in the Midtown Cafe in Newton - at Romney's second event -- he identified himself not as a staffer but as a supporter and notified reporters that several members of the Arkansas legislature were holding an informal session with reporters after the event to debunk some of Romney's claims about the former Arkansas governor.

From NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger
FORT DODGE, Iowa -- Giuliani is back in Iowa for the first time in a couple of weeks, and he brought with him a new brochure that is unlike anything we've seen before. Instead of the standard red, white and blue, Giuliani's latest pamphlet is gold, with "Shared Values Coalition" in bold letters at the top.

And inside is Giuliani, side by side with Pat Robertson. It quotes his remarks on faith from the Value Voters Summit in October and other religious leaders. "Rudy Giuliani Shares Our Values" is in block letters along the top.

It also includes a new set of "The Mayor's Commitments." It's not the standard "Twelve Commitments" Giuliani references on a daily basis. This set of 10 includes supporting the Defense of Marriage Act, parental notifications for abortions and strengthening home schooling.

The brochure looks to galvanize members behind a new, faith-based coalition, called the "Shared Values Coalition." This handout was nowhere to be seen in Florida the last few days.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
The Obama campaign today released a memo hitting Clinton and Edwards parts for an influx of support from outside groups into Iowa. The only one not benefiting is Obama, as he's largely been going it alone.

"These latest revelations make it clear why Edwards was able to announce that he could accept public funds while still spending all he needed to spend in Iowa," Obama Campaign Manager David Plouffe writes. "His campaign simply exploited the biggest loophole in the campaign finance system in order to get public matching funds while arranging through allies to benefit from a 527. That's how they avoided the spending limits that are a condition of the public matching funds."

On Clinton, Plouffe denounces an anti-Obama AFSCME mailer. Notably, a pro-Edwards 527, funded largely by local SEIUs, is up with positive ads in Iowa for Edwards. AFSCME and the American Federation of Teachers have been out with mailers for Clinton. Clinton has not shied away from interest groups' money, even defending them as real people at this summer's YearlyKos convention. Edwards has campaigned hard on a platform against Washington interest group money, and has had to balance denouncing the 527 and embracing the support of the SEIU.

These are groups Obama lobbied, and they ultimately chose Edwards and Clinton. How would Obama have handled the situation differently if these groups had endorsed him?

Here's the full memo:

TO:     Interested Parties

FR:     David Plouffe, Campaign Manager, Obama for America

RE:     Flood of Washington Money In Iowa

DA:     December 29, 2007

Heading into the final stretch before the Iowa caucuses, millions of dollars in third party spending are pouring into the state in an unprecedented attempt to benefit the campaigns of John Edwards and Hillary Clinton.  For Clinton, AFSCME, EMILY's List and the AFT have spent over $2.6 million to assist her campaign – even as AFSCME attacks Obama for a position on health care mandates that they themselves have.  The groups supporting Edwards have spent over $2 million including efforts organized by one "independent" organization run by one of Edwards' highest-ranking political aides which newspapers reported today received a questionable 11th-hour donation of $495,000 just days ago.

We have both the financial and organizational resources to compete aggressively in all four early states and through February 5th.  However, there is no doubt that the size of the spending and its underhanded nature deserve further scrutiny.

John Edwards
John Edwards, who is running in large part on a recently adopted campaign platform of taking on the big corporate interests in Washington, is relying on a former aide to run an unregulated 527 operating outside campaign finance limits to support his candidacy.   Even as he was decrying such influence last week, his former campaign manager was spending $750,000 on television ads in Iowa.  If Edwards can't stand up to his own former aides how can stand up to the special interests in Washington?

Nick Baldick, who ran his campaign in 2004 and was on the campaign's payroll as recently as June, is now running Alliance for a New America.  The Alliance for a New America has spent $1.5 million to help Edwards in Iowa, while the group Working for Working Americans, funded by the Carpenters Union, has spent more than $500,000 supporting Edwards, bringing the total spent on his behalf in Iowa to $2 million.

In their most recent financial disclosure, the Alliance for New America revealed that they had raised $495,000 from Oak Springs Farms, LLC. Oak Springs is funded through the assets of Rachel Mellon, who is 97-years old.  According to the available records, which go back to 1980, she has never donated to a political candidate until a contribution was made in her name to John Edwards this year. Mellon's involvement in the decision to donate to the Edwards campaign is unknown. The Washington Post reported yesterday that Alexander Forger, who has power for attorney for Mrs. Mellon, is a major supporter of John Edwards' candidacy. Crain's Business Journal reported in February that Forger and "a group of prominent New York lawyers" hosted a fund-raiser for Edwards at Essex House -- the Central Park South address where his office is located. Forger has also personally donated $4,600 to Edwards' campaign, according to FEC records.   This is not the first time Forger has used Oak Springs Farms to support Edwards; in 2006, he made a $250,000 contribution to Edwards' One America 527 group.

While Edwards has said he doesn't want this group to run ads, he has not called his former employee and friend and asked him not run these ads.  And according to the New York Times, this group was started after consultations with Edwards' campaign manager and other senior members of the campaign.

These latest revelations make it clear why Edwards was able to announce that he could accept public funds while still spending all he needed to spend in Iowa.  His campaign simply exploited the biggest loophole in the campaign finance system in order to get public matching funds while arranging through allies to benefit from a 527.  That's how they avoided the spending limits that are a condition of the public matching funds.

When John Edwards applied for matching funds, he agreed to spending limits in return for the public money he is now receiving. But at that time, the Edwards campaign was actively involved in discussions about the establishment of an "independent" 527 effort, to be conducted outside the federal financing requirements.  Members of the SEIU, which is funding the 527 that has spent the vast majority of the money in IA on his behalf, described consultations with senior Edwards staff and a visit to the campaign in Iowa, all intended to assure that the project delivered "the specific sort of support they'd [the Edwards campaign] like to see from us."

Within weeks, the Alliance for a New America, a 527 group organized just to boost Edwards' last-minute media spending in Iowa, came into existence.  The group portrays itself as an issue advertising group, able to operate outside the legal restrictions of the federal campaign finance laws.  Its goal is to help Edwards, who is specifically promoted in its advertising. Consistent with the close coordination envisioned by the planners, key individuals involved in this organization and steering its activities are close associates of the Edwards campaign.

