From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
...that Obama just used in response to the tax-and-spend question is a common Hillary line too. NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli also points out that he heard Huckabee say the same line in September.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
Is it helpful to the Democratic Party that CNN keeps cutting to celebrities?

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
...but from the other angle. Obama went after McCain (wheels off the Straight Talk Express) for now saying he'd be for the Bush tax cuts when he voted against them the first two go rounds. The Romney campaign has also been hitting McCain on this, but from the angle that the tax cuts were a good thing. Obama argues that never before has the U.S. CUT taxes in a time of war.

From NBC's Mark Murray
Obama takes the first shot at McCain...on the issue of taxes and spending. "Somewhere along the line, the Straight Talk Express lost its wheels."

NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan adds that John McCain is a name that's been slippping off Obama's tongue with ease lately. He was featured in his major speech on electability yesterday, when Obama said he would be the best candidate to present a clear contrast with McCain. He mentioned him again this morning at a town hall in East LA when Obama said that along with McCain he fought for immigration reform. And now he's brought him up again at the debate...

And NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli notes... So just as Mitt Romney decides to go up on Feb. 5 after all, Barack Obama gives him a little free media with his attack on McCain on the Bush tax cuts.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
BTW, the rules of this debate may favor Obama. He's never been good with time limits and tonight, there are no limits. Meanwhile, the setting may favor Clinton because both candidates are seated and Obama's height advantage isn't as great.

From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
Conciliatory tone from both Clinton and
Obama as this debate begins. All sweetness so far. Have to wonder which
candidate thinks showing anger will hurt them the most?

Also
interesting how Clinton compares her healthcare plan to Edwards'
openly...only now that he's out of the race. An attempt to win over his
supporters?

From NBC's Mark Murray
We just had our first Ted Kennedy mention by Obama...

From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
Four in first eight minutes.

Each candidate talked about Edwards in each of their first two opportunities to talk.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Clinton and Obama's opening statements really highlight politics -- and why Americans find politics contradictory, not straightforward and sometimes illogical.

Obama talked about how Clinton and he were friends, are friends and will be friends after this is over. What do they say? Oh yeah... with friends like those...

I guess he chalks that up to what he called "a tough campaign."

With a smile, Clinton spoke nicely of both of them, even said she believes one of them will be the next president of the United States. But then in selling herself, she delivered this familiar subtle dig on Obama: that Americans should vote for someone who's ready on "Day One." So, in implying -- again -- that Obama is not ready on Day One, why then should any American vote for him? If he's not ready on Day One, why would she then believe that we should be looking at the next president between the two of them. Going further then, are none of the Republicans ready on Day One either? Is Hillary Clinton the only one who's ready on Day One?

Ah, politics.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
We're more than 20 minutes into the debate and neither campaign has sent a fact-check out to the press (unless my spam filter is working overtime). 

From NBC's Chuck Todd
So how badly does Obama want John Edwards' endorsement? Obama's now name-dropped him twice in the first 15 minutes.

From NBC's Mark Murray
Their opening remarks summarized the themes of their campaigns: Obama wants to bring the country together; Clinton is ready from Day One and is a problem solver.

Asked their policy differences, Clinton mentioned health care, home mortgage policy, and talking with unsavory leaders (she is against meeting with those folks in her first year in office).

Obama parried those differences -- and brought up Iraq and eliminating the influence of lobbyists.

So, far everyone is on message.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
So far, it appears the two candidates want to be Mr. and Mrs. Nice Guy and Gal.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro and Doug Adams
The 200,000-member Transportation Workers Union will move from Edwards to Obama tomorrow, according to sources close to the union. The union would be the first national AFL-CIO union to endorse Obama. Is this the first of several former Edwards-backed unions to go to Obama now that Edwards has pulled out of the race?

The TWU represents New York City subway workers, Philadelphia bus drivers, Southwest Airlines flight attendants, baggage handlers and others. The largest union is in New York -- a Feb. 5 state -- and could play an active role there. In other Feb. 5 states, there are members in California and New Jersey.

From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Forget Camelot. The latest mantle that Obama is trying to claim as his own is former Sen. John Edwards' who left the race yesterday with a request to the two remaining candidates for the Democratic nomination to make poverty an issue in their campaigns.

Obama obliged, sounding positively Edwards-esque in a town hall at Los Angeles Trade Technical College, told the crowd that the system wasn't "designed for us."

