From NBC/NJ's Erin McPike
Late last year when the original Boston Globe story broke -- and even at the most recent GOP debate -- Romney has come under fire for contracting a lawn service company that employed illegal immigrants who worked on his property. This news was embarrassing for a GOP candidate who has stressed his credentials against illegal immigration, and has told voters that employers who hire them should be penalized.
 
Today, months after the story first hit the papers, Romney announced that he has ended his relationship with the company. In a statement issued by the campaign this afternoon, Romney revealed that he allowed the service a second chance to comply with the law by ensuring that their employees -- from the time forward -- all had legal status. He also indicated that he met with the staff to impress upon them the urgent nature of the matter.
 
"The owner of the company guaranteed us, in very certain terms, that the company would be in total compliance with the law going forward. The company's failure to comply with the law is disappointing and inexcusable, and I believe it is important I take this action," the statement read.

Rival campaigns have had a field day with the announcement. Said Thompson communications director Todd Harris, "First Mitt Romney was FOR illegal immigrants working on his lawn, and then he was against it, then for it, and now I guess he's against it again.  Sounds like his position on amnesty." 

Giuliani communications director Katie Levinson said this in a statement: "I think [the story] speaks for itself."

From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann
DES MOINES, IA -- In the midst of the nasty micro-attacks swirling around the Republicans' newly minted Iowa front-runner, Huckabee says that he's going to take the high road.  

Sort of.

"A couple of the other campaigns have been relentless in their attacks toward me," he said. "And I have not responded in kind."

Huckabee contrasted his campaign's approach with Thompson's, which he said exhibits its most activity in its prolific anti-Huckabee press statements. "There were six of them before ten o'clock on Sunday," he added mischeviously, before laying down a characteristic zinger.

"Most of us were in church, he was cranking out press releases."

Today, Huckabee painted himself as the high-minded victim of petty attacks from his rivals, saying that he doesn't want to be elected just because he "disabled" the other candidates by negativity in the race. In that vein, he continued to condemn push-polling calls allegedly made on his behalf, and said that he's "fine with" Mitt Romney's threat to enlist the aid of the Iowa Attorney General to investigate the group conducting them.

The Arkansas governor made the remarks at a press conference announcing the support of over thirty religious leaders, as well of Tim LaHaye -- the author of faith-based book series "Left Behind -- and LaHaye's wife, the founder of conservative group Concerned Women for America.  

In addition to questions about negativity in the race, faith was clearly on the minds of reporters who gathered for the endorsement announcement. Huckabee faced questions about his support for intelligent design and about a litmus test for Roe vs. Wade. Huckabee stopped short of explicitly saying he'll appoint judges who would overturn the abortion ruling, but insisted that he would appoint strict constructionists, who by nature of their judicial philosophy would immediately recognize the error of the 1973 decision.

From NBC/NJ's Erin McPike
As Romney collects growing praise from various socially conservative activists and groups, the Republican Majority for Choice is taking a page from the Log Cabin Republicans' playbook -- by scolding him for his flip-flops.

But while the pro-gay rights Log Cabin group has been honing in on a slate of issues that does not involve gay rights, the pro-choice GOP organization is after Romney only for his shift on abortion. 

In addition to already running a TV ad lampooning Romney and documenting where his rhetoric has shifted, the RMC today "sent Mr. Romney a letter reminding him of his past promises and releasing, for the first time in the Presidential campaign, Romney's 2002 Gubernatorial literature pledging his commitment to protect a woman's right to choose," according to an e-mail announcing the expansion of the campaign.

Included in the literature is the 2002 message: "Mitt has always supported a women's right to choose. Mitt is a strong supporter of women's rights and has promised to protect a woman's right to choose. Mitt inherits a proud legacy from his mother, who championed a woman's right to choose when she ran for the US Senate in Michigan in 1970 before Roe v. Wade when abortion was a crime and not a choice."

Romney repeatedly has stated in campaign appearances when asked questions about his stance on abortion that he has always personally opposed abortion -- but went through a change of heart with a bill on stem-cell research that involved cloning.

Spokesman Kevin Madden replied with this statement via e-mail, shifting the focus to Giuliani: "Governor Romney is firmly pro-life and he firmly believes that the Republican Party must remain the party that protects the sanctity of life. Governor Romney, like Ronald Reagan before him, is a pro-life advocate who has changed in the right direction on this issue. The political group that is attacking and distorting Governor Romney's position is desperately trying to destroy the Republican Party's position on the issue of protecting life, while also supporting Mayor Giuliani and his pro-choice position that is at odds with grassroots conservative Republicans. Governor Romney will not back down from his pro-life position, despite this group's attempts to weaken the party and promote Mayor Giuliani's pro-choice candidacy."

Those aren't the only attacks the campaign is facing today. Several days before delivering his address on religion, the DNC issued an e-mail with the subject heading, "Romney's selective views on Religious tolerance." It points out discontent within the Arab-American community for Romney's recent comments about appointing a Muslim to his cabinet, drawing attention to a newsletter issued by the Arab American Institute that scrutinizes Romney's comments and follow-up comments on the matter.

 

From NBC's Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Andy Merten
On a day when Iran remained in the headlines -- with the National Intelligence Estimate's conclusion that Iran stopped its nuclear program in 2003, and with President Bush commenting on the issue at his news conference today -- Clinton's rivals pounced on her vote for a months-old measure declaring the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization.

"I just want to be clear to the listeners that we have a real division here," Edwards said at today's NPR/Iowa Public Radio debate in Des Moines. "I mean, among the Democratic candidates, there's only one that voted for this resolution. And this is exactly what Bush and Cheney wanted." Dodd and Biden voted against it; Edwards, who is no longer in the Senate, and Obama, who was campaigning, didn't vote on it but have said they opposed the legislation.

Obama added, "What I've been consistent about was that this saber-rattling was a repetition of Iraq, a war I opposed. And that we needed to oppose George Bush again. We can't keep on giving him the benefit of the doubt, knowing the ways in which they manipulate intelligence."

Biden called the bill "self-defeating." "The moment that declaration was made, oil prices jumped over $18 a barrel," he said. "The moment that declaration was made, every one of our friends, from Iraq to Pakistan, felt they had to distance themselves from us because it appears to be a war on Islam."

Clinton responded to that criticism by noting that some prominent senators who opposed the Iraq war -- like Sens. Dick Durbin and Carl Levin -- voted for the legislation. "And all of us have said that if we thought that anything in that resolution gave even a pretense of legitimacy to President Bush taking any action, we wouldn't have voted that way. In fact, a number of the Democrats worked furiously to clarify the meaning of that resolution."

