David Letterman shaved his beard on the air tonight. After guest Tom Hanks, Mike Huckabee came on.

He's very affable. He told a very funny story about when he was a radio host. Some quotes:

"As President, you're not making speeches, you're making decisions."

"If I win New Hamsphire, it's because I did this show. If I lose New Hampshire, it's because I did this show."

He did his "vertical leadership" schtick and said everyone gets it. (Note, I didn't.)

That's it...Wow, he flew to NY for that?

Postscript: I'm not a Republican, but if I were, which would mean I share their crazy views, I'd vote for Romney or Huckabee. The rest are pure duds.

Ok, here is the new worst alleged news article of the campaign:

McCain And Obama Share Little But Appeal To Youth

In the Republican ranks, Mr. McCain, 71, is a curious bookend to Mr. Obama. He is the oldest candidate in either party. Yet he draws hundreds of young people at some events. Mr. McCain drew many hundreds when he spoke at Dartmouth, a number exceeded only by the 2,000 students who showed up for Mr. Obama.

Are you freaking kidding me? Obama just rewrote the book on the youth vote in Iowa where McCain got stomped; Obama is leading by incredible margins among young voters and McCain is leading not at all.

This article is simply a lie to puff up the Media Darling John McCain. Yet again the New York Times proves that its political coverage is simply execrable. And that John MCain is a Media Darling. Obama has some strong competition on that front from McCain. But NOT in appealing to young voters.

If Markos of Daily Kos, a very astute observer without a dog in this fight is correct, it's a tsunami.

That means those of us voting in the 47 states other than Iowa, NH and SC won't have an impact in determining who our nominee will be.

What a silly system. I haven't even decided whether I'm going to vote for Hillary Clinton or John Edwards on February 5 -- 9 months before the election -- and it's already too late for my vote to matter.

What's even sillier is that the decision as to who gets the Democratic nomination is being made more by Independents than by registered Democrats, since these early states allow Independents to vote in the Democratic primary and they are turning out in droves.

Barack Obama in New Hampshire:

In Lebanon, N.H., Obama criticized rival Hillary Rodham Clinton for chastising him in a weekend debate for raising "false hopes" about what he can deliver for the country. Obama said President Kennedy didn't look at the moon and decide getting there would be a false hope, and Martin Luther King didn't decide segregation couldn't end.

"If anything crystalized what this campaign is about, it was that right there," Obama said of Clinton's comment in the debate. "Some are thinking in terms of our constraints, and some are thinking about our limitless possibilities."

Hillary responded today -- making the point that it was a Democratic president, Lyndon Johnson, who made Dr, King's dream, the Civil Rights Act, a reality. here's the video, it's at 3:45 minutes in.

Obama also invoked Dr. King in Manchester today.

“When people ask me, ‘Why are you running?’ it’s not because of any long-lived ambitions. I’m not running because I feel it is owed to me. I’m running because of what Dr. King called the ‘fierce urgency of now.’ ”

Who does the media accuse of playing the card? Hillary. Go figure.

Update: Josh Marshall has the full quote ...More

As the media continues tonight to claw Hillary Clinton -- it's just sickening to watch -- now there's this:

Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign stop was interrupted on Monday when two men stood in the crowd and began screaming, "Iron my shirt!" during one the New York senator's final appearances before New Hampshire voters cast primary ballots Tuesday.

Clinton, a former first lady running to become the nation's first female president, laughed at the seemingly sexist protest that suggested a woman's place is doing the laundry and not running the country.

"Ah, the remnants of sexism -- alive and well," Clinton said to applause in a school auditorium.

..."As I think has been abundantly demonstrated, I am also running to break through the highest and hardest glass ceiling," she said. Clinton later joked about the incident as she invited questions.

I just watched a newsclip on CNN of reporters interviewing Barack Obama's paternal grandmother in Kenya. She said he was a good listener. She spoke in the Kenyan language, through an interpreter. Obama's uncle in Kenya showed a picture of Obama's first visit to Kenya and his "ceremonial Kenyan home" after his father died in a car accident in 1982. [Update 1/8: Here's the video.]

The Chicago Tribune reported Obama's parents met and married while they were students at the University of Hawaii. He was born six months after their marriage. They separated when he was three years old. His father left Hawaii for Harvard and his mother remarried when he was five years old. He didn't see his father again until he was ten, and then for a brief visit.