"Too many people today feel like the system is not designed for people like us.  They feel like the education system isn't designed for people like us, and the job market isn't designed for people like us," identifying himself with the predominantly Latino and African-American crowd and making a clear acknowledgment of racial disparities obtaining mortgages, health care and economic opportunities in the United States. 

It was a statement that went further on race and class than Obama usually gives in stump speeches. Even in South Carolina and Nevada, Obama rarely dwelled too much on the idea of institutional racial disparities or identified himself with a minority crowd in such a clear and distinct way.

He added: "Well let me tell you something, this is our country. America should be designed for people like us. That's why I'm running for President of the United States for all people -- Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight  -- all people," he said.

The comments followed a five-minute introduction to Obama's speech where he dwelled on the importance of government providing opportunity for Americans of all stripes and told the crowd that his campaign was about trying "to help people up the ladder of economic success."

And if anyone was unclear about the intention of his message, Obama made a direct link to John Edwards and the issue of poverty.

"This is our country. That's why we have to address the issue of poverty. I congratulate John Edwards for his outstanding race and the way in which he identified the forgotten America," he said.

And then positioned himself as a natural candidate to pick up where Edwards left off: "That forgotten American America I worked in as a community organizer, that forgotten America I represented as a civil rights attorney, that forgotten America I fought for as a state legislature," he added.

Approximately 1,600 people came to see Obama at the town hall and the candidate spoke for over an hour and a half taking nearly a dozen questions that ranged from economic opportunity to Darfur to racial profiling. 

Obama's work on immigration reform, absent in his stump speeches before, played front and center in his speech today as it did in Phoenix yesterday, and in a move that looked as if he was already starting to run against the Republican frontrunner he mentioned John McCain's work on immigration reform as well.

"That is what I fought with Ted Kennedy and I fought alongside John McCain to work on comprehensive immigration reform."

He told the crowd that he had worked to pass a bill that wasn't popular because he believed that all Americans had a right to be here, and speak spoke of John Edwards, praising his work on poverty and saying that it was critical to introduce it.

And in a clear appeal to Hispanic voters Obama told voters, "You need to learn English. Of course, I need to learn Spanish so we can teach other," he said to loud applause.

The diverse crowd in a neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles largely made up of African Americans and Latinos saw a marked change in tone from Obama when he was talking about racial and immigration issues.  Though his positions are the same, the way he talked about immigration and racial profiling for example publicly acknowledged the racial subtext to much of what he mentioned.

For example, on immigration Obama said the debate was framed in a way to only talk about people from "south of the border" but not from "Poland or Ireland"

"I think it's very important we have an intelligent debate about immigration that is not tinged with our attitudes of what people should look like who come here. Cause my attitude everybody should come here.  My father when he came here, he didn't look like you know -- he didn't look like he steppe doff the Mayflower," he said and jokingly added that not everybody who came into Ellis Island had their papers in order.

Congressman Xavier Becerra and Maria Elena Durazo were part of a host of Latino politicians and labor leaders who introduced Obama today. Becerra told the crowd that this was the first time in "40 years since Robert F. Kennedy" that their vote really mattered in a presidential election.

From NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy
LOS ANGELES, Ca. -- Just six days before much of the nation votes in a presidential primary, John McCain received yet another major endorsement that could help him in a delegate rich state. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made good on his hints from yesterday and threw his weight behind McCain this afternoon after taking a tour of Solar Integrated, a green technology company that builds solar roofing panels.

"[Green technology] will create a great, great future for California and for the United States and the world. Now talking about a great future, this is the very reason why I am endorsing Senator McCain to be the next president of the United States, because I'm interested in a great future and I think that Senator McCain has proven over and over again that he is reaching across the aisle in order to get things done," Schwarzenegger said.

McCain has been criticized for reaching across the aisle a little too far during his long senate career, damaging his conservative credentials and making it hard for him to find success with conservative voters in a virtual national presidential primary. Endorsements from moderate Republicans like Schwarzenegger and Rudy Giuliani don't help him combat this reputation, but at today's press conference he didn't seem concerned.

"I could never, never, ever be anything but honored by the presence of these two great American heroes," McCain said, when asked about his two most recent endorsers – both of who stood by his side. "Today Governor Rick Perry, the governor of Texas will be endorsing me. You will see a flood of endorsements across this country from both liberal and conservative."

