The advance billing on tonight’s debate among candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination was that Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and others trailing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the polls would gang up on the New York senator.

The first two questions during the two-hour session broadcast on MSNBC from Drexel University in Philadelphia asked Obama and Edwards about that.

Obama pointed to Clinton’s shifting positions on issues such as the war in Iraq and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Edwards was questioned about his earlier statement that Clinton is engaging in double talk on Iran. Edwards seemed off balance by the opening question, but a few minutes later he dug in and accused Clinton of votingd in favor of a Senate resolution that could have been written by the “neocons’’ (neo-conservatives), one that “literally gave Bush and Cheney everything they wanted.’’ Edwards said a lot of the Democrats on the stage “have learned the hard way’’ that “if you give this president an inch, he will take a mile.’’

Clinton minimized the distinctions. “Everybody up here agrees that President Bush has made a total mess’’ with respect to Iran, Clinton said.

As to why she voted for the Senate amendment designating Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization, Clinton termed it a non-binding resolution and pat of her effort to support a middle ground between going to war and doing nothing.

“I am not in favor of doing nothing,’’ she said, adding, “I prefer vigorous diplomacy and I happen to think sanctions are part of vigorous diplomacy.’’

When NBC newsman Tim Russert asked the candidates if they would pledge to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons, Obama short-circuited the polling after Clinton and Edwards answered by giving his assurance all the Democrats would.

Rudy Giuliani hosted a call-in radio show back in the days when he was mayor of the city of New York.

He was in New York City Tuesday afternoon when he did something similar.

It was a nationwide conference call with about 2,500 members of the National Federation of Independent Business, the National Restaurant Association and the Associated Builders and Contractors.

The three trade groups teamed up for what was the second of a series of “Tuesday Town Halls’’ with presidential candidates.

According to Sue Hensley of the National Restaurant Association, last week’s session with Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, who is also running for president, drew 2,000 participants in the question-and-answer conference call.

How did it go?

All told, Giuliani took six questions on topics ranging from trade with China to immigration and government use of eminent domain.

Antoinette from Illinois was interested in what Giuliani had to say about his opposition to socialized medicine and wanted to know if he has seen Michael Moore’s film, “Sicko.’’ He hasn’t. Well, she continued by noting she’s Italian and has been to Italy, which has socialized medicine, and to Canada, which also does. She and her husband pay $800 a month for health insurance because they are self-employed owners of a small construction company.

She didn’t exactly formulate a question with her observations, but Giuliani synthesized it all. He recommended a recent Wall Street Journal article on Italy’s problems with socialized medicine. He said he has a new radio ad in New Hampshire that talks about his bout with prostate cancer and how the cure rate is 82 percent in the U.S. compared to 44 percent in England. He also got in a pitch for Health Savings Accounts.

Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani and New York State Gov. Eliot Spitzer will visit Rockland tomorrow and Thursday to endorse local candidates for office.

Giuliani, the Republican former New York City mayor, will be attending a fund-raiser tomorrow for his candidacy and will endorse the re-election of Republicans Michael Bongiorno for district attorney James Kralik for sheriff and William Sherwood for New York State Supreme Court. Giuliani will start his day at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Blauvelt Coach Diner shaking hands with diners, Rockland GOP Chairman Vincent Reda said.

Spitzer, a Democrat, will visit Haverstraw village at 9:30 a.m. Thursday to endorse Rockland County Democrats running for office.

Spitzer, a Democrat, will back former West Haverstraw Justice Thomas Zugibe for district attorney, Clarkstown Detective Sgt. Tim O’Neill for sheriff, and Surrogate Court Justice Robert Berliner for state Supreme Court justice.

Rockland Democratic Party Chairman Vincent J. Monte said Spitzer will meet with Democrats running for office and public at the Quisqueya Club, 25-27 Broadway, Haverstraw village.

And with a wedding planned in New Square on Thursday night, the governor may stay a bit longer and join other Democrats and Republicans and pay his respect to the village leadership, which controls a powerful voting bloc.

Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison, said this afternoon that the Bush administration should not expect Congress to provide additional money for Iraq “until we can be assured that taxpayer funds will change the course in Iraq, advance American interests and be accounted for fully and accurately.’’

Lowey’s comment came at a House subcommittee hearing she chaired on the latest oversight findings by the Government Accountability Office and the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction that in many cases U.S. money is being funneled to contractors who don’t perform the work they are hired to do or there is no paper trail on how the money is being spent.

In one instance, $36.4 million was spent for body armor and weapons but the that equipment cannot be located.

Lowey wondered why “taxpayer money is being wasted in this way.’’

Stuart Bowen, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, said there’s no evidence that missing equipment ended up in the hands of insurgents but its whereabout can’t be documented.

Since 2003 the United States has dedicated $45 billion for relief and reconstruction in Iraq. Lowey noted that President Bush requested another $3.4 billion last week as part of his latest request for emergency spending on the Iraq war.

Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia, the ranking Republican on Lowey’s subcommittee, noted that the House passed legislation that would make one U.S. official accountable to how reconstrcution money is spent in Iraq. But that language—which was one of the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group—was dropped in negotiations with the Senate, according to Wolf.