She continued, "The specifics about designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization, I believe, fits into a broader diplomatic effort. I believe in aggressive diplomacy when it comes to Iran. And when you engage in aggressive diplomacy, you need both carrots and sticks."

And she dismissed criticism of her voting for it this way. "Well, I understand politics, and I understand making outlandish political charges," she said, "but this really goes way too far. In fact, having designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, we've actually seen some changes in their behavior."

Biden disputed that. [T]here's no evidence -- none, zero," he said, "that this declaration caused any change in action on the part of the Iranian government."

Yet that exchange was the only instance in the debate when the seven Democratic candidates -- Richardson wasn't there -- engaged in any kind of combat. In fact, Clinton did not explicitly go after Obama, as she has on the campaign trail in recent days.

On the issue of China, Clinton sought to highlight her days as First Lady as experience. "You know, 12 years ago, I went to China, and the Chinese didn't want me to come," she said. "And they didn't want me to make a speech. And when I made the speech, they blocked it out from being heard within China, where I stood up for human rights and, in particular, women's rights, because women had been so brutally abused in many settings in China."

She added that she "certainly did" advise her husband, Bill Clinton, on China policy. "I not only advised," she said, "I often met with he and his advisers, both in preparation for, during and after. I traveled with representatives from the Security Council, the State Department, occasionally the Defense Department and even the CIA. So I was deeply involved in being part of the Clinton team, in the first Clinton administration."

On the issue of illegal immigration, there again was little disagreement or difference among the candidates. They all said they don't want to create an atmosphere in which Americans are taking it upon themselves to turn in illegal immigrants. "We do not deputize the American people," Obama said.

"They are embedded in our society," Clinton said.

And Dodd said Republicans want to talk about immigration to change the subject from Iraq, the Bush Administration's fiscal policies and health care. "So they're going to use this issue as a wedge issue here to inflame the passions, the fears and hatreds of too many Americans," he said.

This debate was certainly different from previous ones. For starters, it wasn't televised, which made it difficult (or impossible) to gauge the candidates' reactions and expressions. It focused on just three issues -- Iran, China and immigration -- which resulted in a more robust discussion on those issues, but which also ignored other subjects. And, for the most part, there was little disagreement among the candidates. "I completely agree with Chris," as Obama said after Dodd stated that immigration is a source of this country's wealth and richness. In fact, candidates pointed out five times that they agreed with a competitor or the group.

So it really wasn't a debate; it more like an in-depth discussion.

Perhaps the most interesting exchange among the candidates came on the last question: What is the toughest choice that remains for you? Clinton mentioned Iran and China before settling on balancing how the US should stimulate its economy; Obama cited climate change (which should please Al Gore), noting that the science is showing an even more rapid deterioration of the climate; Dodd said education; Biden mentioned competition and trade; Kucinich responded with holding Bush and Cheney accountable "for lies"; Gravel said it was convincing Americans that they are the solution, not politicians; and Edwards answered with this quip: "Who I would choose as my vice president."

When asked for a serious reply, Edwards said restoring democracy back to the people.

From NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli
CLAREMONT, N.H. -- Hillary Clinton says she has a track record of standing up to the Republican machine. But today in New Hampshire, her husband noted the ways she's worked with the opposite party, including a would-be rival. And he argued that more attention needs to be paid to candidates' records and not to "pure politics."
 
Speaking at Keene State College this morning, Bill Clinton noted that there is "a lot of dispute" among candidates, which he called healthy. "I didn't like it very much for months when it was just a one-way street. At least it's getting balanced up a little," he said. "But, there seems to be this fashionable idea that not just Hillary, but some of the other people who are running for president -- Senator Biden, Senator Dodd, Governor Richardson, people who have rendered enormous service to this country -- should somehow be disqualified from our leadership because they have actually been change makers in the past.
 
"I argue to you based on a lifetime of experience that if you have spent as my wife has 35 years ... being a positive change maker, that indicates that you would be more likely to successfully execute change as president. If you have proved in the U.S. Senate that you could get things done with Republicans as well as Democrats, that indicates you'd be more likely to succeed as president."
 
Later, speaking to a packed gymnasium at Stevens High School in Claremont, Clinton noted his wife's work with former Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) on legislation to computerize medical records, and with Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) on legislation to provide body armor and medical benefits for National Guardsmen. "She and Senator John McCain … took Republican senators all over the world showing them the physical changes happening because of climate change," Clinton added. "This is an important thing. Doing things together."
 
The former president said he "felt very badly" for all of the candidates, referring to an article that analyzed press coverage of the race. "One percent of the press coverage was devoted to their record in public life," he said. "No wonder people think experience is irrelevant. A lot of people covering the race think it is."
 
Clinton was one hour late for his first stop this morning, which he attributed to slow travel from Boston on the newly-snow-covered roads in New Hampshire. At both stops, he referred to his first campaign in the state. "I had some of the great and most important days of my campaign for president in 1992 here," he said.

*** UPDATE *** The RNC, which has been sending out e-mails and responses on Hillary Clinton like she's already the general-election candidate, sends this along: "While Bill Clinton travels to New Hampshire to complain about press coverage and deliver fictitious arguments concerning his wife's ability to work with Republicans, Hillary Clinton is running an ad going after the 'Republican Attack Machine.'  Advice to Team Clinton, review talking points before sending a surrogate on the road."

From NBC's Mark Murray
This New York Times article today telegraphed it, but Clinton's rivals are now using the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran to blast her for her earlier vote in favor of designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.

"As was the case with Iraq, the latest NIE makes it clear that this President is offering another false bill of goods to Congress and the American people in an attempt to build the case for war with Iran," Dodd said in a statement. "Our experience should have shown us the danger in trusting this Administration as it marched to war. That is why I and many of my colleagues -- at least many of those who bothered to vote -- opposed the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment. Unfortunately, Senator Clinton instead chose to lend credence to the Administration's position." (Note Dodd's subtle dig at Obama, who opposed the measure but didn't vote on it because he was campaigning.) 

Dodd concludes, "It's easy to say 'fool me once, shame on George Bush,' but when she's been fooled twice, shame on her." 

From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
An hour before Huckabee phoned into Imus today, Richardson had his turn on the radio program. Calling from Des Moines, the New Mexico governor said he would like to finish in the top three in Iowa and/or New Hampshire -- and finish in the top two in Nevada. Like Giuliani, Richardson has his sights on February 5, when he believes New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and California will be "good to me."
 
He would not commit to dropping out if he does not do well in the early states. "It's just very volatile, right now, Don," Richardson said. "I think the last thing you want to do is set standards -- unless this happens, the other things happens. I have always tried to be honest with everybody. For me to gain momentum, to raise more money, to raise my profile nationally, it's the first states where you have to spring upsets. And I think that's very doable here in Iowa and New Hampshire, ending up in the top three."
 