So far his most prominent endorsements of late have been on the more liberal side, but as McCain expands his stake on the frontrunner mantle the conservative establishment is sure to coalesce behind their party's most likely nominee. Today he talked about the need to unite the party -- both conservative and liberal -- around the eventual nominee, and McCain implied that these endorsement show he is already succeeding.

"I'm prepared to lead our party in the nation and I am prepared and am succeeding in uniting it," McCain said. "We need all parts of our party together if we're going to win in November. I believe our party is beginning to realize that."

Tonight McCain will appear on the Tonight Show for a little national media exposure before taking off for the Midwest tomorrow to begin the last big push towards Feb. 5th.

From NBC's Ron Allen
Romney stopped by Greg and Charlene Bennett's home in Long Beach, Calif., to show he's concerned about middle class families. In the Q and A, he said McCain showed his lack of understanding about the economy in the debate in an answer to a question about housing that "included a stream of consciousness which took in the idea of punishing people on Wall Street and a town in Norway."

On the exchange over Iraq last night, "I think he took a big detour on the strait talk express," Romney said.

Does it call into question his credentials to be president? "No I think he's a fine man," Romney said.

On endorsements, Romney basically said, Rudy and Arnold aren't surprising -- they're moderates.

On money and ad buys, Romney says it's seven figures, but he's not going to say where or how much for strategic reasons. "I don't think its possible to flood the airways in all 22 states," he said.

There were no ads up yesterday because they made those decisions this morning after factoring in Rudy dropping out. He's been very cagey about what states he's targeting. We know his wife's in Montana, one son is in Georgia and another is in Alabama. His staff has talked about a strategy that emphasizes the West and, to a lesser extent the South, ending in Massachsetts.

On money, an a aide said Romney's raised more money than anyone else and raised more than he's "loaned" himself. And Romney is still his biggest single donor, but no exact numbers.

From NBC's Andy Merten
As he continues to rack up high-profile Republican endorsements, John McCain today told reporters that Texas Gov. Rick Perry will endorse him this afternoon.  The brief mention of Perry, who endorsed Giuliani in October, was prompted by a reporter's question of whether backing by Rudy and Schwarzenegger -- both who are considered moderate on many social issues -- will truly aid McCain in courting Republican votes next Tuesday.

"I could never, never, ever be anything but honored by the presence of these two great American heroes," said the Arizona senator in reply, quickly adding that Perry, who is much more conservative on issues like abortion and gay marriage, will be backing him.

Perry's endorsement is likely a by-product of Rudy's dropping out of the race and supporting McCain.

From NBC's Mark Murray
National Journal magazine is reporting that Obama was the most liberal senator of 2007, according to the vote ratings it does every year for members of Congress. Clinton, meanwhile, ranks as the 16th most-liberal senator.

But a bit of context here: National Journal used 99 Senate votes in 2007 as the basis for its rankings, and because he was on the presidential campaign trail, Obama missed a third of those votes. (According to the magazine, Obama voted the liberal way 65 out of 66 votes. Clinton, meanwhile, voted the liberal way in 77 out of her 82 votes).

National Journal's vote ratings became an issue in the 2004 general election, when Republicans used the magazine's ranking of John Kerry as the most liberal senator of 2003 to label the then-Democratic nominee as the "most liberal senator" -- even though that was his rating for just that one year, when (like Obama did) he missed quite a few Senate votes due to being on the presidential campaign trail.

As National Journal's editor wrote back then, "[O]ur magazine -- or, more precisely, our annual congressional vote ratings edition -- has become a Republican talking point in the 2004 presidential campaign. And that's been a fascinating, and disconcerting, experience. Fascinating because we're more used to being cited in congressional hearings than on the Today show. Disconcerting because the shorthand used to describe our ratings of Kerry and Edwards is sometimes misleading -- or just plain wrong."

Indeed, while Obama ranks as the magazine's most liberal senator of 2007, his ranking was 16th in 2005 and 10th in 2006.

Another question that might come up is why the magazine released its voting ratings now -- just days before Super Tuesday. In fact, the magazine says it full congressional ratings won't come out until March. But, according to the editor in a Q&A published in the magazine: "Back in December, we decided that we would publish the ratings of the presidential candidates as soon as they became available, rather than wait until our annual Vote Ratings issue on March 8. We thought it would be irresponsible to keep those scores under wraps during the height of the presidential primary season."

