From Mark Halperin:

Who asked who? Bloomberg’s staff reached out at some point to Obama’s campaign and basically offered Obama a standing invitation to talk when he was in town, to sit and have coffee.

What did they say? The two men talked this morning about the economy, education, homeland security, and global warming…

More: Obama paid for the breakfast (he ate eggs over easy and wheat toast while the Mayor had scrambled eggs and white toast).

Update - 7:15 PM Eisenberg called CNN during crisis

Standoff is over. Job well done to the negotiators. Clinton on her way to NH to “thank” everyone for their work.

From Associated Press:

Shortly after releasing the last of at least four hostages, Leeland Eisenberg walked out of the storefront office, put down a homemade bomb-like package and was immediately surrounded by SWAT team with guns drawn.

The suspect — clad in gray slacks, white dress shirt and a red tie — was put on the ground, handcuffed and taken two blocks to the police office in the back of a tactical response vehicle.

Update: 5:07PM - MSNBC’s Mike Memoli reporting Mitt Romney is locking down New Hampshire offices.

Memoli says the goal of NH campaign offices is to create an open environment where voters are welcome to just stop in and get a personal connection with candidates.

Update: 5:02 - Suspect is being identified as Leeland Eisenberg. Reports are that he told son to watch news today because something would happen. Believed to be carrying flares and presenting them as a bomb. Known to have been drinking before going into Clinton campaign office. Still a hostage situation, unknown how many people remain in building.

Clinton’s have cancelled all campaign events.

Update: 4:07PM Hostage-taker identified as a local with a well known history of mental illness

The suspect was a well-known local man with a history of emotional issues who allegedly told his son to watch the news, a well-placed law enforcement source told ABC News’ Pierre Thomas.

Update: 3:09 - Official statement:

“We are in close contact with state and local authorities and are acting at their direction,” Clinton said in a statement. “We will release additional details as appropriate.”

Update: 2:33PM - FOX reporting hostage taker demands to speak to Hillary & CNN reporting Edwards headquarters in addition to Obama headquarters have been evacuated.

Update: 2:28PM - Clinton has cancelled her DNC speech.

Update: 2:26PM - FOX News hearing reports that Obama campaign offices are being evacuated.

From MSNBC:

ROCHESTER, N.H. - A man took an unknown number of people hostage at a New Hampshire campaign office for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton, police said Friday.

The man claimed to have a bomb strapped to him when he walked into the office in Rochester, WHDH-TV reported.

Police said they believe two hostages were being held and that the man had released an adult and a child.

Stay tuned to this thread for more information.

The report is in suggestive red writing at Drudge and the AP is reporting:

Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser declined to say why the two were meeting. An Obama spokesman did not immediately return calls.

Will this develop into something other than endless media speculation? Only time will tell.

A report from USA Today finds that thanks to election law deceased people can still donate to political campaigns.

The Democratic committee received the most campaign money from deceased donors, nearly $225,000, according to USA TODAY’s tally of federal campaign-finance data compiled by CQ MoneyLine, a non-partisan group. The Republican National Committee was the second-largest recipient, with about $93,000.

The donors ranged from Schooler, who has contributed nearly $82,000 since his death, to Richard Lee of Nome, Alaska, whose estate gave $3,207 to the Republican National Committee in 2003. Attempts to reach Lee’s survivors were unsuccessful.

Apparently donations are allowed from the deceased as long as they do not break limits and the intentions of the deceased were known.

The whole affair brings to mind a certain episode of the Simpsons entitled Sideshow Bob Roberts in which Bart exclaims “oh my god the dead have risen and they’re voting Republican!” Unfortunately for the sake of comedy the dead are currently leaning Democrat. Sorry Bart.

Karen Tumulty profiles Senator Barack Obama in a cover piece entitled Obama Finds His Moment. There is also a Q&A with Rick Stengel.

“I don’t feel as if any of the differences that have been raised on my end have been gratuitous, and frankly, I don’t feel that any of the differences that Senator Clinton has been pointing out have been gratuitous. It’s perfectly legitimate for her to suggest that I don’t have enough experience to be President.”

It seems a Hillary Clinton support wasn’t the only one who got through the CNN screening process for last nights debate. Free Republic, Michelle Malkin and the Republican leaning side of the blogosphere are going to town digging up information.

What did they find?
Read the rest of this entry »

Note: More Democratic supporting questions have been found..

Update: The Clinton campaign denies any involvement in the question which was confirmed by Kerr on CNN. Also National Review notes that Kerr’s questioning was taken out of the CNN/YouTube rebroadcast.

According to the post-debate wrapup on CNN as well as Town Hall one of the questions in tonights CNN/YouTube debate was asked by retired colonel Keith Kerr who is a member of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transexual Americans For Hillary Steering Committee, or in short someone associated with her campaign.

Bill Bennet who broke the news to Anderson Cooper on the post-debate wrap-up used the word “plant” in describing his question, which seems to be how Drudge & Town Hall are describing it.

Cooper apologized for the mix-up and said this associated should have been disclosed. More to the point, CNN should probably have done a better job in vetting these questions. Granted it might be difficult to know the life story of a snowman but a retired colonel is someone who would have some kind of public record not to mention a simple question like “are you associated with any of the candidates either directly or indirectly” would have been a nice question to ask those who submitted.

They did bring Kerr to the debate floor and let him talk in addition to his video submission. In all that time preparing, it seems like that little fact should have come up.

I am watching the Republican debates and if/when I see something I will send my thoughts to My Twitter feed.

For more live debate thoughts check out:

Huffington Post | techPresident | Red State | Politico

Today The Politico dropped what could be a bombshell about Rudy Giuliani’s practices as mayor. Records have been released showing that Giuliani was charging tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses to “obscure” agencies for trips to the Hamptons around the same time he was having an extra-marital affair with his now wife Judith Nathan who had an apartment in Southhampton.

Politico claims the documents show that the expenses had nothing to do with the agencies they were charged to.

So far news outlets are waiting for an official response about the charges from the campaign.

The December 10th Democratic debate, that is scheduled to be hosted by ailing anchor Katie Couric, looks doomed now that CBS News writers have announced the date as the start of their planned strike. The major Democratic candidates had already announced they would skip the debate if a compromise was not made, refusing to walk across the picket line for this final officially sanctioned display.

It is seen as a major blow for CBS whos Katie Couric anchored nightly newscast is being slaughtered in the ratings. The hope was that a Couric-moderated debate would help bring viewers back to the network.

Update: The politico has the official word from the DNC.

“Due to the uncertainty created by the ongoing labor dispute between CBS and the Writers Guild of America, the DNC has canceled the Dec. 10 debate in Los Angeles. There are no plans to reschedule,” a statement from DNC Communications Director Karen Finney says.