With a short video of its own, Hillary Clinton’s campaign is offering its own take on last night’s presidential debate in Philadelphia — that she won.

The video, posted on the campaign’s HillaryHub website, and an accompanying statement makes the case that the other candidates ganged up – or piled-on – against Clinton, but that she withstood the challenge.

“Despite the best efforts of her six fellow candidates to trip her up, Senator Clinton stood strong and made her case on critical issues like Iran, Iraq and Social Security,” the statement read. “She kept her focus on the real target in this election: Republicans and the Bush Administration. Instead of going after the other Democrats, Hillary made the argument for why change is needed and why she has the strength and experience to lead the Democratic Party in its efforts to make that change happen.”

The website did not mention Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s license proposal or Clinton’s response when asked about it at the debate.

UPDATE – Clinton’s campaign also issued this statement concering Spitzer’s license plan:

“Senator Clinton supports governors like Governor Spitzer who believe they need such a measure to deal with the crisis caused by this administration’s failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform. As President, her goal will be to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would make this unnecessary.”

Yes, it’s Halloween night, but if you’re looking for some New York political news to watch, here’s two choices.
—State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno will be on CNN’s Lou Dobbs Show at 6:30 to rail against Gov. Spitzer’s drivers license plan. Dobbs has been extremely critical of the plan to give illegal immigrants drivers’ licenses and has made a nightly issue out of it.

He even called Spitzer an idiot, but then later apologized on the air.
—Speaking of Spitzer, he’s on Capitol Tonight at 8 p.m. to talk about his license proposal. The show is aired on Time Warner Cable in Albany, Binghamton, Syracuse and Rochester areas. 

Here’s some of the transcript from the show, dealing with the on the ongoing controversy over driver licenses to illegal immigrants:
“I have done precisely what the public sent me to Albany to do, which is to shake and rattle the cage of a system that was not responding to a changed economy, changed circumstances.  Inevitably in that context, there will be some for whom the rattling and the shaking isn’t so comfortable. 
“We are in the position we’re in right now because of the failure of Washington. Washington’s immigration policies have been a debacle.”
“You have a million people right now who are not in (the DMV) database.  And they’re floating out there unbeknownst to us.  That’s a hazard, that’s a risk.”

Mount Vernon Mayor Ernest Davis’s re-election campaign is promoting a “Mass Community Meeting” tomorrow night at 7 at the Macedonia Community Center on West 2nd Street.

It’s unclear who is leading the event, which will take place just as Davis, Democrat Clinton Young and Republican Janet Snyder are expected to meet at a mayoral candidates’ forum in the Fleetwood section of town. Davis is running on the Independence and Republican lines.

The text of the flyer, distributed by the Davis campaign, says (in caps): “There’s a road that leads you from your interest and another road that leads you to your interest. You will be provided sufficient information that you can determine which road you must travel in your children’s interest.”

Several state Senate Democrats will officially endorse Clinton Young’s candidacy for Mount Vernon mayor at an event tomorrow.

The list includes state Sen. Ruth Hassell-Thompson, who notably was part of a committee of supporters formed to encourage incumbent Mayor Ernest Davis to stay in the race after he lost the Democratic primary to Young last month. Davis did decide to continue and is running on the Independence and Conservative lines.

At the time, according to our report, Hassell-Thompson said: “This has nothing to do with Clinton Young. … But it has everything to do with we believe that the kind of leadership that (Davis) has provided should be continued in order to finish projects that he has been involved with.”

(Updated here:)Hassell-Thompson said late today that “the fact that I’m personal friends with the mayor and Clinton has made this whole process very, very difficult.” But she said she had decided to stand by her party’s nominee.

“Clinton is very much a part of the city in the same way the mayor is, and the party has made a very conscious decision and the people have said that he in fact is the candidate … so this is about party unity as well as making sure that everything I can do to heal the party and to strengthen the party, I have an obligation to do,” she said.

She said the reports of two federal investigations into city business have not helped “the aura around the mayor, but they were not factors in my decision.”

Also expected to endorse Young are Sen. Jeff Klein, Minority Leader Malcolm Smith, and Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins. In a show of Democratic unity, Councilman Lyndon Williams, Westchester Democratic Party Chairman Reginald LaFayette, and Mount Vernon City Committee Chairwoman Serapher Conn-Halevi are also planning to be on hand. The event is set for the Mount Vernon Democratic City Committee Headquarters at 11:00 a.m.

The group 9/11 Families for a Secure America, which has been vehemently opposed to Gov. Eliot Sptizer’s plan to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, issued a press release today offering a $1,000 award to “any American who can get a straight answer out of Senator Hillary Clinton” on whether she she supports the governor’s plan.