Imus asked Richardson if he is running to be Hillary Clinton's vice President because he often defends the New York senator. "We don't need to get into food fights among the Democratic candidates, like attack somebody's character or say that they're controlled by special interests," Richardson responded. "The debates on differences on policy, on Iran, on Iraq, on issues relating to health care, fine. But to have these personal attacks on each other -- I don't think we need that. The American people want us to be positive. I've always been positive, you know that. So I said, hey guys, stop the mud slinging. Let's talk about the issues. That's all I've done. I'm not defending anybody."
 
Richardson also discussed the Iraq war, arguing the surge is not working. "You don't measure success of the surge by body counts, by human beings not dying," he said. "In the last month, American soldiers died, Iraqis died -- maybe a smaller amount, but still. There is no military solution. There is only a political solution. And I don't agree that there's been political progress."

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
In a new ad in Iowa, Edwards speaks directly into the camera and makes an appeal to working class families. He calls leaving the next generation better off than the last "the moral test of our generation."

"Twenty generations of Americans have left their children with a better life," Edwards says before citing that his dad "working in mills for 30 years…." But then he issues this warning, "Now corruption and corporate greed, I mean we could be the first generation to fail."

He cites his trial lawyer experience to make the case for why he can solve the problems. He even echoes a recent Clinton ad in which a man touts how he trusted her with the life of his son. "I've spent my life to fight for families against big corporations that were crushing them," Edwards says. "They trusted me with their lives. And I fought for them with everything I had."

[YouTUbe:Np82NJFYZKw]

NOTE:  Edwards' first line and the title of the ad invoke 20 generations of Americans. About 20 to 25 years is an accepted time frame for a generation. Twenty generations would then be anywhere from 400 years to 500 years. Of course, America didn't gain its independence until 1776 (231 years ago). The Jamestown colony, however, was founded in 1607. The Edwards campaign says, "yes, it is Jamestown. Every generation since Jamestown. It's the whole reason they came. To seek a better life."

Here's the full transcript:
20 Generations (TV :30)
Twenty generations of Americans have left their children with a better life. My dad worked in mills for 30 years to do it for us. Now corruption and corporate greed, I mean we could be the first generation to fail. I've spent my life to fight for families against big corporations that were crushing them. They trusted me with their lives. And I fought for them with everything I had.

I'm John Edwards. I approve this message because I want every American to give their children a better life. That's the moral test of our generation.

From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann
When Romney supporter Jim Bopp said last week that "a vote for any other candidate in the Iowa caucuses is a vote for Rudy Giuliani," it raised a few GOP eyebrows. The reason wasn't the mere fact that Bopp made the claim, which he followed up with knocks on the electability of Romney rival Mike Huckabee, but rather that he made it at a house party hosted by the Iowa Christian Alliance, a powerful conservative group in the state that has promised not to endorse. His remarks preceded a speech by Romney himself, and they followed a powerful diatribe by ICA president Steve Scheffler -- a known Giuliani opponent -- who said that the election of the former New York mayor would result in a "bloodbath" within the Republican Party.

The whole exchange started whispers that the ICA's fear of a Giuliani presidency was fueling an effort to undermine the candidacy of upstart evangelical candidate Gov. Mike Huckabee. That's because Huckabee's recent surge in Iowa could be seen as a boon for Giuliani, who needs Mitt Romney to hit some bumps in the road before February 5th to protect the effectiveness of his Super Tuesday strategy.

Enter this email that Scheffler sent to the ICA mailing list yesterday. "It has come to my attention that an individual called into [Iowa radio host] Jan Mickelson's program this morning," he writes. "The caller said that Marlene Elwell was using the Iowa Christian Alliance telephones for the purpose of encouraging people not to support Mike Huckabee." (Elwell is a pro-life activist and a former McCain staffer who was fired in the campaign's early shakeup. Scheffler describes her as a longtime friend.)

The email continues: "Upon Marlene's request I gave her permission to make phone calls from the ICA office... I have absolutely no knowledge of what she was talking about or what she said on the phone."

More: "Iowa Christian Alliance is not involved in any activity against Mike Huckabee... Marlene Elwell has been told that she can not use our offices and telephones for any purpose in the future."

Elwell says that the caller's claim is "absolutely wrong." She says that although she has been making calls to "get the lay of the land," she argued that "most of the people I've talked to in Iowa have been people that I know." And she insists that she did not use ICA phone lines for any of those calls.

But the woman who phoned in to Mickelson's show disagrees. Stacey Cargill of West Des Moines says that Elwell -- whom she has known for about a year -- called her on Friday to invite her to an ICA meeting the next day featuring Jim Bopp. During that call, Cargill says, Elwell called Huckabee a "spoiler" and said that she was working to "slow down Huckabee's momentum." Cargill says that the call came from an ICA extension, according to her telephone's caller ID.

When Cargill attended the meeting on Saturday morning, Bopp had cancelled his visit due to the weekend ice storm. But Scheffler and Elwell were both there to talk politics with the small group that battled the snow. Cargill says -- and another source confirms -- that although the two were adamant that ICA did not endorse candidates, Scheffler spoke highly of Romney and said that Huckabee will not be able to win the Republican nomination. Skeptical of their motives, Cargill decided to tell her story on Mickelson's conservative WHO-Radio talk show yesterday.
 
Cargill is a self-described supporter of John McCain.
 
Reached for comment this morning, Scheffler reiterated that the ICA would "never ever condone" the use of its phones for the alleged calls, and he expressed regret at unknowingly enabling Elwell to possibly pursue an "unstated mission" at the organization's expense. He added that although there may have been words exchanged between members of his organization about Huckabee's unelectability, "they certainly haven't parted my lips."
 
"Why would we take potshots at a guy who is with us by and large on the issues?" he asked.
 
A spokesman for the Romney campaign said that there is "no coordination whatsoever" between Romney and the ICA on any efforts to undermine Huckabee's campaign.

From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan
Yesterday, a piece in First Read looked at the "Oprah Effect" in Iowa and South Carolina. Now some news on New Hampshire.... According to a press release from the Granite State's Obama campaign, "Just one day after event specifics are released, all tickets for rally at Verizon Wireless Arena have been reserved; waiting list still open"

"There's been incredible enthusiasm and overwhelming demand for this event," said New Hampshire State Director Matt Rodriguez.  "The rally will allow Barack Obama to introduce himself to many voters who may not normally tune into the political process-and it will provide a boost to our organization by bringing in new volunteers and energizing our supporters across the state."

The campaign will not comment on how many tickets have been given away, but the Verizon Wireless Arena can seat anywhere between 10,000 and 11,000 people. 

