I turned to Democratic strategist Kelly Ferro for this question: What strategy do you expect from tonight’s debate? Should Hillary hit Obama hard? Should Obama come out with more specifics?

I know you all want to see some blood, but Fero expects a rather low-key evening for us:“Despite advice from many pundits that Sen. Clinton should attack Sen. Obama — after all, what does she have to lose? they ask — the best strategy for each candidate is to get through this without committing a major gaffe.  That’s the likeliest scenario for this debate: no real fireworks.”

They say the race in Texas is dead even. I’m wondering when was the last time a “hot” candidate lost his lead because of a debate? For some reason, my mind just keeps turning back to the Nixon-Kennedy debate and those awful sweating moments for Nixon under the studio lights. What a nightmare for his campaign.

I wonder, as the Clinton campaign has suggested, that superdelegates are going to rescue Texas for HRC?

It was a $100 million January for presidential contenders, according to the Center For Responsive Politics. That’s the latest information, fresh off the press, from campaign reports filed last night.

In case you wanted to read a bit more about local fund-raising, find it here:

Fund-raising Suggests Tight Race in Ohio,

Slight Edge For Clinton In Texas
Following the money, you could have predicted how Tuesday’s Democratic
primaries in Wisconsin and Hawaii were going to turn out — Barack
Obama had a commanding fundraising lead over Hillary Clinton in both
states. As for the Republican primary in Wisconsin (the GOP in Hawaii will
assign delegates at a convention in May), the top Republican fundraiser
last year was Tommy Thompson, the state’s former governor, who ended his
presidential campaign way back in August. John McCain was the top
fundraiser among the remaining Republican candidates. Looking ahead to the
next big contests, the fundraising in Ohio suggests a tight race
between Clinton and Obama. And McCain was far outraised in the Buckeye State
by dropouts Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani. In Texas, Clinton has a wide
lead over Obama among larger donors. Both Democrats have raised more
in Texas than McCain has.

*Fundraising in Ohio:
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/presstatetots.asp?State=OH

*Fundraising in Texas:
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/presstatetots.asp?State=TX

*Presidential primary calendar:
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/calendar.asp?cycle=2008

Good News/Bad News Report.

Good News: CNN has graciously supplied the 600 credentialed media here at the rec center with delicious Mexican food. We are happy because we are fed.

Bad News: I walked almost a mile to the rally where Chelsea Clinton was supposed to speak and after 40 minutes of waiting, I walked back without any Chelsea sightings. TV called and I had to do my bit on the “spin room.”

 Fast Facts: This is the 19th debate with Obama and Clinton, first since Super Tuesday.

Sighting: Linda Robb and Luci Baines Johnson came to take a potty break in the spin room.

Deece Eckstein is our eyes and ears in the Obama camp tonight. You may remember Deece — well-known in Dem circles — from his stint at People For The American Way.

Today, Deece has been doing some of the peripheral volunteer work for the Obama camp. For instance, one of Deece’s tasks today was to find a half-hour yoga class to give some Obama campaign staffers a brief respite from the stress. And I know he was organizing some volunteer group activities, too.

The more glamorous business was Obama’s visit with Coach Mack Brown today at Darrell K Royal Stadium. We got some notice from the Obama camp about the event…

“Senator Obama’s meeting with Coach Brown comes in the midst of his ‘Stand for Change Tour’ across Texas. Tuesday and yesterday, Senator Obama headlined rallies and town halls in San Antonio, Houston and Dallas attended by tens of thousands of Texans. Tonight, Senator Obama will be in Austin to participate in the Texas Democratic Party/CNN/Univision Debate and tomorrow he will headline rallies in Edinburg, Corpus Christi and Austin.”

As for the debate… Obama’s camp is having a watch party/fund-raiser over at the Austin Music Hall tonight. The campaign staffers are old hands at this… I mean, isn’t this debate 42 or something? How nervous can you get after 20 or 30 of these?… but the locals are excited. It’s raising the energy level. To Deece’s recollection, this is the first time Texas has played a significant role in a presidential nomination since 1988.

Just to be fair, I thought I would post a press release from the Republican Party of Texas. Is there actually a Republican in the house today? I even have long-time GOP friends who were coveting debate tickets. 

Austin- Today the Republican Party of Texas issued a challenge to both Senator Hilary Clinton and Barak Obama in advance of the potentially tie breaking debate.  Texas taxpayers across the state are asking how both candidates plan to pay for all of the new spending programs they have proposed.  

“Senators Clinton and Obama have both proposed billions of dollars in new government spending in their quest for the Democrat nomination.  Today we challenge them to answer to the taxpayers of this state where is that money going to come from?” questioned Hans Klingler Texas GOP Spokesman.

Senator Clinton has proposed $888.6 billion dollars in new spending proposals since announcing her candidacy, including one billion dollars for intercity rail services over five years and seven billion dollars in new monies for state grants for controversial family leave programs. (Source: Hillaryclinton.com 10/07/07, 11/26/07)  Senator Obama has proposed 874 billion dollars in new spending programs since announcing his candidacy including but not limited to a 265 billion dollar nationalized health care scheme. (Source: NYT Article 5/30/07)

“Senators Obama and Clinton should be ready to tell even this liberal audience of supporters, but more importantly hard working taxpayers across Texas, how much all this spending is going to cost and how onerous it will be to the continued and sustained economic development of this state.  Simply put level with Texans this evening,” Klingler concluded.

With their nominations hanging in the balance, Senators Clinton and Obama will face off in a nationally televised debate this evening on CNN from the University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas.