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Hillary Clinton is in Philadelphia today raising the profile of one of the most immediate national concerns -- the continuing freefall of the housing market and its impact on individual home owners, their families and the communities they live in. She would like to see the Fed government invest the same amount of money ($30 billion) it did when saving dead-as-skunk-in-the-middle-of-the-road investment bank Bear Sterns last week. The campaign sent this out this morning: "Hillary delivers a major policy address in Philadelphia, PA announcing bold action to halt the housing crisis. Her 4-part plan helps millions of families facing foreclosure by expanding the government’s role in guaranteeing restructured mortgages, and promotes policies to stop the broader housing crisis and credit crisis."

The Obama camp played skunk when commenting on the speech. "“Hillary Clinton’s ties to the financial industry – most clearly apparent through money she has raised from their PACs and lobbyists – demonstrate just how entrenched she is in the old Washington ways of doing business. We simply cannot achieve the sort of changes in our economic outlook the American people need right now, if we don’t change the way we do business in Washington," campaign spokesman Bill Burton. I'm not really sure what all that meant except perhaps that she's too corrupt to be believable. Certainly not nice.

(UPDATE: The Obama campaign sent out this more refined release saying that Obama had already proposed what Clinton did today -- a year ago. Here's their take: "Almost one year ago to the day, Barack Obama sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson urging them to convene a homeownership preservation summit. Today, Clinton is proposing essentially the same thing.
One key difference, however, is the diversity and representation that Obama called for – not just some of the same people who helped to create these problems or have a direct financial industry stake in the outcome: “I urge you immediately to convene a homeownership preservation summit with leading mortgage lenders, investors, loan servicing organizations, consumer advocates, federal regulators and housing-related agencies to assess options for private sector responses to the challenge.”)

Daily link: Settle down children
I know that tensions are high between the Barack Obama and Hillary Clitnon camps but come on folks, the latest dust up about how Bill Clinton may or may not have questioned Obama's "patriotism" is inane. Like Greg Sargent at Talking Points Memo (read here for more), I have no idea exactly what Bill was talking about last week and perhaps he was too cute by half, but the eruption by the Obama camp was overdone by a mile. Clinton has already sacrificed most of his stature for Hillary's cause and I think in his own Washington-centric way he was expressing the ideal match up between veterans (Clinton and McCain who have, according to Bill, earned this right for a general election battle because...well, they love their country). It would be typcial of the Clintons to pull this stunt of creating controversy by omission and sly hints of patriotic class warfare but this 'McCarthyism" rebuttal is an historical distortion and reduces everything to a turf battle over who's insulted more.

NH Local: New Stephen campaign web site
New Hampshire 1st Congressional District Republican contender John Stephen has launched a new campaign web site at www.JOHNSTEPHEN.com.

“Today, the Internet has become such a critical tool for informing voters about candidates and issues, and I am committed to being part of the technological revolution,” said Stephen in a press release. “People want to be able to access quick and accurate information about who is running and what they stand for. This new website reflects the goal of giving people simple and easy access to details about my campaign, why I’m running and how I will bring New Hampshire values to Washington.”

The web site will include a "Notes from the Trail” section which offers visitors the chance to experience campaign life. The site also offers traditional features such as press releases, op-eds, a downloadable media kit, online contributions and a biography of Stephen.