The big event tomorrow is the Democratic debate at Drexel University in Philadelphia. The two-hour debate will be shown live on MSNBC at 9 p.m. ET. Moderator is Brian Williams; also asking questions, Tim Russert.

Other ways to follow the debate: It will be streamed live at MSNBC.com and re-broadcast on Telemundo in Spanish. And Mark will be live-blogging the debate right here at On Politics.

Candidates onstage will be Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson . Former Alaska senator Mike Gravel did not meet polling and fundraising requirements the network set for participating.

On the GOP side:

Mitt Romney raises money in New York and Illinois, and holds a press availability in Wheeling, Illinois.

Rudy Giuliani holds a conference call with members of the National Federation of Independent Business.

Fred Thompson raises money in California. John McCain raises money in New York and Washington.

And two polls due tomorrow. One on religion and politics comes from the liberal Interfaith Alliance . The other is from a coalition of national foundations pushing for candidates to pay more attention to poverty. The groups are describing their plans at a press conference with, among others, former congressman Harold Ford, now chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, and former congressman Jack Kemp, who was housing secretary in the first Bush administration.

Democrat John Edwards made a direct attack on rival Hillary Clinton today as a "corporate Democrat" who would perpetuate cronyism and political dynasties. In a speech called "The Moral Test of Our Generation," he urged voters to make a different choice.

"Down one path, we trade corporate Democrats for corporate Republicans; our cronies for their cronies; one political dynasty for another dynasty; and all we are left with is a Democratic version of the Republican corruption machine," Edwards said. He said democracy is falling into a "corporate abyss" and "we have a duty to end this."

Edwards spoke at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Click here to read the speech, here to read The Politico story about it. Here is part of what Edwards said about Clinton, and her campaign's response:

Brian Lamb, who helped found C-SPAN in 1979 and has been its CEO and an on-air presence since the start, instilled a culture of self-effacement at the network that gives us Congress gavel-to-gavel. But that phase may be over. Today President Bush said Lamb is going to get a Presidential Medal of Freedom .

The Washington Post has called Lamb "a cultural white board, a screen for ideological projection." Just like you only smarter, one fan said of Lamb's interviewing technique.

Here's what the president said today: "Brian P. Lamb has elevated America’s public debate and helped open up our government to citizens across the Nation. His dedication to a transparent political system and the free flow of ideas has enriched and strengthened our democracy."

Lamb is in good company. Among the other recipients of the country's highest civilian honor are Francis S. Collins, who "revolutionized genetic research;" Benjamin L. Hooks, "a pioneer of the Civil Rights movement;" Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia, and Harper Lee, whose "beautiful book, To Kill a Mockingbird , helped focus the Nation on the turbulent struggle for equality." 

Here comes the next round in the Social Security fight that Democrat Barack Obama has picked with rival Hillary Clinton. It's a new Clinton TV ad called "There for You."

The 30-second ad, running in Iowa and New Hampshire, shows Clinton in various settings with elderly people as sentimental music plays. The spot highlights "Hillary's fight to stop the Bush administration from privatizing Social Security" and her "multi-year effort" to pass a bill funding respite care for people caring for disabled or chronically ill relatives, the campaign says.

Here's the ad:

Here's the script:

Republican Rudy Giuliani, "whose presidential campaign strategy originally downplayed New Hampshire, is now making a major bid to win the Granite State primary," The Politico 's Mike Allen and Jonathan Martin write this afternoon .

Among the evidence they cite for that conclusion:

The webcast of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama's MTV/MySpace "presidential dialogue" just ended. It was webcast here . You can tune in for a rebroadcast tonight at 7 p.m. ET on MTV. He was at Coe College in Iowa.

As we did with the first in this series of events ( by Democrat John Edwards ), we've followed along.

2:30 p.m. ET. Going for Jon Stewart's endorsement to offset the Colbert factor:

Comedian Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report is making a faux run for the presidency. Obama joked that he's angling for an endorsement from Comedy Central's Jon Stewart to offset "the Colbert factor."