Hillary Clinton
Of all of the candidates and interests groups participating in this campaign, the American Federal State County Municipal union (AFSCME) is running perhaps the most negative and misleading campaign. To date, they have spent $1.3 million on radio ads and direct mail – with over $300,000 spent on negative ads targeting Obama – and are reportedly readying a negative television campaign against Obama.

The ads have mischaracterized Obama's universal health care plan. AFSCME has attacked Obama's plan for not including an individual mandate, when it is the official position of AFSCME to oppose an individual mandate.  The President of AFSCME testified at a Congressional hearing in 2006 that "we are concerned with the direction reform efforts have taken in some states.  For example, the Massachusetts reform model attempts to achieve near universal coverage through the use of individual mandates."

Clinton also has benefitted by spending from Emily's List and the AFT, who have spent $485,777.43 and $799,618.59 respectively on her behalf.

This unprecedented level of outside spending could impact the outcome in Iowa and New Hampshire, and we believe voters in these states deserve to know exactly how much is being spent, where it's coming from, and who's benefiting.
TOTALS
CLINTON
AFSCME: $1,333,456.96 (includes $309,545.60 explicitly against Obama)
AFT: $799,618.59
Emily's List: $485,777.43
Total: $2,618,852.98

EDWARDS
Working for Working Americans/Carpenters: $526,440.76
Alliance for a New America (SEIU): $1,530,411.77 (this includes $769,000 that has not formally posted)
Democratic Courage: $20,410.00
Total: $2,077,262.53

From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann
DES MOINES, IOWA -- OK, it's not Les Mis. But after six months of this, we could all use a laugh.

Last night marked the opening of Des Moines' most anticipated theatrical production -- Caucus! The Musical. The vision of Midwestern playwright Robert John Ford, the play gleefully pokes fun at the descent of four fictional presidential candidates into the small communities of Iowa by chronicling their shameless courtship of one Iowa farmer and his family.

A quick run through the original soundtrack demonstrates the production's flippant and witty tone. The apocryphal candidates and their campaign managers' soft-shoe to the "Tough Question SideStep."   Christian Right favorite the Rev. Stanley Jensen declares his candidacy, crooning, "So I questioned should I run? / First I wasn't much enticed / Then I got the thumbs up sign from Lord Jesus Christ." The gaggle of politicos ventures into the snowy hinterlands of Algona and Decorah with a Hawaiian-shirt clad parody of the Beach Boys' "Kokomo." And the whole cast hits a patriotic note with its rousing finale of "Get Off Your Sorry Ass and Vote."

Although the production's characters are not one-to-one spoofs of the actual candidates, there are a few suspicious parallels between the real-life contenders and the singing ones. Fake Sen. Nora Halliday, an anti-war female African-American, who is unabashed about her historic candidacy, is a mish-mash of Obama and Clinton. (Interestingly, she turns out to be Muslim as well.) Jensen, the Bible-thumping reverend character who is attacked by his rivals for "taking the 'fun' out of 'fundamental,'" wears his faith on his sleeve a la Mike Huckabee.  And a mix of the more unsavory characterizations of the real-life candidates yields fictional dimwit Sen. Harrison Tate, a gaffe machine who's too busy philandering with his cute campaign manager to read up on Roe v. Wade. He proposes that, "It depends on how deep the water is."

Despite an ultimately predictable ending that is a gratuitous homage to earnest retail politicking, Caucus! The Musical is good for at least a few belly laughs for those who have done the Iowa thing long enough to appreciate its quirks. One candidate's mispronunciation of Dubuque had THIS honorary Iowan in stitches, anyway.

It's funny, as they say, because it's true.

From NBC/NJ's Erin McPike
ALTOONA, Iowa -- Romney may be behind Huckabee in Iowa, but with scores of national reporters in nearby Des Moines checking out his message this morning, McCain remains his top target.

Again this morning he's touting his role as a change agent. He said that he can't forecast what will happen in the election, but he'd offer some of his thoughts on elections generally. One of his thoughts was, "No one votes for yesterday; they vote for tomorrow." He went on. "Elections are about the future, our future, our family's future, our nation's future."

Over the course of the last week, Romney started hitting harder the Washington outsider game that he brings as a governor from outside the Beltway. He told New Hampshire voters last weekend that if they wanted a politician who has spent nearly three decades in Washington, he was the wrong guy -- a direct swipe at McCain.

And even though he's steering clear of direct attacks on his opponents on the stump in Iowa for his final round of appearances, he's still on the offensive against McCain by beating the drum on the future throughout the day yesterday and again this morning.

He's also bringing out the surrogates. Ann Romney joined him and spoke for half of the allotted time at all six events yesterday, and although she has a separate schedule today, she did join him at the first stop at the coffeehouse this morning. The first of her events is a house party hosted by Diane Herndon, who showed at the coffeehouse this morning, too. Romney singled her out in the crowd for having run into him while jogging in the morning in Des Moines about six months ago and screaming with excitement at the time.

Also with him today on the Mitt Mobile is Sen. Jim Talent, who Romney pointed out to the crowd during his remarks and acknowledged his overarching role in the campaign. He has a pro-life advocate in attorney Jay Sekulow, who's traveling on the press bus now. Yesterday, Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra joined him at all of his stops and spent some time on the press bus along with his son, too.