Lowey said the reason that the language was dropped was because of the White House.

In a new radio ad running in New Hampshire, Rudy Giuliani uses his own successful battle against prostate cancer as evidence that the United States needs to avoid a socialized medicine.

The ad does not mention Hillary Rodham Clinton by name, but it seems to be a clear shot at her health care proposals. Listen to the ad here.

Hillary Clinton’s effort to steer federal tax dollars toward a museum honoring Woodstock drew loads of criticism. But this item from CNN today would seem to give Hillary a run for her money in terms of sparking outrage.

A House member from California wants taxpayers to spend $50,000 to build a museum honoring the mule.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton announced this afternoon she will vote against the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey to serve as attrorney general.

Her announcement was made several hours before the latest Democratic presidential debate. Tonight’s debate will be broadcast live on MSNBC from the campus of Drexel University in Pennsylvania.

Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards arte widely expected to step up their attacks on Clinton in light of recent polls that show her lead is widening over the rest of the Democratic field.

This afternoon’s announcement on her opposition to Mukaskey’s nomination is likely to steal some of the limelight.

Meanwhile, New Yorks senior senator—Sen. Chuck Schumer—has been officially backing the nomination. Schumer introduced the New York judge at his confirmation hearing.

Clinton stated in a press release, she was “deeply troubled by Judge Mukasey’s continued unwillingness to clearly state his views on torture and unchecked executive power.’’

â€Å“The attorney general is the chief defender of the rule of law in our country,’’ she stated. “After Alberto Gonzales’s troubled tenure, we cannot send a signal that the next attorney general in any way condones torture or believes that the president is unconstrained by law. When we leave any doubt about our nation’s policy on torture, we send a terrible message to the rest of the world. Judge Mukasey has been given ample opportunity – both at his confirmation hearings and in his subsequent submission to the Judiciary Committee – to clarify his answers and categorically oppose the unacceptable interrogation techniques employed by this Administration. His failure to do so leaves me no choice but to oppose his nomination.’’

With a week to go before Election Day, Mount Vernon mayoral candidate Clinton Young continues to collect endorsements from key Democratic leaders in Westchester. Today, he was endrosed by Rep. Eliot Engel of the Bronx and, most notably, the Black Democrats of Westchester.

“Clinton Young has demonstrated a 25-year track record of being a strong advocate for the residents of Mount Vernon and the County of Westchester,” said David Ford, president of the Black Democrats of Westchester in a statement. “Young has been a personal friend for the last 25 years. I supported him when he ran for the school board and the legislator. This is just a natural progression in his upward movement in politics in Westchester County.”

Clinton, a county legislator, defeated incumbent Mayor Ernie Davis in a Democratic primary. He was already considered a heavy favorite to win the general election and the support of Ford and the Black Democrats of Westchester only strengthen’s Young’s candidacy in Mount Vernon — a mostly Democratic city with a large population of African American voters.

Engel, meanwhile, noted Clinton’s record in the legislature.

“He has an outstanding record representing people in Mount Vernon as a County Legislator, and I know he will do the same outstanding job as mayor,” said Engel, whose district stretches from the Bronx into Westchester and Rockland counties.

At least one of the Democratic senators who voted last week to overturn Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s driver’s license policy is pleased by the three-tier license plan he announced over the weekend.

State Sen. Jeffrey Klein, a Bronx Democrat whose district covers portions of southern Westchester, said Spitzer’s plan “kind of makes sense,” though he cautioned he has only read media accounts of what the governor is proposing.

“The devil is in the details,” Klein said in a telephone interview. “But I am happy that it appears that it will comply with federal regulations…I give the governor a lot of credit for worlking this out with the federal government and havng New York ahead of the curve on the Real ID act.”

Klein was among eight Democrats who voted with Republicans last week in a bid to block Spitzer’s initial policy to allow illegal immigrants access to state driver’s licenses. Another one of the eight was state Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Yonkers Democrat.

Tom Staudter, a spokesman for Stewart-Cousins, said today that the senator was still reviewing Spitzer’s latest proposal and was not prepared to comment on it.

The Rev. Al Sharpton isn’t too happy with the Duttchess County hunt club Vice President Dick Cheney chose to visit today. Sharpton’s statement:

â€Å“It has been reported to us by media on the site that Vice President Dick Cheney is duck and pheasant hunting in Dutchess County at the Clove Valley Rod & Gun Club outside of Lagrangeville in Union Vale, New York, and there is a Confederate Flag hanging at the club. I am calling on Vice President Cheney to leave immediately and denounce the club and apologize for going to a club that represents lynching, hate, and murder to black people. In this age of Jena and hangmen nooses all over the country, for the Vice President to relax under the flag of the hangmen nooses is an unpardonable insult to all Americans, particularly Blacks. He ought to leave immediately, call for the flag to be brought down at once, and apologize for being connected to an institution that would be insensitive enough to fly it in the first place. What is interesting to me is that this is not even in the South that it is flying. The club owners must identify with the philosophy of the Confederacy because they can’t say that they are a historic club that 200 years ago was a part of the Confederacy since New York was never a confederate state.â€? If Cheney does not leave, I will bring a delegation of clergy to lead a prayer vigil in the immediate future.â€?