More seriously, he said the evidence that shows many young people get much of their news from shows such as those produced by Colbert and Stewart "says something about the lack of credibility" the major news media have among younger voters.

Update at 2:25 p.m. ET. Net neutrality, and the movie of his life:

He would appoint members of the Federal Communications Commission who support " net neutrality ," Obama said. "Facebook, MySpace, Google ... might not have been started if you had not had a level playing field" that made the Web just as fast and easy to use for big companies as it is for the individual user, he said. (And net neutrality also assumes that users have control over what they can see and the tools they can use.)

Asked who would play him in a movie about his life, Obama suggested actor Will Smith "because his ears match mine." No actress could play his wife, Obama said, "because there's nobody (else) that good looking."

Update at 2:10 p.m. ET: Clinton, Kurds and the military:

After coming under some criticism for not quickly following their Democratic rivals into the Internet age and agreeing to take part in a CNN/YouTube-sponsored debate, all eight major Republican presidential candidates have now said they will participate in just such a forum on Nov. 28.

CNN, YouTube and the Republican Party of Florida are alerting the rest of the media to the news.

The candidates will be at the Mahaffey Theatre in St. Petersburg, Fla. The moderator will be CNN's Anderson Cooper. Video questions from the public -- the whole point of the event, really -- can be uploaded to youtube.com/debates , rpof.org or cnn.com/youtubedebates . The time: 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET.

If you don't recall the Democratic side's July 23 CNN/YouTube debate -- perhaps most remembered for the question posed by a snowman -- there's a recap here at CNN.com . Jill live-blogged the event here . Almost immediately, there were doubts about whether the GOP candidates would take part in their own session.

The eight GOP contenders: Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Rep. Duncan Hunter, Sen. John McCain, Rep. Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Rep. Tom Tancredo and Fred Thompson.

SaveTheDebate.com, by the way, is claiming victory .

PrezVid has already singled out some of the better video questions that have been submitted so far.

As the Associated Press says , some polls you want to lead -- other polls you don't.

Asked to choose which of the presidential candidates would make for the scariest Halloween costume, 37% of adults chose Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, AP reports.

In second place in the AP-Ipsos survey: Republican Rudy Giuliani, at 14%.

Meanwhile, our Gannett colleagues at The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., report that this weekend's Halloween parade in Newark, Del., attracted "marchers dressed as President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, all wearing jail costumes."

(Photo: Masks of Clinton, Laura Bush and President Bush. Taken in 2006 by Stan Honda of AFP/Getty Images.)

The Rocky Mountain News broke the story this morning , and now other media are beginning to report it as well. The News writes that:

Even if he loses his long-shot bid for the White House, Rep. Tom Tancredo will be leaving the U.S. House of Representatives at the end of 2008.

Tancredo, 61 , waited until after the Colorado Rockies' last out of the World Series on Sunday night before announcing that he plans to retire from Congress at the end of this, his fifth term.

"It's the fact that I really believe I have done all I can do in the House, especially about the issue (immigration) about which I care greatly," he said .

In Pollster.com's trendline of national polls, Tancredo's support among Republicans has remained about 2% since late 2005.

Earlier we gave you the horserace numbers from the University of Iowa's new Hawkeye Poll . Here's more insight from poll director David Redlawsk:

? Born-again Christian conservatives account for 44% of likely Republican caucus-goers and "there's a real race going on" between Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee for their support. For the three candidates virtually tied in second place, the key to becoming Romney's chief challenger is to motivate them.

? Huckabee has the best shot. Rudy Giuliani has little chance of doing so -- "it's hard to see how he's going to improve" -- while Fred Thompson "is not really catching fire in the way some people thought he might."

? Democrat Barack Obama is the "overwhelming" favorite of young people and the survey could be underestimating his support with that group. They are unreliable caucus-goers and many will be out of state on college break on the Jan. 3 caucus date. But Obama is being "more aggressive than anyone else has been" in trying to ensure they get to caucus, with more offices and more people on the ground, so he could have more success.