As for McCain, the magazine says that he didn't vote frequently enough in 2007 to get an overall rating. Per National Journal, "He missed more than half of the votes in both the economic and foreign-policy categories. On social issues, which include immigration, McCain received a conservative score of 59."

And like with Obama's overall liberal score, rivals and critics could possibly seize on McCain's social rating....

Full disclosure: This reporter worked and wrote for National Journal from 1997 to 2003.

From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan
The Obama campaign announced that it has raised $32 million in the month of January and has 170,000 new donors to the campaign. In total, per campaign manager David Plouffe, the campaign now has 650,000 donors to the campaign. 

Per Plouffe, the amount will allow the campaign to financially compete through March or April if needed. He also said their donors are part of a grassroots efforts making voter contact in the different states.

The Obama campaign will also be up on air in the primaries and caucuses on Saturday, Feb. 9th (Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington), the Maine caucuses on the 10th, as well as the Mid-Atlantic primary states on Feb. 12th (DC, Maryland, Virginia).

Plouffe said that the campaign is picking up Edwards supporters in Feb. 5 states, partly because, as he put it, "these are change voters." "We are first of all trying very hard to make the case to his supporters to join our campaign," he said. "And now that it's a two person race it's a definitive choice." 

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** McCain plays hardball: There were a few moments where it appeared McCain and Romney would really start tangling in last night's GOP debate -- but it was just that, a precious few moments. Romney wasn't happy about the criticism McCain leveled at him about timetables in Iraq. He said it was a dirty trick because it came days before Florida. Well, maybe so, but it should also serve as a comfort to nervous Republicans about McCain's ability to play hardball in the general. McCain may seem like a guy who likes to reach across the aisle, but he's not afraid to get dirty. McCain will be a very clever general-election candidate; it won't all be kumbaya with Clinton or Obama. Meanwhile, Romney's pushback -- if this was an issue, then why didn't he raise it earlier -- wasn't a great debate comeback moment. As we've noted before, Romney just doesn't come across well when he's angry. Overall, Romney seemed simply ticked off the entire night. It was as if he realized the end was near and he didn't know how to stop it. He tried to go after McCain, politely mind you, but didn't trip the newly crowned front-runner up.

Video: NBC Political Director Chuck Todd offers his first read on how things seem to be coming together quickly for John McCain.

*** But he needs to brush up on domestic issues: Playing the role of front-runner at a debate for the first time (or at least since the last time these guys met at the Reagan Library), McCain proved to be more well spoken on domestic issues than he was at the last debate. But going forward, assuming he's the GOP nominee, the Arizona Republican is going to have to get more comfortable talking about domestic issues or he will face much bigger problems in the general. He was better last night on the domestic front, but he's still got a ways to go. By the way, it shouldn't be overlooked at how McCain took every opportunity he could to take a dig at Romney; he seemed almost gleeful about it.

*** Winning the debate before it started: Perhaps the most difficult thing for many of us watching these debates for a living is that we're having a hard time finding new things to say -- just as the candidates are having a hard time saying anything new. For instance, how many times have we said some version of the following: Mike Huckabee probably stuck out a bit (and only a bit) for his humor and seemingly straight talk. Yet again, Huckabee got to play Mr. Nice Guy and it will probably be enough to siphon off conservative vote from Romney in order to deliver McCain a few more delegates than he should be winning if this were a pure one-on-one contest. (And on Morning Joe, Huck took this shot at Romney, saying he "didn't hit puberty" in the conservative movement until he was 60. Whoa.) But McCain may have won the debate before it ever started, because the Giuliani endorsement yesterday and the Schwarzenegger endorsement today appear to be trumping anything that happened last night.

*** Time for a little one-on-one: Now it's the Democrats' turn to debate in California, and for the first time, there will be just two people on the stage: Clinton and Obama. The debate takes place at 8:00 pm ET. We're betting that tonight's debate is a bit more civilized than last week's was. A few days after her loss in South Carolina, Clinton really appears to be playing Ms. Nice. On the trail yesterday, Clinton passed on chances to fire back at Obama. Also yesterday, her campaign held a conference call with reporters to stress how Clinton is eager to listen to voters' voices -- like with their national town hall on the eve of Tsunami Tuesday -- while at the same time calling out Obama for being negative. And now even Bill has become subdued. It's a dramatic shift from South Carolina.