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
DES MOINES, IA -- How crazy has the presidential contest become with now just five days until the Iowa caucuses? Well, yesterday, Romney and McCain were locked in the political equivalent of a steel-cage match over their sparring TV ads; the once pro-immigrant Huckabee was standing by his (incorrect) claim that there are more illegal immigrants from Pakistan than any other country south of the US border; the Clinton and Obama campaigns were scuffling over Obama's use of the word "tea"; the Obama and Edwards camps -- once friendly to one another -- were again going at it; and as of 7:00 pm ET last night, six campaigns unveiled a total of 10 new TV ads, per NBC's Lauren Appelbaum (one from Clinton, two from Edwards, two from McCain, two from Obama, two from Romney, and one from Thompson). Thursday can't get here soon enough…

*** McCain vs. Romney: It's not as red hot as we thought it would be back when McCain was a front-runner. But it's getting there. It all started when Romney tried to do a soft negative on the Arizona senator -- similar how Romney's been going negative on Huckabee here in Iowa. Well, McCain's camp decided to bring a gun to a knife fight and unloaded on Romney with a TV that quotes those two devastating editorials from the Concord Monitor and New Hampshire Union Leader. Romney's favorables may not be high enough in either Iowa or New Hampshire to sustain massive negative hits. That said, Romney got into this bash-fest first, which means his paid response to McCain is likely to be harder. To reporters, Romney hinted at how he'll fight back against McCain: questioning his temperament.

*** Is Huck ready? On TODAY this morning, Huckabee attempted to re-explain his immigration-Pakistani claim that he made Friday morning. While he proved once again to be very good at talking his way out of a potential controversy, the misstep is a reminder that he's still a rookie candidate prone to mistakes. Also, while the McCain-Romney exchanges are hot right now, don't overlook the onslaught of negatives being dumped on Huckabee by Romney and the Club for Growth. In fact, the Huck folks -- worried about his momentum going from Huckaboom to Huckabust -- seem poised to fight back against Romney. For the first time last night, Huckabee brought up Romney by name at a campaign stop, NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy notes. And the campaign is not ruling out a paid response, say, by Monday.

*** Phone home: Speaking of gaffes, did Edwards duck one? Yesterday, we noted Edwards' phone call to Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf, which was dutifully returned. Seemed like a good gambit, right? Well, what if Musharraf ends up being implicated in Bhutto's assassination? As we noted yesterday, had either Clinton or Obama done this, they would have been killed by the Chattering Class (and their rivals). Edwards' folks may complain that they don't get the same treatment from the media as Clinton and Obama do, but sometimes that may be a good thing.

*** Now or never? This didn't get the play it deserved yesterday: Obama told his supporters if he doesn't win in 2008, he won't try again later on. "My wife and I were talking the other day, and she said we're not doing this again," he said. It's a fascinating closing argument. Will he say it again?

*** First Read weather update: Between now and Caucus Day, we'll be mentioning the Iowa weather forecast for January 3. Bottom line: It's looking like it will be clear and cold. Per weather.com, the day is expected to be mostly sunny with a high of 28 in the day and partly cloudy and 22 at night in Des Moines; in the west in Council Bluffs, the forecast is for 34 and windy in the daytime and partly cloudy and 22 at night; and in the east in Dubuque, they are looking at a much colder day/night -- with a high of 25 and windy in the daytime and 23 and mostly cloudy at night.

*** Some just askin's: As the hours wind down here in Iowa, we figured we'd close each First Thoughts with a few questions to ponder: Is there a Ron Paul "Mendoza" line, meaning that candidates that finish below Paul in the caucuses (Rudy? Fred?) have MAJOR problems? What about this enthusiasm gap? Huckabee and Giuliani yesterday had decent turnouts -- but they were on a scale of what Joe Biden gets, and about a third of what Obama or Clinton receive.

*** On the trail: Once again, almost everyone is in Iowa today: Biden hits Independence, Manchester, Elkader, and Dubuque; Clinton stops in Eldridge, Clinton, Maquoketa, and Manchester; Edwards is in Muscatine, Washington, Knoxville, and Des Moines (where he holds a rally in the evening); Giuliani goes to Clive, Indianola, and Pleasant; Huckabee campaigns in Osceola, Indianola, and Perry; Obama travels to Burlington, Madison, Keokuk, Mt. Pleasant, and Ottumwa; Richardson stumps in West Liberty, Iowa City, and Cedar Rapids; and Romney is in Altoona, Newton, Pella, Oskaloosa, Ottumwa, and Burlington. Elsewhere, McCain campaigns in New Hampshire, as does Bill Clinton, who hits Nashua, Dover, and Portsmouth.

Countdown to Iowa: 5 days
Countdown to New Hampshire: 10 days
Countdown to Michigan: 17 days
Countdown to Nevada and SC GOP primary: 21 days
Countdown to SC Dem primary: 28 days
Countdown to Florida: 31 days
Countdown to Tsunami Tuesday: 38 days
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 311 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 388 days

Click here to sign up for First Read emails.

The Washington Post says that Edwards and Obama "are engaged in an increasingly pointed duel over which man is the true messenger of 'change' in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination -- with both drawing heavily from Bill Clinton's themes during his first campaign for the White House… [W]ith Clinton dominating the issue of experience, change remains the central battleground for Edwards and Obama."

National Journal's Ron Brownstein delves inside the numbers of the latest L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll in Iowa. His conclusion: "Edwards is siphoning away votes both Obama and Clinton probably hoped to attract here. Because Edwards is now stronger among men than women, he is hurting Obama (especially among college men). But because Edwards is stronger downscale than upscale, he is hurting Clinton (especially among the non-college men). All of these cross pressures have produced a race far too close to call."

On a similar note, The Los Angeles Times writes about how Obama has recalibrated his rhetoric a bit to appeal to some of the same blue-collar voters that have formed the support foundation for both Edwards and Clinton. This piece couches the Obama shift as a direct reaction to Edwards.

It looks like the Obama folks decided to nip a potential controversy in the bud. Per NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan, Obama denied that his comment about drinking tea with ambassadors had anything to do with Clinton. "I was making the same comment I've made many times -- which is that knowing a country is more than just visiting an ambassadors office," he said. When asked again if it was referring to Clinton, Obama laughed and said, "Those folks must really be on edge where they think we spend all of our time thinking about them. They need to think about the American people a little more instead of us."

His campaign has also pointed to a November event in Chariton, IA, where Obama referred to congressional delegations going to countries and doing little to understand the local people. According the AP, Obama had said, "A lot of my knowledge about foreign affairs is not what I just studied in school. It's actually having the knowledge of how ordinary people in these other countries live.' Obama contrasted that with tightly controlled congressional trips overseas. 'You get picked up at the airport by a state convoy and a security detail. They drive you over to the ambassador's house and you get lunch. Then you go take a tour of some factory or some school. Children do a native dance… It's very hard for you to make good foreign policy decisions. Foreign policy is all about judgment… It's understanding what the world looks like from the outside.'"

