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The Hardball Briefing On MSNBC
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Welcome back, Hardballers. Guest host Mike Barnicle is at the controls tonight
and we've got a hot show on tap.
First, the big story tonight...
Experience and electability: Which Democratic candidate has the right
combination to win the nomination? At the latest debate on Sunday, Sen. Barack
Obama's lack of experience was targeted by the rest of the Democratic field.
Can Obama put the issue to rest, or will the experience question eventually put
his campaign to bed?
Meanwhile, Sen. Hillary Clinton is also caught in the crosshairs, defending
herself against critics who say she's too much of a lightning rod to win the
general election. Clinton says she must be doing something right if she's
ruffling so many feathers...will her answer fly with voters?
Hardball's David Shuster has the latest on Sunday's Iowa debate, and the
washingtonpost.com's Chris Cillizza and Newsweek's Holly Bailey will be here
with their take on the Democratic showdown. Check out Cillizza's "The Fix" for
more on Sunday's winners and losers
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/08/iowa_democratic_debate_winners.html?nav=rss_blog.
Then, don't mess with Texas - and Mr. President, that goes for you, too. In
2004, Jeffery and Nicole Rank showed up at a presidential Fourth of July rally
sporting anti-Bush t-shirts. They were told take take the shirts off, but
refused and ended up arrested for trespassing. After that, the Texas couple
enlisted the help of the ALCU to sue the White House...and won $80,000 in a
settlement, enough to buy a few more t-shirts. The Ranks will be here tonight.
And speaking truth to power, or stepping out of line? Sunday's New York Times
featured an op-ed from five active duty U.S. soldiers stationed in Baghdad, who
wrote, "The claim that we are increasingly in control of the battlefields in
Iraq is an assessment arrived at through a flawed, American-centered
framework." We'll talk about it in tonight's Hardball Debate with Jon Soltz,
co-founder and chairman of VoteVets.org, and Pete Hegseth, an Iraq war veteran
and executive director of Vets for Freedom.
We've also got the top five stories everyone in Washington is talking about in
our daily political roundup. Plus, tonight's Hardball Panel, with NBC
Political Director Chuck Todd, Chrystia Freeland from the Financial Times, and
the Washington Post's Peter Baker will be on hand to dig in to all today's hot
topics.
Tomorrow on Hardball - Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd.
For the latest on all of today's political news, go to the best political
website www.politics.msnbc.com powered by NBC News and the National Journal.
Don't forget to check out NBC's "First Read" http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/
and MSNBC.com's political calendar http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14708421/.
Shelby Poduch compiled the "Hardball Briefing" from Washington, D.C.
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