*** Will these things come up at the debate? On Nightline last night, Clinton seemed to admit that her husband's presidency was a co-presidency. It was a pretty striking admission. "MCFADDEN: Here's what a lot of people want to know. Can you control [Bill]? SEN. CLINTON: Oh, of course. … MCFADDEN: Newsweek magazine says flatly, if you're elected, it will be a co-presidency… Maybe it's a good idea? SEN. CLINTON: It's not. I learned that. I learned that the hard way." She learned that the hard way? Interestingly, at the time of course, the Clinton White House vigorously denied the idea of a co-presidency because it wasn't politically prudent. Now is history being rewritten a bit? Meanwhile, the dreaded "Van Natta" byline is in today's New York Times. It's an investigative piece, which suggests that Bill Clinton was used by a Canadian mining financier to help secure a contract in Kazakhstan. In exchange, Clinton raised a significant chunk of change from this guy for various philanthropic activities. No wonder the Clinton folks don't want these donors going public anytime soon. This is not a good story, but how much play will it get? We'll find out at tonight's debate. 

*** Feb. 5th strategies: We're starting to learn about the diverging February 5 strategies through the candidates' schedules. Suddenly, these schedule emails are the single most important thing we receive each day. For the next few days, for instance, we're finding out that Hillary Clinton is camping out in California, while Obama is barely spending 12 hours in the state.  Meanwhile, it appears Bill Clinton will be stumping in more February 5 states than his wife will. Clinton travels to California for today's debate and won't leave the state until Saturday. By the way, Obama is getting some HUGE crowds. He got over 10,000 in both Denver and Phoenix.

*** Pointless money numbers: Today is the day the candidates have to file their 4th quarter FEC reports, and we'll find out how much the candidates raised and spent through December 31 which, frankly, seems more than a lifetime ago. For instance, how much of his own money did Romney spend after Dec. 31? We won't find out until April 15. How much did Clinton and Obama raise in the last month? Again, we won't find out until April 15… Today's fundraising numbers are something for the historians to pore over, not the on-the-news press corps right now.

*** On the trail: In addition to Clinton and Obama, everyone seems to be in California… A day after last night's GOP debate, Huckabee makes two stops in the Golden State; McCain makes five, including three fundraisers and a taping of The Tonight Show; and Romney makes five, too. Among the surrogates, Bill Clinton stumps in Albuquerque, NM, and Tempe, AZ, while Ted Kennedy campaigns for Obama in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, NM

Countdown to Tsunami Tuesday: 5 days
Countdown to Chesapeake Tuesday: 12 days
Countdown to Ohio and Texas: 33 days
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 278 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 355 days

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The Los Angeles Times: "John McCain and Mitt Romney carried their bitter Florida clash into California on Wednesday, each impugning the other's honesty in a hot-tempered debate as they sought to attract voters casting ballots in five days in a coast-to-coast array of primaries and caucuses… The tension between McCain and Romney, the two leading Republican candidates, was heightened because the two sat next to each other, uncomfortable and occasionally glaring, as the insults burst forth."

Doesn't this Washington Post headline basically say that McCain won the debate? Here's the header: "McCain vs. Romney on Iraq."  The fact that the lead of the debate stories are on Iraq and not the economy plays right into McCain's hands.

"Ten Republican candidates met in the same venue nearly nine months ago for their first debate of the campaign and similarly laid claim to the Reagan legacy. Although four remained last night, the debate was dominated by the two front-runners."

It's interesting that the two leading Dems are advertising like crazy in the Feb. 5 states, while the two leading Republicans are barely on air.

The Obama campaign holds a conference call with reporters at 9:30 am ET to discuss its February 5 strategy.

CALIFORNIA: The New York Times has a good preview of the importance of California. "Since the 1968 primaries -- won by Robert F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon -- California has been viewed by presidential aspirants as a microcosm of the country. From economic issues to trends in health care, immigration, urban infrastructure and education, the state has proved to be a great incubator for prescriptive policy and a test of the political winds. This year, with two other large states on Tuesday ostensibly spoken for by hometown favorites -- Illinois for Senator Barack Obama and New York for Senator Hillary Rodham -- California looms even larger for the Democrats."

More: The "candidates know the state, flush with delegates, cannot be easily discarded. But the vastness of California, the high cost of advertising here -- a statewide television buy can run over $2 million for a week -- and the sheer impossibility of traversing its myriad Congressional districts in a day, even with the help of chartered aircraft, have forced the candidates to keep their distance from here. For those who would be president, California is like an inaccessible love interest, stared at from across the country with both longing and frustration, its suitors aggrieved by their fumbling inability to connect."