? The best predictor of someone showing up is having shown up before. In that respect third-place John Edwards is well positioned to challenge Obama and poll leader Hillary Clinton, because "75% of his supporters are experienced caucus-goers. They went in 2004." By contrast, only 54% of Obama's supporters caucused in 2004.

A key endorsement in a key early-decision state:

New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg is today going to endorse Mitt Romney's presidential bid, the Romney campaign says .

As the Associated Press notes , "John Sununu, the state's other Republican senator, has said he doesn't plan to endorse anyone during the primary." Sununu is facing a tough re-election bid next year -- likely against former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat.

The Hill is keeping track of endorsements from member of Congress.

For other posts we've done about endorsements, click here .

Update at 3:45 p.m. ET. Gregg's endorsement is now official. The AP reports, though, that there was something of a where's-he-going-with-this? feel to the senator's humorous speech:

Saying that the odds of having been cured of his prostate cancer would have been much lower "under socialized medicine," Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is out today with a new radio ad called "Chances" that will be on the air in New Hampshire (you may need to click twice to get it going):

"Socialized medicine," as you might know, is a phrase that Giuliani and other Republicans often invoke to criticize the health care proposals of their Democratic rivals.

For other posts we've done about campaign and political ads, click here .

For other posts we've done about the candidates' health care plans, click here .

To read the rest of USA TODAY On Politics, click here .

"It is not an accident that the government of the United States cannot function on behalf of its people -- because it is no longer our people's government and we the people know it," Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards plans to say during a speech today at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H.

And in a reference to his rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and others who he says have become Washington "insiders," Edwards plans to say that "this corruption did not begin yesterday -- and it did not even begin with George Bush. It has been building for decades, until it now threatens literally the life of our democracy."

Edwards' campaign has sent excerpts from the speech to reporters. The Associated Press is characterizing the address as an attempt "to cast Clinton as the insider that voters should reject."

The remarks continue a theme that Edwards has been emphasizing for weeks.

A new University of Iowa Hawkeye Poll released this hour shows:

? Among 285 "likely" Republican caucus-goers, Mitt Romney was the top choice, just as he was in the last Hawkeye Poll in August. His support stood at 36.2%, up from 21.8% in the previous poll.

The rest of the Republican field in the new survey: Rudy Giuliani, 13.1% (up from 10%); Mike Huckabee, 12.8% (up from 2.4%); Fred Thompson, 11.4% (up from 5.2%); and Sen. John McCain, 6% (up from 1.8%).

? Among 306 "likely" Democratic caucus-goers, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was again the top choice, as she was in August. Her support stood at 28.9%, vs. 30% previously.

The rest of the Democratic field in the new survey: Sen. Barack Obama, 26.6% (up from 20.4%); John Edwards, 20% (up from 16.1%); Bill Richardson, 7.2% (up from 5.5%); and Sen. Joseph Biden, 5.3% (up from zero).

Because the sample sizes are relatively small, the poll numbers have somewhat large margins of error:
+/- 5.8 percentage points for the Republicans and +/- 5.5 percentage points for the Democrats.

Jill is listening in at a briefing on the poll results and will have more details later.

Update at 10:55 a.m. ET: Jill's post is here .

The Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy have once again looked at the media's coverage of politics and found much they don't like.

"The game of politics -- rather than the ideas or even the background of the personalities -- has dominated how the press has presented the race for president" so far, the projects' researchers write in a report released today .