From NBC/NJ's Erin McPike
MANCHESTER -- A collective sigh of relief emanated through the Romney campaign on the ground in New Hampshire yesterday now that the cat's out of the bag.

Staffers at all levels buzzed about Thursday's religion speech at several events, making clear they too have been wondering, "Will he or won't he," and have been waiting anxiously for a while. Lots of "this is its" and "now's the times" were thrown around rather excitedly yesterday.

Romney, himself, acknowledged impatience from the press when he took the mic at press conference after the day's first public event, which was centered on the economy. He joked at the beginning, "Let's keep the questions on the economy to a minimum, because I know there are a couple of folks who want to ask about religion."

There was some natural frustration from inside the camp that the press was fixated on the speech rather than the economy, despite that he moved the ball forward ever so slightly on his economic agenda. (He'll be talking economics again, however, on a jam-packed day in New Hampshire today.) Apart from two other questions -- one that dealt with the new intelligence report out that morning -- the much larger-than-usual scrum stuck to the speech and his Mormonism. But two speech and religion questions down, one person asked why his preceding economic-focused speech didn't address global warming, causing more than a few pairs of eyes to dart around the room, confused.

The elephant in the room, even in the Granite State, was none other than Huckabee. "I think a person who is running for president, or who is going to be president, is someone who wants particularly in times of great need to call on the prayers of all the people in America and not define him or herself based upon a particular brand of faith," Romney said. In a recent Huckabee ad, "Christian Leader" flashes boldly across the screen. Romney, however, prefaced some of that with, "I'm certainly not a spokesman for my faith; don't anticipate ever doing that."

And so those who've labeled his long-awaited address, "The Mormon Speech," may well be wrong. He continued to drive the point that he intends to talk about the role of religion in society and its importance to the American culture, a thread not entirely unlike that which Obama employed in his star-spangled religion-in-politics speech before the Call to Renewal Sojourners conference in late June 2006.

But despite all of the JFK comparisons flitting around, Romney explained, "I'm not going to be giving a JFK speech. He gave the definitive speech, if you will, on discrimination relating to a political campaign, and what he said makes sense to me."

Romney later cited a master's thesis about the 20 reasons his father was successful in the 1968 race and pointed out that not one of those was his faith. Jumping forward four decades, he said, "I don't know that even at this stage, my faith is a significant factor in my race. I just don't think in the final analysis it will be the deciding factor."

From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
Huckabee -- the fourth presidential candidate to go on Don Imus' show since it returned yesterday (following McCain, Dodd, and Richardson) -- faced difficult questions today on Romney's Mormonism, who can go to heaven, and abortion.
 
Although Imus may have been attempting to spark controversy by asking Huckabee if Mormons are true Christians and if Jewish people can go to heaven, the former governor didn't take the bait. Responding to the Mormon question, Huckabee disregarded any friction between Mormons and conservative Christians, saying there's friction between people in the same pew. "It's really not so much related to your denomination or label; it's related to your relationship with the person of Christ," Huckabee said. "I know some Baptists. I'm not sure I'd call them Christians, because they don't behave like it. People make too much of the labels we wear and not enough about the character we have." 
 
When asked if Jewish people can got to heaven, Huckabee responded with one of his trademarked quips. "I think anybody can go to heaven. I think you could even go to heaven and that's a pretty thick stretch. I'm not saying you will; I'm just saying I think you could."
 
Imus pushed Huckabee for more, asking him if someone must believe in Jesus Christ to go to heaven. "You're getting way into an area that I don't know has anything to do with running for president," Huckabee responded, implying his religious beliefs would not impact the American people. "For me to start telling everybody else what their beliefs are and the validity of them, certainly is not my role, not only individually but absolutely has no business in my being president."
 
However, Huckabee's religious beliefs may influence his opinion on issues like abortion. Huckabee said what he would like is "an affirmation of human life" and called for a national constitutional law. "I hear some people say, 'Well every state has their own views on that.' Well, that's like every state can have view their on slavery. That's the logic of the Civil War. This is a moral issue. It is either right or it's wrong. If it's wrong for us to put some beings with a greater value than others, than this is an issue that cannot be determined geographically."
 
Although Huckabee faced tough questions, Imus offered him a near-endorsement. "I'm just about to climb on that Huckabee bandwagon," Imus told the former governor during the interview.

"Well, you should be, because you were dissing me some kind of way earlier when I first announced I was going to run," Huckabee replied. "And I remember, it wasn't exactly like you met it with a standing ovation, so only Bernie [one of Imus' co-hosts] had the insight and the prophetic vision to see what was going to happen."
 
"I'll tell you what, if we go all the way, we'll have your show from the East Room of the White House," Huckabee joked. "That would wreck any re-election chances I'd ever have."

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro
*** Thirty days to go...: ...until Iowa, where most of the Democratic candidates participate in the NPR/Iowa Public Radio debate… Plenty of news today about Hillary blasting Obama -- yet Obama not necessarily fighting back… Bill Clinton returns to the trail… And Bush holds a news conference this morning, where he'll likely receive numerous questions about the National Intelligence Estimate's conclusion that Iran stopped its nuclear program in 2003.

*** Is Iran off the table? Back in October, after Bush warned in a press conference that a nuclear Iran could spark World War III, we wondered if Iran was becoming the new Iraq -- and if that could possibly help the Republicans in a general election, because it would allow them to talk about that and not Iraq. But does the new NIE throw cold water on that idea? What happens if Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, or Fred Thompson can no longer raise the specter of a nuclear Iran in a general election? That said, Iraq might not be as big of a problem for the Republicans as it was in the fall.

*** Third-party groups galore: With less than a month before Iowa, evidence of third party groups deciding to get involved in the caucuses is popping up all over the place. There are the expected players, like EMILY's List and AFSCME (whose TV ads in Iowa begin tomorrow) for Clinton and local SEIUs for Edwards. There's also this pro-choice GOP group against Romney. And now, another third-party player is for Huckabee, while a Democratic group today introduces a TV ad attacking Hillary. Who else is going to jump in? If you thought keeping track of all the Democratic and Republican candidates was a challenge, just think about also keeping tabs on all of these interest groups. We're guessing that every day between now and January 3 will bring rumors of some new group.

*** No counterpunch: Yesterday, Clinton whacked Obama -- this time over his record in the Illinois state Senate. But a funny thing happened: Obama didn't really punch back. One gets the sense that the Obama folks don't want the next three weeks to be about Clinton and Obama "trading" potshots, for fear it could tarnish his image more than it hurts Clinton. Voters may expect Clinton to get involved in a political back-and-forth and not punish her as strongly as they'll punish Obama if he appears to get too negative. Edwards has seen this movie before now, hasn't he? Of course, it looks like the press -- just look at today's New York Times and Boston Globe -- might be providing the counterpunch for Obama.