The Clinton campaign arranged for Madeleine Albright to defend Clinton over this tea comment. Clearly, the Obama folks realized it could be viewed as a sexist hit.

The New York Times notes that many of the presidential candidates continued to talk about Pakistan and Bhutto's death while on the campaign trail yesterday. "Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware and Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Democrats who have struggled to attract voters' attention, edged into the spotlight on Friday after talking about Pakistan for weeks… Senators John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, spent the day asserting their own personal expertise: their private conversations with Ms. Bhutto and Mr. Musharraf, their visits to Pakistan and their concerns about fallout affecting the nation's nuclear arsenal to the hunt for Osama bin Laden."

"The Bhutto assassination is one of those rare things in a presidential race -- an unscripted, unexpected moment that lays bare a candidate's leadership qualities and geopolitical smarts. Think of Mr. bin Laden's videotape message late in the 2004 election … or the twists of the Iranian hostage crisis in 1980."

In a conference call with reporters yesterday, Huckabee cited an article from the Denver Post written by Bruce Finley as the source for his information on his claim that there are more illegal immigrants from Pakistan than from any other country besides south of the US border, NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy reports. (Here's the full write-up.). "The number came from Homeland Security," Huckabee said, referring to his speech yesterday in which he claimed that 660 illegal Pakistani immigrants entered the US last year. "There are two stories that are published that report that number. One is Bruce Finley of the Denver Post and there is also a Jim Pinkerton column in which that is mentioned. And that's where that figure, they were quoting Homeland Security on that number."

Later in the call, Pinkerton said that his article referenced Finley's -- meaning that Finley's March 2006 article is the source of the misleading information. Although that number is included in the Denver Post's article in association with Pakistani immigrants, it is in reference to "non-Mexican migrants caught entering the United States illegally in fiscal years 2002 to 2005," not the number that entered last year.

In his article, Finley writes that non-Mexican migrants "came mostly from Central America and Brazil. Also among them were: Iranians (95), Iraqis (74), Pakistanis (660), Syrians (52), Yemenis (40), Egyptians (106) and Lebanese (91)." Then Finley goes on to write that the list of countries he has chosen to report on comes from a list of "35 'special-interest' nations the State Department lists as hotbeds for terrorism," and not a true ranking of the largest numbers of illegal nationals across the board.

According to estimates released by the Department of Homeland Security in August, the largest ethnic group of illegal immigrants currently living in the US who are not originally from the Western Hemisphere -- i.e. not from "immediately south of the border" -- are Indians. There are an estimated 270,000 illegal Indian nationals residing in the U.S. as of January 2007, which is an increase of 125 percent over the same estimates in 2000.

The New York Times adds that "Huckabee has made several erroneous or misleading statements at a time when he has been under increasing scrutiny from fellow presidential candidates for a lack of fluency in foreign policy issues."

"The battle between Mitt Romney and John McCain in New Hampshire's Republican primary took a significant turn yesterday as Romney unveiled his first television advertisement attacking McCain's record," the Boston Globe writes. McCain responded with an ad attacking Romney, using the words of two editorials, one of which describes Romney as a "phony."

Romney said this about the McCain ad, per NBC/NJ's Erin McPike, "It's nasty. It's mean-spirited. Frankly, it tells you more about Sen. McCain than it does about me that he would run an ad like that."

NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli was with McCain in New Hampshire, and he quotes McCain on the Romney ad exchange: "I was encouraged because it's clear that Gov. Romney attacks when people are catching up with him. And I understand why he's talking about the future since he's spent most of his time running away from his past. But we'll respond. And we have to respond, and we will respond. But we will conduct this campaign in a dignified manner, on the issues. The people of New Hampshire, I would like to tell Governor Romney, don't respond favorably to negative ad campaigns. That's not what the people of New Hampshire want when they choose a leader. And we won't engage in that kind of campaigning nor will we stoop to responding to a lot of it."

Huckabee also jumped to McCain's defense, notes NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy. "I'm kind of expecting to be attacked here in Iowa," he said. "We've spent one dollar for every twenty that Mitt Romney has spent in this state …and we're leading. We're ahead. And so when people get that far behind having spent that much money they get desperate… But then I saw the ad that [Romney's] using against Sen. McCain in New Hampshire."

Huckabee continued, "Now folks, Sen. McCain is -- I guess by many people's standards -- he's a rival. He's a candidate for president in the Republican Party like I am. But as I've said on national television and as I would say on any stage in America regardless of the politics, John McCain is a true, honest to God American hero, and we should respect him and honor him for who he is."

Slate's Dickerson has the scoop that one of the anti-Romney TV ads McCain has at the ready is an ad that was originally put together by two of Romney's current media consultants, Stuart Stevens and Russ Schriefer.

GIULIANI: Some 9/11 family members are not happy with Giuliani's ad, featuring 9/11.

HUCKABEE: The Boston Globe front-pages how Huckabee has raised the ire of the GOP establishment. "Huckabee's surge in recent weeks appears to have stunned and maddened the party's conservative hierarchy. While the GOP establishment hasn't lined up behind any other single candidate, it has steadily raised the volume of its objections to Huckabee as his plausibility as a candidate has grown."

And Huckabee's newest adviser is worried about all the negatives hitting his candidate. "A top Huckabee adviser fretted openly about the possible impact of a weekend of unanswered negative ads aimed at the underfinanced former Arkansas governor and about how the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto could prompt voters to evaluate candidates' credentials differently than they did a week ago. 'We don't see an erosion yet,' Ed Rollins, a veteran GOP strategist who recently joined Huckabee's campaign, said in a telephone interview. 'But you hope over the course of the next few days they don't start eroding our base.'"

And Rollins didn't rule out a paid response attack on Romney. "'If we think we're starting to bleed, we've got a book of stuff on him," Rollins said of Romney. 'We'll have to do it in person. Either Mike does it or I do it, but it doesn't have the impact of television. If we're really bleeding on Monday, we reserve the right to go back and defend ourselves."