They report than an analysis of the reporting done by major newspapers, TV networks, websites and talk radio shows that in the early stages of the 2008 presidential campaign:

Some of the campaign and political news making headlines this morning:

? Des Moines Register -- With Iowa Dems' move to Jan. 3 too, how will youth vote be affected? Iowa Democrats on Sunday joined their Republican rivals in setting Jan. 3 as the day for their presidential caucuses. That date "is either a gut punch or a shot of adrenaline to presidential candidates who are courting young voters , depending on whom you ask. ... The date -- 11 days earlier than first anticipated and the earliest in state history ? means that most Iowa college students will still be soaking up holiday break when the caucuses kick into gear. Some observers believe that's bad news because many of those students have already registered to vote in the cities where their schools are located and are less likely to make the effort to caucus once they are home. But others say the change is a political windfall that will scatter potentially thousands of young voters into virtually every area of the state, where they can advocate for their preferred candidate." Iowa students can also re-register in their hometowns.

Update at 9:10 a.m. ET: The Register 's story is also now posted at USATODAY.com .

? The New York Times --  Dems getting more money from health care industry than Republicans: "In a reversal from past election cycles, Democratic candidates for president are outpacing Republicans in donations from the health care industry , even as the leading Democrats in the field offer proposals that have caused deep anxiety in some of its sectors. Hospitals, drug makers, doctors and insurers gave candidates in both parties more than $11 million in the first nine months of this year, according to an analysis of campaign finance records done for The New York Times by the Center for Responsive Politics, an independent group that tracks campaign finance. In all, the Democratic presidential candidates have raised about $6.5 million from the industry, compared with nearly $4.8 million for the Republican candidates. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has amassed the most of any candidate, even as she calls for changes to the health care system that could pose serious financial challenges to private insurers, drug companies and other sectors."

? CNN Political Ticker -- Gospel singer at Obama event strikes back at those who have criticized what he's said about homosexuality: "The controversial Gospel singer at the center of a gay and lesbian backlash against Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign struck back at his critics Sunday night, saying that he has been 'vilified' and declaring that ' God delivered me from homosexuality .' " In Columbia, S.C., Rev. Donnie McClurkin, headlined the final installment of the Obama campaign's "Embrace the Change" Gospel concert series.

Related story in The Los Angeles Times -- Obama has the fanfare, but not the poll numbers .

Update at 9:10 a.m. ET: There is an Associated Press story about McClurkin's comments here .

? Chicago Tribune -- 3 p.m. ET deadline for comment on editorial about recalling the governor: The Tribune has set a deadline of 3 p.m. ET today for comments on its editorial Sunday that advocated creation of a recall mechanism in the state's constitution to remove a governor. The state should consider such a mechanism, the Tribune wrote, because of " the multiple ineptitudes " of Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich -- "his reckless financial stewardship, his dictatorial antics, his penchant for creating political enemies."

? USA TODAY -- President Clinton sought Ford's help during impeachment build-up: "President Clinton and his allies asked former president Gerald Ford to help them head off impeachment charges in 1998, according to a new book on Ford out Tuesday. Ford did not think Clinton's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky rose to the level of impeachment. Ford told Clinton he would not work on his behalf unless Clinton admitted he lied under oath about the Lewinsky affair to a grand jury, the book by veteran journalist Thomas DeFrank says. 'I won't do that,' Clinton said, according to Ford. 'I can't do that.' "

Related story in ABC News' Political Punch blog -- Ford thought highly of Giuliani: " 'I think Giuliani is an electrifying guy,' Ford told Daily News Washington bureau chief Tom DeFrank in May 2006. 'He's a great speaker. He's had a good record of winning in New York City, and he can be tough.' Asked for a prediction as to who would be the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, Ford smiled and said,'" Well, if they want to win, Giuliani . He's really good, he's articulate -- he's just a leader.' "

? The Los Angeles Times -- Rep. Paul's supporters think they can pick up some delegates in California: The California Republican Party changed the way it awards presidential convention delegates before the 2004 primary. "Instead of awarding all the state's delegates to whomever wins the statewide vote, the GOP doles out three delegates to the winner of each of the state's 53 congressional districts. (Eleven at-large delegates also go to the top vote-getter in the state, and three more delegates are unpledged.) The rule change might seem arcane, but it has forced campaigns to reach into the state's nooks and crannies beyond key media markets." It means that supporters of Rep. Ron Paul are organizing in "San Francisco, across the bay in Oakland and in other districts with relatively few Republicans, under the theory that it's easier for a small fish to campaign in a small pond ."