*** Maybe video didn't kill the radio star: Seven of the Democratic candidates -- Biden, Clinton, Dodd, Edwards, Gravel, Kucinich, and Obama -- participate in a debate in Iowa at 2:00 pm ET sponsored by NPR and Iowa Public Radio. This debate, hosted by NPR's Robert Siegel, Michele Norris and Steve Inskeep, can only be accessed via radio or the Web. There are no time limits for answers, and the candidates will have the opportunity to ask their rivals questions. Don't expect too many fireworks in the debate. Think about who's listening to it -- it's probably potential Dem voters who will not like negative back-and-forths. The NPR wing of the Dem Party is Obama's base, though no Dem wants to be on the losing end of the wine and cheese caucus.

*** Guess who's back… back again… Bill is back… tell a friend: Bill Clinton returns to the campaign trail, stumping today throughout New Hampshire (in Keene, Claremont, and Lebanon). And after making news during previous campaign stops -- saying that he opposed the Iraq war from the beginning, and lumping criticism his wife received to the Swift Boat attacks -- you can be sure that reporters will tape record and jot down everything he says. Joining Bill in stumping for a spouse in New Hampshire will be Michelle Obama, who does a roundtable with working women in Portsmouth.

*** On the trail: Elsewhere today, Giuliani raises money in DC; Huckabee campaigns in Iowa and began his day by calling into Don Imus' radio show; McCain stumps in New Hampshire; Obama, after the NPR debate, holds rallies tonight in Grinnell and Iowa City; Paul appears on The View in New York City and later visits New Hampshire; Romney also is in New Hampshire; Tancredo unveils a new TV ad in Des Moines, IA; and Thompson is in South Carolina.

Countdown to Iowa: 30 days
Countdown to New Hampshire: 35 days
Countdown to Michigan: 42 days
Countdown to Nevada and SC GOP primary: 46 days
Countdown to SC Dem primary: 53 days
Countdown to Florida: 56 days
Countdown to Tsunami Tuesday: 63 days
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 336 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 413 days

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The Washington Post: "For the second day in a row, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination in national polls sharply attacked her leading rival, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, using some of the harshest language of the campaign. Arguing that her campaign is in a 'very strong position,' Clinton hammered Obama for offering 'false hopes' rather than action. She predicted that voters will want, in her words, 'a doer, not a talker.'"

"Obama offered only the briefest of responses at an event in Des Moines on Monday. 'It's silly season,' he said. 'I understand she's been quoting my kindergarten teacher in Indonesia,' a reference to an essay titled 'I Want to Become President' that Obama supposedly wrote as a child. He declined to say anything more."

Here's also an interesting nugget: "Had she not been forced to cancel her speech at the Democratic National Committee on Friday because of a hostage situation at her campaign office in Rochester, N.H., she would have gone directly at Obama in that forum, aides said.

Obama took pains yesterday not to respond to Clinton's contrast message yesterday. And yet this piece indicates that Clinton and Obama are "trading" barbs.

NBC's Andrea Mitchell reported on NBC Nightly News last night, "Obama ruled out a direct counterattack, as independent experts warned Clinton's new strategy could backfire with Iowa voters."

In case you don't believe that two to three weeks of negative press coverage of a campaign -- as well as polling in Iowa -- doesn't have an effect on national poll standing, then don't miss the most recent Gallup poll, which shows the national poll leads for both Clinton and Giuliani diminishing. Clinton's lead over Obama was cut nearly in half, primarily due to her losing support (not Obama gaining). Meanwhile, Giuliani's number didn't move that much. But the big mover was Huckabee, who skyrocketed to second place nationally.

The Des Moines Register previews today's NPR Democratic debate. "Organizers say the format of the event - without live television and a studio audience - should discourage the theatrics present during the recent CNN/YouTube debate." More: "The audio-only debate also sheds light on how television has transformed presidential elections. No longer is the race just about the person with the best ideas or leadership experience. Instead, a complex mix of aesthetic appeal and stature come into play when voters consider a candidate, experts say."

BIDEN: He said the "I" word again. "That's why I want to be very clear: If the President takes us to war with Iran without congressional approval, I will call for his impeachment," Biden said. More: "I am dead serious. ... I'm saying this now to put the administration on notice and hopefully to deter the president from taking unilateral action in the last year of his administration."

CLINTON: The headline of this New York Times piece does the damage: "Vulnerable Democrats See Fates Tied to Clinton." According to the story, "Clinton is a long way from winning the Democratic presidential nomination, and over the last few weeks has struggled to hang on to the air of inevitability that she has been cultivating all year. But the possibility that she will be the nominee is already generating concern among some Democrats in Republican-leaning states and Congressional districts, who fear that sharing the ticket with her could subject them to attack as too liberal and out of step with the values of their constituents."

The piece spotlights freshman Democratic Rep. Nancy Boyda of Kansas as an example of someone who could be hurt by the top of the ticket.

Here's a Boston Globe piece by Peter Canelleos that some Clinton foes will likely twin with that New York Times article: "In a decade marked by weightier concerns - and weightier battles - the so-called 'Clinton scandals' can seem trivial. And while the Clintons were the focus of the battles, they were not the instigators: The question for the current campaign is whether they nonetheless deserve some blame because of their behavior or their style of politics. It's an open question, and how it gets answered could be the key to Hillary Clinton's fate."

The Clinton campaign was a bit frustrated yesterday that the Iowa State and AP-Pew state polls didn't receive as much attention as the Des Moines Register survey. But one thing to realize about BOTH polls is that they were conducted over a two- to three-week period and conducted earlier in November before the Register poll even began its survey. 

Does the Clinton camp sound like a Republican campaign these days? Mark Penn on "Morning Joe" brought up media bias a couple of times. He never uttered the word "bias" -- but instead said "spin." He seemed to complain, though, consistently during the interview about how others were spinning things, be it the Kindergarten press release or the lack of mention of those older Iowa polls that happened to be conducted before the Register poll but released afterwards.

Meanwhile… "The 125,000-member Office and Professional Employees International Union is the latest part of Big Labor to cast its lot with Clinton."

EDWARDS: It's profile time for Edwards in the Chicago Tribune. "A tight clutch of advisers say his 2004 defeats and the years that followed gave Edwards the knowledge and confidence to shed caution in what could be his last run for elective office. 'Urgency' is the one-word bumper sticker many of them use to describe Edwards '08."

On "Today" this morning, NBC's Matt Lauer asked Edwards if he has to win Iowa to remain in the Dem race, and Edwards largely ducked the question. He said he experienced a "rapid rise" in the polls in the last 30 days before the 2004 Iowa caucuses, and noted that he expected the same thing to happen in the next 30 days.

