Another week, another Democratic presidential debate (this one out of Philadelphia tonight, 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on MSNBC and streaming live on msnbc.com), but this one carries with it expectations that it could be a steel-cage match between frontrunner Hillary Clinton and newly-agressive, second-place Barack Obama.

The stage will be as crowded as it has been for all of the earlier debates, but it’s almost certain that nearly all of the attention will be focused on the candidate who would become the first female president (with her towering — and growing – lead in the polls) and the candidate who would become the first black president (who signalled over the weekend that his gloves would come off; asked if Clinton had been truthful in what she’d been telling voters, he replied, simply, “no.”)

Adding to the intrigue are new poll numbers out of Iowa, the only place where Clinton doesn’t appear to have built a towering lead. A new Hawkeye Poll conducted by the University of Iowa shows a dead heat between Clinton and Obama, with John Edwards tailing off in the state that has become his make-or-break stand. Here are the details about the poll.

Here’s a taste of how the Obama and Clinton camps have been sniping at each other. Obama went first over the weekend, with a new ad about Social Security that (again, implicitly) slams Clinton, saying “I don’t want to just put my finger out to the wind and see what the polls say.”

For its part, the Clinton campaign lobbed a news release over the transom this morning that picks apart Obama’s “politics of hope” riff. Accusing both Obama and Edwards for sullying the concept, it asks, rhetorically, “Does the “politics of hope” mean launching attacks on one candidate? Or does it mean laying out a vision for the American people? Does it mean questioning a rival’s integrity? Or does it mean talking about the change we need?”

Again, the fun starts at 8 p.m.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Barack Obama, Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, Presidential. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.