In[his] memoir, Obama describes his experiences growing up in his mother's American middle class family. His knowledge about his African father, who returned once for a brief visit in 1971, came mainly through family stories and photographs.

So how well does Obama's "granny" know him, do they speak a language in common for her to know he's a good listener, and was it really worth CNN's time to conduct this visit and our's to watch it?

Update: A commenter below explains what CNN should have -- that Obama went and stayed with his grandmother to learn about his roots and his sister interpreted. That makes her comment about his being a good listener at least make sense. See below:

The results of yesterday's CNN-WMUR New Hampshire poll have been updated to include additional telephone polling conducted yesterday (Sunday). Yesterday's numbers included all day Saturday polling and Sunday polling only from noon to 3 pm. The final numbers reflect the addition of the additional Sunday calls. The revised poll results are here (pdf).

The significant findings for the Democratic candidates, when adding in the results from an additional 258 voters who plan to vote in the Democratic primary:

• Only 53% of likely Democratic primary voters have firmly decided on their preferred candidate. 26% are leaning towards a candidate and 21% are undecided.

• Among likely Democratic primary voters, the numbers are: Obama, 39%, Hillary 30%, Edwards, 16%.

• 60% of registered Independent voters will vote in the Democratic primary and 40% in the Republican.

Bottom line: 16 hours before most polling places open in New Hampshire, 47% of those likely to vote in the Democratic primary have not made up their mind.

British humorist and political commentator Martin Lewis, writing at Huffpo today points out that change takes years to effect and will be rebuffed by the Republicans at every turn.

Assuming Obama wins, and the change his supporters expected doesn't materialize fast enough in our "I want it now" world, as it won't, Martin asks whether the young voters and others who turned to him for his message of change will still be with us when it's time for the 2010 and 2014 Congressional elections, or the 2012 presidential race, when Obama would have to run for re-election.

Will the beauty of Obama's inspirational poetry sustain millions of fickle first-time voters through the many, many harsh years that will come with the realities of governing? Especially years when there will be bitter and venal fights for change?

Inspiring the young and disaffected to vote is a noble undertaking. And Barack Obama deserves our utmost respect and appreciation for what he is achieving. He (and we) also needs to be sure that he is not inciting expectations that he - and indeed any president - is powerless to fulfill among millions of people who (foolishly) expect instant results. And who are known to turn on a dime when they don't get them...

I got to know Martin at the Aspen Comedy festival several years ago when we ended up attending several events together and shared a few meals. We stayed in touch by e-mail for a few years. He's smart and perceptive and today I think he makes good points.

Are blogs influencing the New Hampshire voters? As an admittedly unscientific experiment, I just checked the last 100 visitors to a few sites.

None of TalkLeft's last 100 visitors logged on from New Hampshire. As to others: Daily Kos: 2; Firedoglake: 2; My DD: 0; Atrios: 1; Crooks and Liars: 0.

Where does Obama stand on criminal justice issues? Is he really a progressive? Will he stand up for the rights of the criminally accused ... or just those of the wrongfully charged or convicted?

He's been quick to point out his admirable work in Illinois getting legislation passed to require mandatory taping of police interrogations and enact some death penalty and racial profiling reforms. He has complained about the racial disparity in crack-powder cocaine sentences and once advocated abolishing mandatory minimums. (For Obama in 2004 on abolishing mandatory minimums, see this video clip at 1:00 minute in.)

More recently, he has retreated to promising a review of mandatory minimum sentences.

Since the mainstream media seems incapable of presenting anything but his words promising change, hope, optimism and a "working majority" (meaning compromise with Republicans) I took an afternoon to research his record going back to 1998.

The results, some progressive and laudatory, others decidedly not, as well as my prior posts on his crime record and statements as U.S. Senator and presidential candidate, are detailed below:

Oh? You did not hear about it? That's understandable. After Broder announced it with big fanfare last week, Barack Obama's victory in Iowa completely deflated the event.

Michael Bloomberg is NOT running for President now of course. High Broderism has no purpose other than the massaging of big egos. I imagine the folks gathered there will be singing the praises of Obama and McCain. They will declare victory and get out of the Unity 08 business.

This is a big reason to like Barack Obama I must admit.

Unlike a number of polls that have Obama opening a substantial lead, the Franklin Pierce poll has it still tight between Obama and Clinton with Edwards well back:

Obama 34 (28)
Clinton 31 (32)

Edwards 20 (20)
1/6 (1/2)