OBAMA: In an interview with Boston Globe editors yesterday, Obama made his electability case. "Obama said that he is capable of winning a 'mandate for change' in the general election, while his chief rival, Senator Hillary Clinton, would be too polarizing to capture more than a slim victory. If she is the Democratic nominee, he said the country would see a replay of the partisan contests of 2000 and 2004."

"'Even if we win, we will have just eked out a victory, and we can't govern,' Obama said. 'I mean, if we have a 50-plus-one election, we cannot get a serious healthcare bill done. We can't have a serious agenda on climate change. And that is what I'm trying to break through, and I think I have an opportunity to break through.'"

Per NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan, Obama's South Carolina campaign will have a huge religious rollout today, releasing the names of dozens of religious leaders from across the state and nationally.

"[Obama] outlined a plan that would prevent credit card companies from raising interest rates without giving consumers the chance to opt out of the agreement. Obama's plan would ban rate increases on past debt. It would also prevent credit card companies from charging interest on transaction fees."

RICHARDSON: It's a little thing, but it does matter: Richardson campaigned in his 99th Iowa county yesterday, making him the second Dem candidate to campaign in all 99 counties. The other is Edwards.

Richardson wants an overhaul of mortgage rules. "His proposal includes a temporary freeze of introductory rates on the most default-prone adjustable-rate mortgages, which he said will prevent 1.75 million Americans from defaulting on their mortgages."

GIULIANI: So if Giuliani's name is attached to something -- even if Giuliani personally isn't involved -- is it a political problem? Potentially. "Giuliani is campaigning as President Bush's staunch ally in the war on terror, his law office has lobbied Congress on behalf of legislation that the Bush administration calls a threat to antiterrorism efforts in the Horn of Africa. Giuliani was not personally involved in the lobbying last year on behalf of the company's client, the American wing of a dissident Ethiopian political party known as the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, leaders of the group said."

"But the firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, used Mr. Giuliani's name in its pitch to win the assignment, and his clout was a reason it landed the job, said Seyoum Solomon, an Ethiopian-American from Maryland who helped negotiate the deal." More: "Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for the Giuliani campaign, said Mr. Giuliani's views were not necessarily consistent with the lobbying stands taken in Washington by Bracewell & Giuliani."

The New York Daily News spins Huckabee's rise in Iowa as good news for Giuliani since anything that hurts Romney, helps Rudy.

Speaking of Giuliani yesterday, he seemed to be an afterthought on the presidential trail -- with so much media attention to these other storylines: Clinton vs. Obama, Romney's Mormon speech, and the rise of Huckabee.

But below the radar yesterday was an indication that Giuliani is actively courting anti-tax activist Grover Norquist. "Norquist's high praise is important for fiscal conservatives who look to Norquist for guidance in this (and other) elections. One of the keys to Giuliani's campaign is to convince conservatives that while he differs with them on social issues, he is right in line with their views on fiscal matters. The hope -- among Giuliani strategists -- is that voters will choose their pocketbooks over their church songbooks."

HUCKABEE: Huckabee "distanced his campaign yesterday from an independent group's efforts to promote his candidacy through calls to the homes of caucusgoers in Iowa and through mailings. 'It's not on behalf of my campaign,' Mr. Huckabee said at a campaign stop in Iowa. 'I don't know who is behind it. We've asked them to stop. I don't think it's helping us. In fact, it's hurting us, and it's not part of our campaign. We have publicly repudiated the tactics because they do not represent our kind of campaigning.'"

The Washington Post editorializes against the rise of this new pro-Huck group.

The Washington Post takes a look at Huckabee's campaign operation in Iowa. "Unable to raise enough money earlier in the year to run a traditional campaign, Huckabee is employing an unprecedented and risky strategy to win the caucuses here: a campaign with almost no on-the-ground operation."

MCCAIN: "McCain, participating in an MTV-MySpace forum shown live, appealed to students at Southern New Hampshire University. The 71-year-old Arizona senator offered lighter versions of his common campaign answers and engaged with the students in person and online. He also flubbed several scripted jokes and mistakenly called Osama bin Laden 'Saddam Hussein.'"

"McCain talked about the war in Iraq, public education and his belief that climate change must be vigorously addressed, a position that stands him apart from most of the GOP presidential field. He told students that unless something changes, the Social Security system will not be there when they need it.

Also, McCain will campaign tomorrow in New Hampshire with Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling.

ROMNEY: "Mormonism remains a mystery to many voters and analysts said the speech could fuel more questions about the religion, particularly in Iowa and South Carolina, where evangelical Christians are influential in the Republican presidential race." More: "In a press conference outlining his speech, Romney quoted the New Testament, and spoke about the founding fathers, but never used the words Mormon or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He said if people want to learn more about his religion, they can look on the Internet."

NBC's Ron Allen took a look on NBC Nightly News last night at the challenges Romney faces in explaining his Mormon faith. "Many evangelicals claim members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter days Saints are not true Christians," Allen noted. "The faith has fought to overcome negative stereotypes like polygamy, a practice banned by the church more than 100 years ago. But questions keep coming." More: "Romney has often said his religion should not matter to voters. But now, he apparently believes, it does."

Attention Romney reporters doing JFK comparisons. NBC's Chris Donovan reminds folks of a lesser-quoted speech JFK made in 1960 in Salt Lake City… It might be of note that just 11 days after Senator John Kennedy gave his religion speech in Houston in September 1960, he went to Salt Lake City to give a speech at the Mormon Tabernacle in which he had a few nice things to say about Mormons. "Tonight I speak for all Americans in expressing our gratitude to the Mormon people -- for their pioneer spirit, their devotion to culture and learning, their example of industry and self-reliance. But I am particularly in their debt tonight for their successful battle to make religious liberty a living reality -- for having proven to the world that different faiths of different views could flourish harmoniously in our midst -- and for having proven to the Nation in this century that a public servant devout in his chosen faith was still capable of undiminished allegiance to our Constitution and national interest."

The public servant Kennedy referenced was Senator Reed Smoot, an apostle in the Mormon church, who had to fight a four-year challenge to the right to his Senate seat over questions of whether or not he would be loyal to his religion versus his country. He was re-elected four times. Kennedy explained: "The story of Reed Smoot symbolizes the long struggle of the Mormon people for religious liberty. They suffered persecution and exile, at the hands of Americans whose own ancestors, ironically enough, had fled here to escape the curse of intolerance. But they never faltered in their devotion to their principle of religious liberty -- not for themselves alone, but for all mankind."