MCCAIN: "I've been declared dead in this campaign on five or six occasions. I won't refer to a recent movie I saw, but I think I am legend," McCain said, according to the AP.

The Concord Monitor (NH), which recently wrote a blistering editorial criticizing Romney, has endorsed McCain. It's yet another newspaper endorsement for the Arizona senator.

ROMNEY: The Boston Globe devotes the entire right column of its front page to politics, including its top story, " Parenthood clinic funds OK'd under Romney." The article begins, "Former governor Mitt Romney's economic development agency granted initial approval to a tax-exempt bond last year for a Planned Parenthood clinic in Worcester that will provide abortions, just two months before he left office and began highlighting his antiabortion position as a presidential candidate." A Romney spokesman said, "He [Romney] did not know about this loan. It was made by an agency that does not report to the governor. If it did, he would have told them not to do it."

But one Tufts University professor said, "It is unusual that his people at the agency did not find a reason not to fund Planned Parenthood. His administration was clearly focused on his run for the presidency and making sure there was no embarrassment like this. It was an administration that was pretty efficient getting everyone operating on the same page and avoiding scandal."

More bad news for Romney? "A killer accused in the slaying of a newlywed couple in Washington state shortly after he was released from prison in Massachusetts should have been held behind bars for almost a year longer, but the Romney administration failed to file paperwork in time to take away his 'good time' credits," the AP writes.

One of the issues that Romney hasn't had to answer for too much is his lack of foreign policy experience. Well, he addressed that in an avail with reporters yesterday. Romney for the first time used his business background to talk about his international experience, notes NBC/NJ's Erin McPike. "I've done business in 20 different questions around the world before. I have traveled extensively and on the basis of my experience, I believe I have some perspective on issues that relate to our affairs with other nations."

More Romney: "I'm at the same position Ronald Reagan was in. I'm a person who has extensive experience making very difficult decisions, bringing together a great team of people and moving with the kind of leadership skills that allow us to accomplish seemingly impossible tasks. Ronald Reagan did it, I've done it throughout my career and I don't believe for a minute that America wants to have a state department employee type running the country. I think they want a leader. I'm not saying I'm the only leader -- there are others who are great leaders as well in our nation -- I'm not by any means the only. But I do believe that leadership still and the ability to make difficult decisions and experience running things is relevant to becoming president of the United States."

CLINTON: "Farmer Garry Klicker and some other family-farm advocates say Democrat Hillary Clinton's choice of a leader of her rural campaign committee casts doubt on her credibility on small-farm issues," the Des Moines Register writes. "Clinton picked the owner of a large-scale livestock operation who has promoted national corporate agriculture interests to be co-chairwoman of "Rural Americans for Hillary."

EDWARDS: The Obama folks seem a bit exasperated by the 527 help Edwards is receiving, particularly Alliance for a New America, which is run by his former campaign manager. As the Washington Post reports, one of the Alliance for a New America donors is a trust for a 97-year-old woman, which gave the group almost $500,000. The trust is run by attorney, Alexander Forger, who himself is a maxed out contributor to Edwards.

Edwards has an op-ed in the Boston Globe, entitled, "Rallying the middle class." In it, he lays out his four-step plan to help the middle class, the basis for closing argument speech delivered yesterday.

KUCINICH: A California book publisher, which published Kucinich's autobiography, isn't happy with the Ohio congressman. "That's because the Democratic presidential candidate has barely mentioned the book," the Washington Post writes. "In fact, he never signed a contract with his publisher. And that has left executives at the small Beverly Hills company frustrated and upset. 'I've been exceptionally disappointed in the man,' says Michael Viner, chief executive of Phoenix Books. After printing 20,000 copies and spending more than $100,000 on promotion, he says, he has seen the book sell 500 copies in two months. 'It's like we made a campaign contribution,' Viner says. 'He left us holding a very large bag.'"

OBAMA: Profiling Obama, the New York Times notes the "fine line" he has had to walk "as a biracial American whose political ambitions require that he appeal to whites while still satisfying the hopes and expectations of blacks."

The Washington Post's Kurtz is upping the amount of TV ad checks he's doing, and he hits Obama for misrepresenting viewers on his latest health-care ad.

Don't be surprised if this becomes something some of the Democratic presidential candidates talk about on the campaign trail today. "[O]n Friday, with no warning, a vacationing Mr. Bush announced that he was vetoing a sweeping military policy bill because of an obscure provision that could expose Iraq's new government to billions of dollars in legal claims dating to Saddam Hussein's rule," the New York Times writes. "The decision left the Bush administration scrambling to promise that it would work with Congress to quickly restore dozens of new military and veterans programs once Congress returns to work in January."

More: "Mr. Bush's veto surprised and infuriated Democratic lawmakers and even some Republicans, who complained that the White House had failed to raise its concerns earlier. And it gave Democrats a chance to wield Mr. Bush's support-the-troops oratory against him, which they did with relish."

The Washington Post: "At issue is a provision of the defense bill that would amend the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. It was championed by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) as a way to give victims of state-sponsored terrorism legal recourse. Such victims would be entitled to sue countries in U.S. courts. In a statement, Lautenberg said the measure was intended to extend redress to victims of such state-sponsored terrorist attacks as the Iran-led bombing of a Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and Libya's downing of an airliner over Lockerbee, Scotland, in 1988. Lautenberg's statement did not address whether the measure also created the unintended consequences for Iraq cited by Bush."

From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
Obama told his supporters if he doesn't win in 2008, he won't be trying again later on. "My wife and I were talking the other day, and she said we're not doing this again," he said in Williamsburg, Iowa.
 
But it's not just because Michelle Obama misses her husband and wants her home. Obama said his wife said they will be different people in eight years and not be able to connect to ordinary "normal" Americans -- unlike now, when it is just five years since they still had law school loans and were living in a two small condo with no college fund started for their kids.
 
"We'll still be good people hopefully but we'll be in a different orbit, in a different circle," Obama said. "Our worries will be different and our concerns will be different. We're already there but at least we still remember what that was like."
 