MASSACHUSETTS: The Boston Globe: "As he tries to regain his footing after a tough loss in Florida's presidential primary, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney faces an unusual problem for a presidential hopeful: making sure he carries his home state." More: "The Massachusetts GOP's ambivalence about Romney has complex roots, with some ideological basis, especially because of shifts in his positions on stem cell research and abortion. When he was elected in 2002, he supported them, and by the end of his term, he was against them.

Remember, McCain won the state's primary in 2000. This could be an embarrassing moment for Romney should he not win his home state by an impressive margin.

CLINTON: Here's a New York Times byline that has to scare the Clinton campaign: Don Van Natta Jr. His piece alleges a cozy relationship involving Bill Clinton may have been used by a Canadian mining financier to help secure a contract in Kazakhstan. The key graph: "Just months after the Kazakh pact was finalized, Mr. Clinton's charitable foundation received its own windfall: a $31.3 million donation from Mr. Giustra that had remained a secret until he acknowledged it last month. The gift, combined with Mr. Giustra's more recent and public pledge to give the William J. Clinton Foundation an additional $100 million, secured Mr. Giustra a place in Mr. Clinton's inner circle, an exclusive club of wealthy entrepreneurs in which friendship with the former president has its privileges."

The campaign unveiled plans for a live web video-based town hall meeting on Feb. 4. From the campaign: "We believe it will be the first time in presidential campaign history that voters in the Super Tuesday states will have their voices heard in a single national town hall. The event, called 'Voices Across America: A National Town Hall' will be simulcast starting at 9 p.m. EST on hillaryclinton.com. The 22 cities where the campaign will host events are Birmingham, AL; Phoenix, AZ; Little Rock, AR; Los Angeles, CA; San Francisco, CA; Denver, CO; Hartford, CT; Wilmington, DE; Athens, GA; Boise, ID; Chicago, IL; Wichita, KS; Boston, MA; St. Paul, MN; Kansas City, MO; Cherry Hill, NJ; Albuquerque, NM; New York, NY; Grand Forks, ND; Tulsa, OK; Knoxville, TN; Salt Lake City, UT.

EDWARDS: The Boston Globe covers Edwards' exit from the race. "Although his angry populism enthralled crowds, and he had at times seemed on the verge of catching fire, Edwards failed to win any of the early state contests and had been written off by most political observers weeks ago. He came in second in Iowa, narrowly beating Clinton, but his distant third-place finish Saturday in South Carolina, where he was born and where he won the 2004 primary, was crushing."
 
"Still, Edwards's announcement came as a surprise because he had declared this week that he would stay in the race through the Democratic convention. Not only did he seem to have the stomach for a long fight, but he had the potential to play kingmaker if Clinton and Obama remain neck-and-neck in the race for delegates."

NBC/NJ's Tricia Miller cobbled together a list of some of Edwards' key support that's now up for grabs. On the superdelegate front:
Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa)
Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-N.C.)
Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (D-S.D.)
Rep. Charlie Gonzalez (D-Texas)
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas)
Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.)
Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine)
Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.)
Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.)
Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.)
Rep. David Price (D-N.C.)
Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.)
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.)
Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.)

Key Unions: Carpenters, Steelworkers, and SEIU state councils in California, Idaho, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Washington, and West Virginia. The other big gets with Edwards are his core trial lawyer fundraising bundlers. With both Obama and Clinton in desperate need for new donors, these folks may be the most sought-after in the short term than either the superdelegate supporters of Edwards or the unions.

The Washington Post has a few donor switchers on record already. "One of Obama's California organizers was the first to reach Deborah Rappaport, a San Francisco philanthropist who a month ago put $25,000 into an independent expenditure effort for Edwards. She told the Obama aide that she already had plans to attend a fundraiser this week for Obama, the candidate who would now 'get my wholehearted support.' Florida trial lawyer Mitchell Berger, who helped raise money for Al Gore and solicited contributions for Edwards in both the 2004 and 2008 campaigns, said he, too, will be joining Obama. 'That's where I will be,' Berger said. 'The reason? John Edwards and Barack Obama completely agree on the institutional problems that exist in Washington.'"

"Others said they were more inclined to get behind Clinton. Joseph J. 'Jerry' McKernan, a Baton Rouge trial lawyer, said he thinks Obama is 'just a very big flash in the pan right now.'"