Meanwhile, Republican contender Rudy Giuliani, during an apperance on “The Glenn Beck Show” this morning, had this to say when asked about Clinton’s debate answers:

MAYOR GIULIANI: “You know, she was being attacked all night for taking different positions in front of different audiences and then by the end of the night, she took different positions in front of the same audience. It was pretty amazing. I mean, in politics I’ve never quite seen that before. I know there are some politicians like Hillary. They say different things to different people. They use different accents in different parts of the country. I’m used to that about her now. I had never seen it happen all in one place, in one minute. And Glenn, this is not a tough issue.�

BECK: “Ok. Tell me the answer to this issue.�

MAYOR GIULIANI: “The answer is no. Or if you believe the opposite the answer is yes. Obama gave the answer yes. Ok. I disagree with that. I think it’s a big mistake. I respect the man for having a position. My answer to it is no. Of course you don’t give out driver’s licenses to illegals. Among other things, it’ll make it even more difficult to deal with all the fraud, all the forgery that’s going on.�

BECK: “I’ve talked to several county clerks and they say they won’t issue them in New York. So we’ll have the locals going against the state, which I don’t even know if it agrees or disagrees with the Fed. I mean—â€?

MAYOR GIULIANI: “Well, I’m going to be campaigning for Republican candidates today in New York and then I’m headed off to New Hampshire, and this is a big issue here and it has really hurt Governor Spitzer because of what you’re saying. People see this as inherently irresponsible, but again, it’s not—this is not one of those difficult issues of war and peace and diplomacy that she usually often hides behind to have two or three different positions. This one you either know the answer to this, it’s yes or no, and then we can debate it.�

The Westchester Peace & Justice Coalition plans a “march to end the war” on Saturday in New Rochelle.

Co-sponsors include the NAACP, Latinos Unidos, the Martin Luther King Institute, No War Westchester, Mount Vernon United Tenants, Pax Christi, Concerned Families of Westchester, CodePink Westchester and many other organizations.

The rally and march start at noon at the New Rochelle City Hall on North Avenue and end at the library green.

The 1.4 million member American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, one of the nation’s largest labor unions, is expected to endorse Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president today at a 1:30 p.m. press conference at a downtown Washington hotel.

ASFCME is the largest union to make a national endorsement during the current presidential election cycle. With 28,000 members in Iowa, it could play a critical role helping Clinton in what polls show is a tight race among Democrats vying to win the Jan. 3 caucuses.

Clinton recently received the endorsement of the American Federation of Teachers. But the larger National Education Association will not make a decision until December, NEA President Reg Weaver told Gannett News Service in a recent interview. With 3.2 million members, the NEA is the nation’s largest union.

Another large union, the Service Employees International Union has decided to skip an early national endorsement and allow state level councils decide. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards is being endorsed today by the New Hampshire SEIU after earlier receiving endorsements from SEIU councils in Iowa and California.

AFSCME President Gerald McEntee appeared with Clinton at a press conference two weeks ago to jointly endorse a plan to set aside $200 million in annual child care grants for training for child care workers, boost their wages and provide them with benefits such as paid sick days.

AFSCME and SEIU have been actively organizing home-based daycare workers around the country and their new members would benefit from the legislation sponsored by Clinton.

Last night’s Democratic debate in Philadelphia is being viewed as the worst so far for Hillary Clinton, according to conversations taking place on media sites and blogs this morning.

Perhaps her most difficult moment came when she was asked about Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plan to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and seemed to obfuscate on the issue. She was slammed by her opponents for trying to take both sides of the issue.

See it for yourself here

Ken Spain, press secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee, wants some answers from Congressman John Hall, D-Dover Plains.

In an e-mail to The Journal News this morning Spain, whose office is in Washington, D.C. wrote, “The people of John Hall’s district deserve to know if he stands with Hillary Clinton and Elliot Spitzer on the issue of giving drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants. If the answer is ‘no’ then he needs to come out and say that Clinton and Spitzer are dead wrong and that this is an affront to the rule of law in this country.â€? – Ken Spain, NRCC Press Secretary

Three of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Democratic opponents agreed Tuesday night that Republicans want her to be the Democratic presidential candidate in 2008.

“That’s a fight they are very comfortable having,’’ said Sen. Barack Obama.

“They want to run against you,” former Sen. John Edwards told Clinton.

“We need to elect a Democrat, a democrat that’s electable,’’ said Sen. Chris Dodd, offering himself as someone who would fit that bill.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson tried to change the tone.

“I’m hearing this holier-than-thou attitude toward Sen. Clinton,’’ he said. Richardson said he disagrees with Clinton on issues such as Iraq, Iran and No child Left Behind, but he trusts her.

“I think it is important that we save the ammunition for the Republicans,’’ Richardson said.

Sen. Joe Biden also chose a different approach. “I’m not running against Hillary Clinton, I’m running to lead the free world,’’ he said, turning his attack to Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani.

“There’s only three words he mentions in a sentence – a noun, a verb and 9/11,’’ Biden said.
“This man is truly not qualified to be president.’’