"I thought that was a wonderful insight," he continued. "One of the things that I think I offer in this race is, you know, the way she put it was, we still remember what it is like to be normal. But I think that's part of what happens when you are in Washington for very long time. You lose touch with that. Then it becomes harder to relinquish power."

From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy
OTTUMWA, IA -- In a conference call with reporters held this afternoon Huckabee cited an article from the Denver Post written by Bruce Finley as the source for his information on the number of illegal Pakistani immigrants who have entered the U.S.

"The number came from homeland security," Huckabee said, referring to his speech this morning where he claimed that 660 illegal Pakistani immigrants entered the U.S. last year. "There are two stories that are published that report that number. One is Bruce Finley of the Denver Post, and there is also a Jim Pinkerton column in which that is mentioned. And that's where that figure, they were quoting Homeland Security on that number."

Later in the call, Pinkerton said that his article referenced Finley's, meaning that Finley's March 2006 article is the source of the misleading information. Although that number is included in the Denver Post's article in association with Pakistani immigrants, it is in reference to "non-Mexican migrants caught entering the United States illegally in fiscal years 2002 to 2005," not the number that entered last year.

This morning Huckabee also claimed, "We have more Pakistani illegals coming across our border than all other nationalities except those immediately south of the border." This sentence paraphrases a sentence written by Finley, which is admittedly limited in scope.

In his article Finley writes that non-Mexican migrants "came mostly from Central America and Brazil. Also among them were: Iranians (95), Iraqis (74), Pakistanis (660), Syrians (52), Yemenis (40), Egyptians (106) and Lebanese (91)." Then Finley goes on to write that the list of countries he has chosen to report on comes from a list of "35 'special-interest' nations the State Department lists as hotbeds for terrorism," and not a true ranking of the largest numbers of illegal nationals across the board.

A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that the number of illegal Pakistani immigrants caught in FY 2007 falls behind both the Philippines and China when it comes to countries outside the Western Hemisphere. In FY 2007, ICE reported catching 435 Pakistanis, 766 Chinese, 521 Filipinos and 600 Indians.

In fact, NBC's Michael Kosnar reports that according to officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security, illegal Pakistani immigrants aren't even in the list of top 25 nationalities of immigrants who cross the border illegally.

According to estimates released by the Department of Homeland Security in August, the largest ethnic group of illegal immigrants currently living in the U.S. who are not originally from the western hemisphere -- i.e. not from "immediately south of the border" -- are Indians. There are an estimated 270,000 illegal Indian nationals residing in the U.S. as of January 2007, which is an increase of 125 percent over the same estimates in 2000.

Meaning, it is completely plausible that if Indians were included in Finley's list as an ethnic category of non-Mexican migrants caught at the border between FY 2002 and 2005, it could be much higher than Pakistan's.

Then again, Finley does not cite the source of those numbers in the original article -- which was published in March of 2006 -- but according to the ICE spokesperson the only official numbers released by the government are the number of illegal immigrants who are caught crossing. Such a number may be a representative sample of the true breakdown of illegal immigrants residing in the country, but they are far from precise.

The ICE spokesperson also said that numbers for illegal immigrants who successfully cross the border each year are impossible to calculate and are often only provided by think tanks as estimates.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
McCain is up with a response ad to Romney's negative ad. McCain skewers Romney in the ad -- running in New Hampshire -- using the words of two state papers.

"The Union Leader says John McCain has 'conviction' and 'Granite Staters want a candidate who will look them in the eye and tell them the truth,'" and announcer says, adding, "'John McCain has done that. Mitt Romney has not.' The Concord Monitor writes, 'If a candidate is a phony ... we'll know it. Mitt Romney is such a candidate.'"

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From NBC's Andy Merten
If you need any indication Giuliani is trying to bounce back from weeks off the radar of the national media (save for a health scare that garnered a day worth of less-than-positive coverage), look only at the cable news trifectas he's pulled two days in a row. 
 
Last night, he sat down for interviews with all three major cable news networks, including one with MSNBC that aired this morning, and tonight, he's at it again -- with an interview on Hardball with Chris Matthews and one on CNBC, as well.
 
On these appearances, he's touting his "proportionate" state stategy, bracing for what will likely be a fourth- or fifth- place finish in Iowa next Thursday.  Speaking of his February 5th strategy today on Hardball, he said, "If we can convert those into victories, we got a nomination" and "that's when it's all going to get decided."

Notably, his media push comes on the heels of yesterday's assasination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Giuliani is re-hitting the airwaves with his tough-on-terror message.

From NBC/NJ's Erin McPike and NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
LE MARS, Iowa -- On the same day the Romney campaign releases a contrast ad with McCain, he is up with another, similarly structured ad contrasting himself with Huckabee. Similar to the McCain ad, an announcer speaks over ominous music, attacking Huckabee on being "soft on government spending" and "1033 pardons and commutations."

Then another announcer, above hopeful music, touts Romney's accomplishments and depicts him as a traditional, hard-nosed Republican. "Mitt Romney held spending down, below inflation. Cut taxes. Zero pardons. The difference? Strong leadership?"

The ad also lambastes Huckabee for supporting in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants and granting more than 1,000 pardons and commutations as governor.
 
But the spot takes one other swipe at Huckabee on a matter that is of resurging importance in light of recent events on the international stage with the following target: "His foreign policy?  'Ludicrous,' says Condoleezza Rice."
 
What's interesting about that, however, is that there is actually no contrast on foreign matters offered in the ad. And in the campaign's press release announcing the commercial, there's no backup that bolsters Romney on the issue. Romney hasn't been invoking Huckabee's name on the stump today in Iowa, however.
 
The McCain and Romney campaigns worked through e-mails to reporters during the day, dueling about which camp is more on the attack with their media strategies.

From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann
DES MOINES, IOWA -- Rawalpindi, the city in Pakistan where Benazir Bhutto was assassinated yesterday, is more than 7,000 miles from Des Moines. But some Democratic and Republican candidates here are hoping that the reverberations from the death of the former Pakistani prime minister will continue to shake the snowy political ground halfway across the world in the first-in-the-nation caucuses state.

