Two pieces of good news for Hillary Clinton’s campaign today:

1) A new Gallup poll shows her shows her wide lead holding steady – a 48 to 25 percent margin over Barack Obama, with John Edwards at 13 percent. Yes, it’s easy to dismiss national polls like this, given the momentum that Obama and Edwards are banking on from success in the early states next January. But…

2) There’s a new early state in the mix, and it’s a good venue for Hillary. Michigan is now set to schedule a primary for January 15, potentially making it the third of the early nominating contests.

Michigan’s pols are unanimous in wanting to move their date up, but the hidden story here is the debate over whether the January 15 contest should be a primary or a caucus. Traditionally, the labor-dominated state has held a Democratic caucus, which has skewed the results in favor of candidates on the left – like Jesse Jackson, whose finest hour as a presidential candidate  came with his landslide win in Michigan’s ’88 caucuses, and Jerry Brown, who finished a surprising second in 1992 (helping to usher Paul Tsongas from the Democratic race).

Not surprisingly, John Edwards’ supporters in the state – most notably U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak and former Rep. (and current Edwards campaign manager) David Bonior – argued for a caucus in ’08. But Republicans and key Democrats – like Governor Jennifer Granholm – wanted a primary, in which labors influence is not as pronounced and non-interest group voters have more of a voice. With today’s 21-17 state Senate vote, Granholm and the Republicans won out – and so did Hillary.

Every time the Democratic eight gather for yet another debate, it is Mr. Biden who turns in the most consistently presidential performance of any candidate from either party.  read more »

Oddly enough, it was with his answer to a question about education during the CNN/YouTube presidential debate last night that John Edwards showed how crucial he believes his $400 haircut to be.

After a YouTube user inquired about whether the candidates had sent their children to public or private school, moderator Anderson Cooper told viewers that it was his impression that Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Mr. Edwards had all gone the private route. Immediately, Mr. Edwards corrected him.  read more »

The rules made it difficult for them to capitalize, but Mike Gravel handed his seven fellow Democrats a golden opportunity for a “Rudy moment” midway through tonight’s presidential forum.

The topic was the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the African-American community, but Mr. Gravel, the scattershot Alaska senator from a generation or two ago, used his time to plead for the legalization of drugs, arguing that those targeted by the federal government’s war on drugs are not criminals.  read more »

In a debate billed as a battle for the black vote, the Democratic candidates generally avoided any confrontation and each sought to present him or herself as the champion of the African American community.

Barack Obama, the first African American candidate with a real shot at the presidency, received a cheer when he walked onto the stage and used his remarks to call for greater accountability within the community. Sen. Hillary Clinton, who has made it clear that she will not concede the black vote, received the night’s only standing ovation for saying that the country ignored the AIDS epidemic because it mostly impacted blacks.

For the most part, the frontrunners had strong showings.

(More on the debate after the jump.)  read more »