Lots of news today about the National Intelligence Estimate's conclusion that Iran stopped its nuclear program in 2003… The Washington Post: "The new intelligence report released yesterday not only undercut the administration's alarming rhetoric over Iran's nuclear ambitions but could also throttle Bush's effort to ratchet up international sanctions and take off the table the possibility of preemptive military action before the end of his presidency. Iran had been shaping up as perhaps the dominant foreign policy issue of Bush's remaining year in office and of the presidential campaign to succeed him. Now leaders at home and abroad will have to rethink what they thought they knew about Tehran's intentions and capabilities."

The New York Times: "Rarely, if ever, has a single intelligence report so completely, so suddenly, and so surprisingly altered a foreign policy debate here… It will certainly weaken international support for tougher sanctions against Iran, as a senior administration official grudgingly acknowledged. And it will raise questions, again, about the integrity of America's beleaguered intelligence agencies, including whether what are now acknowledged to have been overstatements about Iran's intentions in a 2005 assessment reflected poor tradecraft or political pressure."

A separate Times article notes that the presidential candidates pretty much remained steadfast to their previous stances on Iran after the NIE was released. The Democrats said "the findings justified their more cautious approach to Tehran… Republicans, who have been condemning Iran in the campaign, reacted more tentatively to the report, without backing away from their past statements about Tehran, including talk of military strikes and 'bombardments.'"

President Bush holds a press conference at the White House at 10:00 am ET. Per NBC's John Yang, it will run four to five minutes and reprise his Rose Garden statement of yesterday by painting Congress as a do-nothing Congress and press the body to pass funding for Iraq and Afghanistan; the intelligence bill, a fix to the Alternative Minimum Tax; and the 13 appropriations bills.

After the presser, Bush and the First Lady hit an RNC fundraising luncheon that's closed to the press. Bush isn't the only one raising money to today. Cheney travels to Dallas, TX to attend a closed-press fundraiser for GOP Rep. Ralph Hall.

The Washington Post covers Bush's statement from yesterday. "Bush held his 18th event of the year yesterday focused on his disputes with Capitol Hill, blasting Democratic lawmakers for not completing annual spending bills, or sending him war funding legislation, or finalizing a measure that would permanently legalize his administration's warrantless wiretapping program. The 19th event is to come this morning in a presidential news conference at the White House… Republican leaders say the president's strategy has kept congressional Democrats on the defensive, controlling the terms of debate as Congress and the White House head toward critical legislative showdowns this month and next."

"But Bush's confrontational approach is already fraying some nerves in his party, and the White House's actions yesterday appeared to bolster Democratic assertions that the problems in Washington lie with the president's intransigence, not Congress's work ethic." 

From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
In an interview with WHO's Dave Price, Obama responded to Clinton's attacks. "My sense is people start getting stressed closer to the caucus, and start feeling their support isn't where it's going to be," he said in Des Moines. "Rather than provide an affirmative message, they start going after other candidates.
 
"I don't think that is what the Iowa caucus goers are looking for. They are right to say that instead of going tit for tat, that people who are running for President should talk about how we are going to solve the problems the American people face. And that is what I intend to do over the last 30 days of this campaign."
 
Obama participated in the interview after taking part in a roundtable discussion on credit card debt. He told Price he would much rather talk about issues important to people in Iowa like debt, healthcare and college education.
 
"Here's what I know," Obama said. "Over the last couple of days, she has cited the supposed memories of my kindergarten teacher about my presidential aspirations. That is the level of silliness we've been hearing out of Senator Clinton and her campaign. I don't think that's what the people of Iowa are looking for right now."

From NBC's Chuck Todd
In an interview with NBC, Patrick Davis, the executive director of Common Sense Issues outlined exactly what the group's about and up to.
 
It's a 501(c)4, qualified non-profit that is targeting quite a few races, including the Colorado Senate race where the group has already run a couple of paid ads against likely Democratic nominee Mark Udall. As for "TrustHuckabee," it is an indie expenditure in nature, something that's been reported to the FEC and they've filed with the IRS. They've endorsed Huckabee in Iowa and are "endeavoring to build an organization of like-minded Huckabee supporters; they are not coordinating at all."
 
As a 501(c)4, the group can raise unlimited sums of money from INDIVIDUALS but not from groups. That money has to be reported to the FEC within 48 hours of the money being spent. 
 
So far, all of their communications have been all positive about Huckabee; they've made phone calls into Iowa and around the country; the calls are about Huckabee and the issues. The group is "not yet" in New Hampshire, but that could change if they get more resources. Most of their expenditures have been via paid phone calls but they aren't ruling out paid TV ads or paid mailers.
 
The chief phone vendor is C.C. Advertising out of Northern Virginia. Also, one of the vendors the group is using is Kensinger and Assoc., whose principle, David Kensinger, was the chief strategist for Sam Brownback's presidential campaign.
 
Davis, by the way, was the political director at the NRSC during the 2004 cycle when George Allen was running the Republican senate committee.

From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan
AMES, IA -- At a rally at Iowa State University in Ames yesterday, Obama pushed students to caucus for him, reading a card that urged students within Iowa to caucus for their hometown precincts and told students not from Iowa that they were eligible to caucus at home. The campaign's wide-scale efforts to bring non-Iowan students back to caucus has irked many natives, including the Des Moines Register's senior political writer, David Yepsen.

Yepsen harshly criticized the campaign yesterday, telling reporters, "It's politically dumb. He doesn't need to be doing this. I mean the polls show that he's already ahead, why would he do something that would enable the other campaigns to say, 'Well it's not a clean victory'? The spin doctors on caucus night saying he had all these students from Illinois voting and participating, these weren't real Iowans it wasn't a real victory."
 
Yepsen went on to say that the caucus will be tipped by only a few thousand votes, and even a small number of students returning to campuses across the state could have an impact. But the Obama campaign is not alone in it's efforts to reach out. Representatives from Iowa State confirmed last night that both Republican and Democratic party representatives -- as well as reps from many presidential campaigns -- had contacted the university about keeping dorms open during winter break so students could come back to campus and caucus. Iowa State has agreed to do so, and the move will allow about 4,300 students who live on campus to return in early January. Of course the number of out of state students within this group is far smaller; out of state students make up only 20% of the student body.

But as Yepsen put it, a few thousand votes can tip this election in favor of one delegate or another.

For his part, Obama casts the student vote as a civil-rights issue. "I want you at this caucus. And everybody has a right to participate and by the way one of the things we've been hearing lately is, 'Well, maybe young people shouldn't caucus if they just recently moved here because they are going to school here.' Don't let people tell you that you can't participate. You are an Iowa student, you can be an Iowa caucus-goer, and I want you to prove them wrong when they say you're not gonna show up."

