Received this in my inbox:

Dear Megan,

Let's do lunch. Let's talk, you and me -- about whatever you'd like. Our hopes. Our goals. Our work. The weather. Maybe even politics.

I think it would be fun to have you over for lunch, at my table, in my home in Washington. You and I both know that we need a serious change of direction in this country. So let's sit down for a meal and talk about exactly the best way to make that change a reality.

Of course, that change can't happen if we don't win. So I'm asking you today to demonstrate your commitment to real change by supporting my campaign with a contribution. We're going to choose one supporter to come to my house in DC, along with a guest, to share lunch and talk. And if you contribute between now and midnight Friday, September 7, it could be you.

Click here to make a contribution.

My favorite part of being on the campaign trail is talking to people one-on-one, in their homes or their workplaces, learning about their lives and the challenges they face every day.

I recently had a chance to share dinner with Las Vegas nurse Michelle Estrada and her family in her home. We talked about her long hours at work and her concerns for her daughter, who is heading off to college this fall. (I sure remember that feeling!)

I had such a wonderful time eating, talking, and laughing with Michelle and her family. There's so much I want to do as president for families like Michelle's: help them pay for college and protect the basic American dream of owning a home.

Now I want you to come to my home, share a meal, and tell me about your life, your family, your concerns, and how we can work together to change America.

But first I need to ask for your help. I cannot win this race without you, without your support and your commitment to our campaign. There is no better way for you to get involved today than to make a contribution to my campaign.

If you contribute by Friday, you might just have lunch with me at my home in Washington.

Click here to make a contribution.

I wish I could invite every single one of the more than one million people who are supporting my campaign -- but I don't think you'd all fit!

Besides, we're building this campaign through person-to-person contact -- not just the conversation I hope to have with you, but also the conversations you have with family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers everyday. Together, we're making history.

Will you help my campaign make history today? Make a contribution by Friday, and you and I might be sharing a meal.

Click here to make a contribution.

I'm really looking forward to this conversation. I'll pick up the groceries before you get there. Let's sit down and talk about how to change America!

Sincerely,

(her signature here)

Hillary Rodham Clinton

P.S. Labor Day is when the campaign hits high gear -- we have entered THE critical phase of this campaign. I know you're ready for change, so let's work together to make it a reality. Please make a contribution today.

Gov. Janet Napolitano has decided to move up Arizona's presidential primary by three weeks to Feb. 5, joining at least 19 other states with primaries or caucuses on that date.

Napolitano will invoke her authority under state law and move the primary from Feb. 26, aides told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The governor chose the new date because it provides the earliest chance for Arizona to have its primary without breaking national political party rules, said Noah Kroloff, deputy chief of staff for policy. Other states with primaries the same day include California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York.

Napolitano, a Democrat, believes Arizonans will benefit from having an early primary because candidates will be more likely to visit the state and learn about immigration, water and growth issues of concern in the state, Kroloff said.

This is a good endorsement.  Murphy is the only congressman who fought in Iraq.  He also was the main character in Hillary Clinton's speech to the VFW National Convention.

When Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton addressed the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention here yesterday, she told the story of how she met a "bright, young captain" in the 82nd Airborne Division named Patrick Murphy in 2003 during her first trip to Baghdad.

This is an endorsement that both camps have been working on, but Murphy decided to endorse Senator Obama.  This will come one houre before Obama addresses the VFW in Kansas City.

Today, Mr. Murphy is announcing his support for Senator Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential race. The endorsement, which has been in the works for a while, comes one hour before Mr. Obama speaks to hundreds of war veterans gathered here.

There is a wonderful diary on Daily Kos, well written by scanman1722.  From a diarist who was more on the "outside" watching, versus on the inside, siding with a candidate.

It is based on the Washington Post article about Obama explaining the direct differences between he and Clinton.

I saw a diary, earlier by hwc, in questioning if he was attacking Clinton, but I don't see it that way, at all.  In, fact, each candidate in this race is vastly different, and we would hope that they distinguish, as such.

posted by permission of the writer, Geekesque

There are four current Senators who are running for the Democratic nomination for President.

There have developed two competing narratives regarding these four Senators and their relative levels of experience.

One holds that the most junior of the four, Barack Obama, is a naive, inexperienced, even reckless in his judgment and his language, while Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd, and Joe Biden have shown sound judgment and have the experience necessary to be commander-in-chief.

The other narrative states that Obama has more than enough experience to give him sound judgment, and that his disagreement with the other three is based not on inexperience but a refusal to accept erroneous conventional wisdom.