At the top of the list of candidates trying to catch the news wave is Richardson, who gave a policy address today in Des Moines about the churning turmoil in Pakistan. Richardson, the only candidate to have called for Pervez Musharraf to step down, told supporters that his Democratic rivals have "misplaced faith" in the existing government in the country, adding that America has "subsidized oppression for too long" by supporting its current president.

His campaign message? "We cannot afford another president who is a foreign policy novice," he said today. "The American people should not settle for untested leadership."

Speaking to the press after the well-attended speech, Richardson mostly tried avoided reporters' efforts to make him single his competitors out by name. But he accused his fellow Democrats of "bland" responses to yesterday's events. "What I hear from the other candidates is that they basically want to do nothing," he said.

Just how much is the crisis in Pakistan influencing the decision-making of Iowa caucus goers? Joan Price, a Richardson supporter from Ankeny, says that -- for the first time this political season -- she's been getting phone calls from friends and neighbors, who are anxious about the consequences of the assassination.

"I got about six phone calls from people last night wondering how this could affect the election," she said. "This is big news to all of us."

From NBC/NJ's Tricia Miller
DUBUQUE, Iowa -- Edwards gave an amped up version of his stump speech at the Colts Community Center as the campaign neared six days to the caucus.

After introductions from U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley and Iowa First Lady Mari Culver, both Edwards endorsers, the candidate stood to tell Iowans that there are "four truths" that need to be spoken before the caucus.

"Everything that makes America America is threatened today. The very things that make the promise of equal opportunity possible are at risk," he said first. He added that the election is not just another round in a fight between political parties but an "epic struggle for the America we believe in."

Sounding a familiar theme, Edwards made his third point by accusing corporate interests of flexing their financial muscle to control Washington. Finally, with his fourth point he called for a fight he said was necessary to effect real change.

Following the fourth point Edwards abandoned his notes to lapse back into his usual stump speech. He pulled the microphone away from the podium to give his now-familiar "America rising" refrain:

"I believe in my heart and soul that every time we speak for 47 million Americans who have no health care coverage in America, America rises," he said. "When we speak for those women who were turned away from the shelter in Des Moines, Iowa, because they had no place to live and they had no place to put 'em in the shelter -- when we stand up for them, America, our country, rises.

"When we speak for 35 million people who went hungry in this country last year, for 200,000 veterans who have no place to live, when we speak for all the working people in this country in the middle class who have lost their jobs because of corporate greed, because of trade deals that enrich big corporations, because of tax policy that gave tax breaks to American companies sending jobs overseas, when we speak for them, America, this country that your mother, your father, your grandfather, your grandmother, struggled and sacrificed -- every time we stand up for these people, America rises."

After the speech Edwards moved out from behind the podium to take questions from the audience. They asked about trade, community service and the federal deficit, in addition to a question about how he would interact with Pakistan as president.

Edwards is scheduled to make three more stops today with community meetings in Clinton, Tipton and Davenport, but snow and slippery roads are making travel slow-going in eastern Iowa. The Main Street Express didn't pull out of Dubuque until almost 3:00 pm CT for the event in Clinton, which was scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. and is a little more than 70 miles away.

From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
On Morning Joe earlier today, five presidential candidates spoke out on Bhutto's assassination and answered questions on how this event may impact the upcoming primaries. Although they each spoke at different times, Richardson and Dodd took advantage of the opportunity to say where they are more qualified than the other, taking a swipe at their opponents' policies. Joe Scarborough asked both Giuliani and Romney about Huckabee's foreign policy credentials, but neither candidate attacked their opponent.
 
Richardson v. Dodd
Speaking on Morning Joe at 7:30 this morning, Bill Richardson once again called for Musharraf to step down. "He is deeply unpopular. Two-thirds of the Pakistani people want him out. He can't keep internal order in his country," Richardson said. "There's a provision in the Pakistani constitution that calls for an interim caretaker government of technocrats. I would urge Musharraf to set that up and then to hold elections as quickly as possible."
 
Asked if Musharraf stepping down would create a power vacuum leading to chaos, Richardson said that would not be the case. "Right now, Joe, with Musharraf in power, with Pakistan on the brink of internal chaos, what you have is an unattainable situation," he answered. "I would have the Pakistani military set up, with Musharraf, this caretaker technocratic government. Musharraf steps aside. This caretaker government takes over until there is free and fair elections some time in January."
 
An hour later, Dodd said Richardson's plan would indeed create a chaotic situation. "With all due respect to my friend Bill Richardson, I think calling for Musharraf to step down would be a huge error, a huge mistake," Dodd said. "Right now, he is the known quantity. To be talking about removing him without knowing what would follow him would potentially having Jihadists or fundamentalists take over that country and pose the immediate threat to all of us, just makes no sense to me whatsoever."
 
Richardson was asked about Dodd countering his position earlier and he responded saying Dodd is not as experienced in this area of foreign policy as he is. "He's in the Senate and the Senate doesn't do much about what's happening in Pakistan," Richardson had said earlier this morning. "So, I'm not surprised at his criticism. I know the region. I was UN Ambassador. I went to Pakistan. I went to Afghanistan. What you need to do as a President, is be decisive. Sitting around and saying, oh, this is not going to work, when we don't have too many other options to undertake, I think that is the unwise action."
 
Dodd said the number one priority for the United States is to help Pakistan regain some stability. In that regard, he also called for the elections to be postponed. "This ideal, let's rush to an election on the assumption here that you are going to end up with something that looks resembling to what we have here in this country or other western democracies is terribly naive," he said. "I'd like to see us get there but one step at a time. And you better be focused on stability right now. It's not Iraq. It's not Iran. I've been saying for months, it's Pakistan here. That's the great danger for us."
 
Giuliani and Romney v. Huckabee
Giuliani, who relies on his positions on anti-terrorism / national security to be his selling point to Republican primary voters, said Islamic terrorism is "the overriding issue of the day."
 
"Iraq has to be seen in a much larger picture and what today reminds us of is that this is a challenge in various parts of the world," Giuliani said at 6:45 this morning on Morning Joe. "It's one we can't wish away. We have to face it and we have to face it by being on offense."
 