From NBC/NJ's Tricia Miller
WATERLOO, IOWA -- Edwards accepted the endorsement of freshman Rep. Bruce Braley this morning at Hawkeye Community College. Braley, who represents Waterloo and the Iowa half of the Quad Cities, is the first member of Iowa's congressional delegation to endorse a presidential candidate.

"John Edwards and I have nothing in common," Braley began, tongue-in-cheek. "He grew up in the small town of Robbins, N.C., population 1,200. I grew up in Brooklyn, Iowa, population 1,400. His father, as you all know, worked in a mill. My father worked in a grain elevator. His mother worked in a post office. My mother was a schoolteacher. John Edwards worked to put himself through college at North Carolina State, and I worked multiple jobs to put myself through college at Iowa State. John Edwards went to law school at the University of North Carolina.

"I went to law school at the University of Iowa. He's practiced law for 20 years in North Carolina, fighting for justice for his clients, many times against powerful special interests. I spent 24 years of my life practicing law right here in Waterloo, fighting for justice for the people I represented, oftentimes against powerful special interests. So as you can see, we have nothing in common."

Braley, a former president of the Iowa Trial Lawyers Association, won a close race in both his primary and general election to replace Jim Nussle last fall. He said he started following Edwards' career long before he ran for the Senate and also supported his presidential bid in 2004.

"I can only guarantee [Edwards] one thing," Braley told reporters after his remarks, "and that is there will be one very passionate, energetic volunteer in Ward 5, Precinct 5 in Waterloo one month from tonight."

From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann and Aswini Anburajan
Next Saturday, throngs of media will descend upon Des Moines and Cedar Rapids to cover this weekend's impending Obama-Oprah extravaganza. Critics will undoubtedly say that the mega-celebrity of Oprah Winfrey's stumping effort flies in the face of the one-on-one retail politics that supposedly characterizes the Iowa courting process. But the Obama campaign is quick to say that Oprah's appearance is about more than just a lot of bright lights.
 
Obama's Iowa team says that Oprah's appearance offers the opportunity to harness organizational power and recruit a new constituency of caucus-goers. "We've gotten a LOT of calls," says spokesman Josh Earnest, who adds that the appearance is just as much about rewarding grassroots volunteerism as it is about the glamour of a high-profile tour.

To that end, Obama's much-coveted precinct captains and volunteers are being offered choice tickets to the two Oprah-headlined events. That's an incentive for interested supporters to sign up for the job in the hopes of future perks -- and with 1,784 precincts to organize on caucus night, that could be a major boost to thicken the spine of the campaign's presence in far-flung areas of the state.

Both the Cedar Rapids and Des Moines events will feature a heavy emphasis on caucus education, as well in the hopes of encouraging newcomers to commit to attending the sometimes-intimidating January meetings.

Earnest says that more details about the ticketing process will be released in the coming days.

In South Carolina, the Obama campaign also has prioritized giving tickets to the team leaders and their biggest volunteers who will get VIP seating at the event. Anyone who met their November vote and supporter goals will also receive special recognition, and campaign supporters were handed large batches of tickets to hand out to co-workers, friends, and family who were undecided or curious about the event. The focus for the South Carolina team is much more about using Oprah to bring new faces unfamiliar with the campaign -- or people who don't pay much attention to politics. Unlike Iowa or New Hampshire, Obama has averaged about one visit a month to the state, which sees little media attention or big name surrogates stumping for the candidates. For at least one day on December 9, that could all change.
 
Kevin Griffis, Obama's press secretary in the state, said he's never seen anything quite like the anticipation to see Oprah. "It's going to give us an opportunity to connect with a lot of people who at this point have not been connecting with the campaign; increase the  number of volunteers; and help us identify a lot of voters," he said.
 
To illustrate that point, Griffis told the story of the unexpected surprise staffers received on Saturday morning. When staff arrived at state headquarters around 6:00 am, there was a line of people wrapped around the building with their sleeping bags in tow, waiting for the office to open and get tickets. The campaign handed out 3,000 tickets just this past weekend. As of this afternoon, they have stopped distributing tickets to the event in fear of an overflow. The arena where Oprah and Obama will speak, at the Colonial Center in Columbia, seats 18,900 people.

From NBC/NJ's Erin McPike
MANCHESTER, NH - After a snazzy PowerPoint presentation on the economy before the Rotary Club, Romney took questions about his upcoming speech on religion in America from a large, fired-up group of reporters.

"I drafted the speech on Thursday," he said, adding that he has received plenty of unsolicited advice on the topic.

He wouldn't discuss specific contents of the speech but said those who want to hear more specifics about his personal faith could consult Web sites and books to learn about it.

Romney also said to a voter in the preceding event that it wouldn't be a "repeat or an update" of JFK's speech.

From NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger
GREENSBORO, NC -- Giuliani today took his call for school choice to about 800 women here, speaking at one of the largest "Women for Rudy" events in the campaign season.

He called the American education system "a massive government monopoly of the worst kind" and suggested government programs like No Child Left Behind were not the solution. "My basic view is this cannot be solved, on high, from a central authority," Giuliani said, in response to a question about keeping No Child Left Behind. "And that would apply either to the federal government or a state government. The whole dynamic has to change and the power has to be put in the hands of the parents to select the schools."

Speaking at North Carolina A&T University, Giuliani praised the nation's higher education system, and said its quality came from choice. He has been pushing for programs that would allow school choice in public school systems as well. "We're saying to these parents, the government bureaucrat knows better than you do about the education of your child," he said. "If we want to change K-12 in America, we do school choice, we do vouchers, we offer it as an option."
 
Giuliani rarely focuses his remarks on education, but he told the women that was not giving them a separate address than any other audience. "Somebody asked me before, 'Do I have my women's speech?'" he said. "I don't have a women's speech. I don't have a men's speech. I don't have a North speech and South speech, East one and West one. It makes it easier. I have one speech -- to everybody -- because I'm running to be president of everybody, not just one group or another group."

The women who came out for Giuliani today said they liked his tough stance in New York City and believed he could repeat that mantra as president. The personal issues that some have suggested could haunt Giuliani's campaign, particularly in the South, were a non-issue. "I think Bill Clinton's personal life has inoculated us against these sort of things," said Candace DeSantes, who said she moved to North Carolina from Connecticut a year ago. "But secondly, I think there are a lot of wonderful politicians who've had very messy personal lives. Thomas Jefferson is a perfect example of that, Franklin Roosevelt. So, I think we have to set that aside."

Jo Watts Williams, a former professor at Elon University who attended the event as a guest, said she appreciated Giuliani's comments on education, and said issues, not personal lives, would matter in her vote. "It's issues with me," she said. "I think the Deep South might be very well be concerned about his personal lifestyle."