Dangling his endorsement has a possible reward, Edwards got both his former chief rivals -- Clinton and Obama -- to pledge to make poverty a key part of their campaigns.

OBAMA: California Rep. Anna Eshoo (D) has endorsed Obama.

So was Ted Kennedy's decision to endorse Obama aided by the Clintons' praise of LBJ -- and not JFK -- for the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act? Some are whispering that.

We're confused: what happened to the News Corp/Rupert Murdoch/Clinton conspiracy theory? Murdoch's New York Post endorses Obama. The editorial, though, is more anti-Clinton than pro-Obama. 

The Chicago Tribune's Zorn makes a good point about Rezko and Obama: The Obama folks could have put an end to this story much earlier had the returned all of this money sooner.

MoveOn is holding a virtual primary today to decide whom to endorse: Clinton or Obama. Isn't this Obama's endorsement to lose? Notes The Nation's Melber: "[I]f MoveOn does manage to unite 'as a progressive community around one of these candidates,' as Executive Director Eli Pariser explains in a new e-mail, its activists could play a pivotal role in this race. There are over a million and half MoveOn voters in Super Tuesday states. The group boasts 575,000 web activists in California alone--about 9 percent of turnout for the state's 2004 presidential primary."

GIULIANI: The former New York mayor "rarely seemed comfortable with the rigorous campaigning required in Iowa and New Hampshire. He avoided confrontations with his opponents and, after a damaging duel with Mitt Romney in November over their records on immigration, government finance, and crime, Giuliani all but withdrew from the fight."
 
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley went anti-New York on Giuliani and blamed "that New York personality" on his loss, the New York Daily News reports. "The New York lifestyle hasn't gone over [in] some places. It seemed like the more people got acquainted with him, the less they liked him," he said, adding, "Things you do in New York don't stay in New York." New Yorkers in the article fired back.

The big gets from Team Giuliani are his fundraisers. "The scramble for Mr. Giuliani's fund-raisers began shortly after the former candidate conceded the Florida primary to Mr. McCain. These fund-raisers also include such industry titans as Ken Langone, chairman of Invemed Associates LLC, Ambassador Richard J. Egan, financier Wilbur Ross, investor Carl Icahn and Paul Singer, general partner of Elliott Associates LP, a New York trading firm. All told, they have raised nearly $70 million for Mr. Giuliani, $6 million of which is earmarked for the general election. That money is likely to be designated for use by whoever becomes the Republican nominee."

"Mr. Giuliani's donors may be as important to Mr. McCain as voters, since the new Republican front-runner has been struggling for cash for much of his campaign. Yesterday, Mr. McCain's campaign released his finance report for the fourth quarter of 2007 showing $4.5 million in debts."

MCCAIN: It's a good thing McCain's got the momentum, as the New York Times notes today -- because he's got to balance stumping with fundraising over the next week. "McCain will spend the days before Tuesday's contests crisscrossing the country for appearances in major media markets in delegate-rich California, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey and New York. He will also be forced to spend precious time in fund-raisers — he has three scheduled in the next two days -- to help pay for expensive television advertising in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York."

With Giuliani's exit, New York Republicans are starting to rally around McCain, as are their brethren in New Jersey and Connecticut.

Is McCain superstitious? Apparently he's not ready to call himself the front-runner. Why? McCain's never been a good front-runner.

ROMNEY: The New York Sun monitors conservative talk radio yesterday and finds some anti-McCain conservatives are starting to realize he might not be stopped. But one group is making one last ditch attempt to stop McCain. "A conservative group, Citizens United, said it would begin airing an ad on Fox News today in which Mr. McCain's visage suddenly emerges from behind a picture of Senator Clinton. 'One candidate voted against the Bush tax cuts -- both times. And pushed more restrictions on gun owners' rights. The same candidate joined Ted Kennedy to sponsor amnesty for illegals. And was even mentioned as a running mate for John Kerry,' the ad says. 'Hillary Clinton? No, John McCain … surprisingly liberal."

It was a quiet afternoon yesterday from the Romney campaign, NBC/NJ's Erin McPike notes. Very few press releases were sent from a campaign that tends to flood reporters' inboxes. True, the campaign's top communications staffers were stuck on a plane for hours as they traveled from one coast to another. And while they were likely prepping the candidate for last night's debate once they arrived in California, they were wheels down five hours before the debate even began.