Romney, on the other hand, focused on Pakistan's democratic history and, like Richardson, said elections should go on. "I think there's a recognition that the people of Pakistan are very very upset with General Musharraf and they want to see change there," Romney said a little after seven this morning. "If there is too much delay or too much stalling or the perception of that, there may well be greater instability ... The best way to get stability in Pakistan is to move towards democracy."
 
Romney also discussed Pakistan's foundations in Democracy. "Pakistan has made those foundations and has had historically had democratically elected leaders," Romney said. "So now you are looking at a setting where you had a military coup. General Musharraf came in. And that's something which is not going to last forever in a nation like Pakistan given its heritage."
 
Joe Scarborough asked both Giuliani and Romney if Huckabee has what it takes to be Commander in Chief on a days like this. Both refused to take the bait, possibly because neither of their resumes contain much foreign policy credentials either.
 
"The American people get to decide that. The Republican party gets to decide that," Giuliani responded. "I'm not going to talk about other Republican candidates and get into a political debate. ... This isn't the best time to making a big political point for or against a candidate."
 
"I think Mike Huckabee is a terrific guy and I give him a lot of credit," Romney later said. "I'm not going to attack other people in terms of their capacities."
 
Two hours later, Huckabee  told Scarborough he is qualified to be the Commander in Chief, saying he is "somebody who can sit at the desk and make decisions and know that you have to make those decisions right now."
 
"You cannot call some committees and have hearings for three weeks and then come to a consensus," Huckabee continued.  "You have to make command decisions. That's what governors do. I did that for 10 and a half years. Everyday I faced not just the things that were on the calendar. I faced the unexpected, whether it was school shooting or a tornado that would kill 27 people in a matter or minutes. Those were the things that really test your soul. They test your capacity for judgment. They test your capacity for marshalling the resources that are at hand."
 
Huckabee also responded to CNBC's Erin Burnett's statement that Republicans would be committing Huckaside with regards to Wall Street if they chose Huckabee. "There's a lot of the people who are in those organizations who are strong supporters of my opponent and there is an agenda there," Huckabee said. "If people would look at my economic policies, what they would see is I have exactly the policies what Americans want. That is a policy that balances the budget and reduces spending. ... I don't want to make rich people poor; I just want to have an economic system where poor people actually have a chance to get rich."

From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan

The Obama campaign is launching two separate ads in New Hampshire and Iowa. In New Hampshire, "Unify," is a 30-second spot that highlights the endorsements Obama has received as someone who can bridge the political divide in the United States. On screen lines from editorials in the Portsmouth Herald, the Boston Globe, the Valley News and the Nashua Telegraph appear as a voice over from Obama says, "We have a chance to bring the country together…."

In Iowa, "Listening," is a 60-second spot that attempts to reach out to Democrats, Republicans and Independents.

Obama opens the ad by saying, "America is listening. Not just Democrats but Republicans and Independents who've lost trust in their government but want to believe again."

It shows video of Obama at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner in November, and highlights his record on special interests saying that he's done more "than any other candidate in this race to take on the lobbyists, and I have won."

Obama says that he's running so that he can end tax breaks for companies that take jobs overseas and help to ensure that the 47 million Americans without health insurance receive it.

He ends the spot with the tag, "Your future is our future, and our moment is now.

From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy and NBC's Ben Weltman

PELLA, Iowa -- Huckabee was at it again today trying to bring home the immigration issue to Iowa caucus-goers. At a Pizza Ranch here this morning, he told an audience of more than 250 people, "In light of what happened in Pakistan yesterday it's interesting that there were more Pakistanis who illegally crossed the border than of any other nationality except for those immediately south of our border -- 660 last year."

Afterwards at a media avail, he was asked where he had gotten his numbers. Huckabee replied, "It's come largely from CIA numbers, and I'll get you the exact source but those are numbers that I got today from a briefing and I believe they are CIA and/or immigration numbers."

What strikes us most is his attempt to connect Pakistani illegal immigration in the United States to Benazir Bhutto's assasination yesterday. "And so the way it affects that is that we need to understand that violence and terror is significant when it happens in Pakistan, it's more significant if it could happen in our own cities, and it happens if people can slip across our border and we have no control over them."

But his rhetoric on the stump this morning and last night was much more pointed then when he was faced with a barrage of questions from the traveling press on why he had singled out Pakistani immigrants in particular.

"My point once again is to highlight that the lack of security on our borders poses a potential threat to us," Huckabee said, seeming to retreat from the issue of ballooning Pakistani immigrants to the issue of border security in general. "I'm making the observation that we have more Pakistani illegals coming across our border than all other nationalities except those immediately south of the border. And in light of what's happening in Pakistan it ought to give us pause as to why are so many illegals coming across these borders."

Huckabee was sure to define exactly which immigrants he's fearful of saying, "the Immigration issue is not so much about people coming in to pick lettuce or make beds. It's about people who could come with a shoulder fired missile and could do serious damage and harm to us."

On the issue of Pakistani stability in general, Huckabee said that Musharraf stepping down -- as Bill Richardson has called for -- would be the "wrong decision," and that if January's elections go on as scheduled in spite of Bhutto's death and Nawaz Sharif's boycott they will be "virtually meaningless."

From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones

Clinton said the Pakistani government does not have enough credibility to investigate Benazir Bhutto's death and is calling for an international probe into it.

"I'm calling for a full independent international investigation," Clinton said in an interview with CNN.

She said the probe should perhaps be along the lines of what the UN is doing to look into Rafik Hariri's death in Lebanon. Clinton declined to call for Musharraf to step down, but said he should meet certain conditions.

"We should immediately move to free and fair elections," she said.

Clinton noted that Bhutto's party would need time to choose successor and that Nawaz Sharif, another opposition leader, has said he would not take part in the election.

From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum and Domenico Montanaro
In new spots, Edwards says that saving the middle class will be an epic battle and America needs a president who is ready to fight

"Born For" is airing in New Hampshire and "Native Son" airs in South Carolina, where Edwards was born.

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