A further examination of these competing claims within two specific votes below the fold.

When I first watched the MSNBC Debate, I remember Mike Huckabee.  Why?  Because he was the most measured, thoughtful, speaker on that stage.  While everyone else was shouting glorified words about "Ronald Reagan", you really would think the man was still "alive", Huckabee stood out for me.

While watching him, I kept saying to myself, this is the Republican candidate, right here.  Then he was the one who threw out the "reminder of the Edwards haircut", "that cost more than John Edwards 400.00 haircut at a beauty parlor".  The way he said it was in a complete flow.

What many have been discussed privately, now is out publicly.  That is the concern of Hillary Clinton on the top of the ticket.  Many fear in close congressional and senate races that she will energize the right, the independents will not break her way, and seats will be lost.

They say the former first lady may be too polarizing for much of the country. She could jeopardize the party's standing with independent voters and give Republicans who otherwise might stay home on Election Day a reason to vote, they worry.

In more than 40 interviews, Democratic candidates, consultants and party chairs from every region pointed to internal polls that give Clinton strikingly high unfavorable ratings in places with key congressional and state races.

"I'm not sure it would be fatal in Indiana, but she would be a drag" on many candidates, said Democratic state Rep. Dave Crooks of Washington, Ind.

Unlike Crooks, most Democratic leaders agreed to talk frankly about Clinton's political coattails only if they remained anonymous, fearing reprisals from the New York senator's campaign. They all expressed admiration for Clinton, and some said they would publicly support her fierce fight for the nomination -- despite privately held fears.

For many in tough districts that was won by independents for the democrats, this is a problem.  And the constant concern of her negative numbers, which many conclude will go up only as the campaign progresses.

The chairman of a Midwest state party called Clinton a nightmare for congressional and state legislative candidates.

A Democratic congressman from the West, locked in a close re-election fight, said Clinton is the Democratic candidate most likely to cost him his seat.

A strategist with close ties to leaders in Congress said Democratic Senate candidates in competitive races would be strongly urged to distance themselves from Clinton.

"The argument with Hillary right now in some of these red states is she's so damn unpopular," said Andy Arnold, chairman of the Greenville, S.C., Democratic Party. "I think Hillary is someone who could drive folks on the other side out to vote who otherwise wouldn't."

"Republicans are upset with their candidates," Arnold added, "but she will make up for that by essentially scaring folks to the polls."

But Barack Obama is not smelling all rosy, either.  Many fear backlash of his race.  That is an open-ended question as well.

Obama has much lower unfavorability ratings than Clinton, though Democrats say he may have his own problem -- that of race. It's hard to measure the impact of being the first party to put a black at the top of the ticket, Democratic leaders said.

Though Clinton maybe popular amongst Democrats, and as Penn state her negatives are out, what is not being discussed is that her winning edge over Republican candidates are smaller than her other rivals.

"All the negatives on her are out," said Clinton's pollster and strategist Mark Penn. "There is a phenomena with Hillary, because she is the front-runner and because she's been battling Republicans for so long, her unfavorability (rating) looks higher than what they will eventually be after the nomination and through the general election."

What the Clinton campaign doesn't say is that her edge over potential Republican candidates is much smaller than it should be, given the wide lead the Democratic Party holds over the GOP in generic polling.

The problem is her political baggage: A whopping 49 percent of the public says they have an unfavorable view of Clinton compared to 47 percent who say they hold her in high regard, according to a Gallup Poll survey Aug. 3-5.

Her negative ratings are higher than those of her husband, former President Clinton, former President George H.W. Bush and 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry at the end of their campaigns.

With her negatives setting as it is, another problem.  Many know that once a campaign is undergoing the negatives do go up, but to start so high and no movement downward is a concern with many democrats.

A candidate's unfavorability scores almost always climb during campaigns. If the pattern holds, Clinton has a historically high hurdle to overcome.

"For Hillary, who has been on the scene for so long and has had perception of her so ground in ... there's no question it will be really hard for her to change perceptions," said Democratic pollster David Eichenbaum, who represents moderate Democrats in GOP-leaning states.

Her baggage is heaviest in those states. Private polling conducted in Colorado, for example, shows that Clinton's negative rating is 16 percentage points higher than her favorability score.

Colorado is a state Democrats hope to win in the 2008 presidential race. It also has an open Senate seat, with the Republican incumbent opting not to seek another term and Democrats targeting it.

If she is the nominee, there is much work to do.  Her hurdle is the perception that many "already" have of her and to change their minds.

Link, MSNBC