Meet-up in Concord? At least three presidential hopefuls -- Democrat John Edwards and Republicans Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney -- are filing their candidacy papers tomorrow for the New Hampshire primary. It's not exactly clear when the contest will be held . The window at this point starts in mid-December, but bets are on Jan. 8.

Barack Obama is not in New Hampshire. He meets with voters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and holds a rally in Charlottesville, Va. Obama also participates in a "presidential dialogue" sponsored and streamed live by MySpace and MTV at 1:30 p.m. ET/PT. The event at Coe College in Cedar Rapids will be shown on MTV at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Lots of other people are in New Hampshire. Edwards gives a policy speech in Manchester and holds a town meeting in Exeter.

Romney holds a rally in Concord before filing his papers, then holds "ask Mitt anything" events in Manchester and Nashua.

Republican Rudy Giuliani holds a roundtable discussion on health care in Manchester and a town hall in Londonderry, both in New Hampshire.

Thompson tours Delta Dental in Concord and appears at the grand opening of his Manchester headquarters.

Democrat Chris Dodd said today he will oppose the nomination of Michael Mukasey as attorney general.

His statement:

Mr. Mukasey's position that the President does not have to heed the law disqualifies him from being the chief attorney for the United States. We have seen for too long, and at great expense to our national security, an Administration that has systematically attacked the rule of law and turned our Justice Department into a political wing of the White House. I'm afraid that Mr. Mukasey as Attorney General would be more of the same.

Republican Mike Huckabee appeared today on CNN's Late Edition and got hit right off with questions on Iran. He said it would be "totally unacceptable" for Iran to have nuclear weaponry "given the language, the tone and the direction of this regime."

The former Arkansas governor said President Bush is "right to start with trying to bankrupt them before we bomb them" but ultimately the United States must do "whatever it takes" to keep nuclear weapons out of Iran's hands.

Huckabee's record and foreign policy capabilities have c ome under attack lately by some conservatives, including Phyllis Schlafly . He said today that governors travel extensively overseas and deal with foreign governments and corporations. He attributed the attacks to polls that show him rising: "You never point your gun at the carcass of a dead animal. You only take aim at something that's alive that you want to put on the wall." 

More bounce is in the offing, Huckabee said, due to a recent endorsement from action movie star Chuck Norris . "Now people are going to be afraid not to support me," Huckabee said. "They're going to be afraid not to get online and contribute."

Republican John McCain said today that "it's hard to imagine" Rudy Giuliani as the GOP presidential nominee. "It's hard for me to accept the fact that we would nominate someone who has fundamental disagreements" with conservatives on core principles, he said on ABC's This Week .

The issue arose as host George Stephanopoulos asked McCain about a leaked memo written by McCain campaign manager Rick Davis and leaked last week to The New York Times .

In the memo, Davis wrote : "Rudy Giuliani puts the Republican coalition of social and economic conservatives at risk, and his nomination would have devastating results for our party." Davis also predicted Giuliani would be " swiftboated " over his pre-9/11 performance on terorrism.

Stephanopoulos asked if McCain shared the concerns raised by firefighters, police and victims' relatives about Giuliani's decision to put the city's command center at the World Trade Center and the adequacy of communications equipment used by first responders.

"I have no idea whether he will be (swiftboated) or not," McCain said.  "I continued to praise Mayor Giuliani's performance following 9/11."

Turning to another rival, McCain also said Iran cannot be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon -- but "to start talking about specifics, a bombardment or something like that ... would be a terrible mistake."

The remark appeared to be a reference to Mitt Romney. Last week Romney said he would consider " bombardment of some kind " if sanctions against Iran didn't work.