Hillary Clinton welcomed her entire campaign staff to a party at her home in Georgetown today, hosting about 500 people in the back yard by the swimming pool. All morning, workers brought tables, food, and bags of ice through the side gate, assisted by Secret Service agents. Valets helped park cars to keep them off the quiet one-way street.

Guests began arriving at 2pm. Dressed in khakis and a white blouse, Hillary Clinton greeted them in the back, mingling and saying her thank you’s along with her husband. Chelsea was there for the kick-off, but left with two staff members to thank Clinton supporters in Texas at the state’s Democratic convention tonight.

National campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe stopped by to say hi to reporters staked out outside the house, saying Hillary’s feeling great since she got off the trail. As for what’s next? “She will do anything she can to help Barack Obama,” he said. “If he wants her to travel every day, she’ll do that.”

McAuliffe wouldn’t discuss the meeting between Clinton and Barack Obama last night, but did say tomorrow’s address at the National Building Museum would be “a great speech, it will be pumped up” — and while focusing on Party unity, she would be zeroing in on issues like health care and education.

“This was never about Hillary Clinton,” he said. “This was about the issues that matter to her.”

CARY, NC – Hillary Clinton said she plans to fight on no matter what happens on Tuesday – but wouldn’t say whether she’d take that fight all the way to the convention in August.

“I plan on going all the way through the next contests, West Virginia and Kentucky and the others,” she told the moderators at a forum for family advice website momlogic.com. “I would not be doing this if I did not believe I’d be the best president.”

While she often touts her ability to do the job on day one in the Oval Office, Clinton made it clear why that immediate readiness is so important. “There’s a narrow window of opportunity for a president before the politics descends upon you again,” she said. “You have to go in there knowing exactly what you intend to do, getting as much done as possible. And having been there gives me a tremendous advantage.”

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WIth the Pennsylvania primary just days away, Hillary Clinton took her traveling road show to Haverford College — and added her daughter and mother to the entourage for a conversation with working families that was mainly aimed at the female voters who made up 80% of the crowd

“This is a really nice treat because I spend a lot of time traveling and talking about my mom, but not as much time getting to see her and sit next to her as I might wish,” said Chelsea, as her mother and grandmother sat to her left. She said she knew her mom would be the best president when she thinks about having kids in the future, and worries about “the intimidating prospect of balancing my own work with my family.”

Taking the microphone, Senator Clinton gave a special shout out to her mom. “I could not be here without my mother, Dorothy Rodham. And it’s so much fun because she lives with us and always has so many great ideas about what we should be doing.” That last line drew a bemused look from Mrs Rodham.

Clinton called it “absolutely a privilege and so personally satisfying to be here with my daughter and my mother,” saying “we didn’t want to have a gigantic rally, we really wanted to have a conversation.” And converse she did, mostly about kitchen table issues important to women and families such as the Family Medical Leave Act and universal health care.

She even told her supporters to soften her image with undecided voters. Instructing one student who asked what he should tell voters when canvassing for Hillary, the NY Senator joked “just knock on the door and say, you know she’s REALLY nice,” adding “at least says she’s not as bad as you think.”

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Canonsburg, PA—

At President Bill Clinton’s second campaign stop today he described his wife as the “best-qualified” candidate and “the strongest leader.” He asked for the crowd’s support and said–as he did in Texas and Ohio–if they vote for her she will go on to win later primaries and the nomination will be hers:

“If she wins a big, big victory in Pennsylvania, I think it’ll give her a real big boost going into the next primaries. We’re gonna have primaries in Indiana, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota and Puerto Rico,” Clinton said, “But I think just as I felt she had to win in Texas and Ohio — and she did, and won handily– I think she’s got to win a big victory in Pennsylvania. I think if she does, she can be nominated, but it’s up to you, and I want to ask you to all vote for her and support her and ask your friends to.”

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After months of not taking questions from voters, Clinton opened the floor for the second time this week to a crowd at a packed senior center. One man praised Senator Clinton saying that she would be “qualified to be president on day one,” but added that the former president was one of the “smartest presidents we ever had” and that he hopes the former president will be home the night his wife receives a call at 3 o’clock in the morning, referring to Senator Clinton’s much-talked about and criticized ad. Clinton thanked the man and said he will do whatever it takes to help:

“Look if she gets elected I’ll do whatever I’m asked to do. You know I’ve got this foundation that works around the world. I think it does America a lot of good,” Clinton continued, “But I will do whatever I’m asked to do if you elect her president. I’ll do whatever she wants me to do.”

With six weeks until the primary Pennsylvanians and the media are wondering if both Clinton and Senator Obama are going to spend every second here and saturate the Keystone State. Today, the former president said absolutely:

“I’m going to Erie tonight, and I’m going to wind up in the Philadelphia area tomorrow. And Hillary was over there today; she started in Scranton where her father’s family was from, so she was doing a family tour yesterday. But Hillary, Chelsea and I expect to cover Pennsylvania like a wet blanket between now and April 22nd asking for support from people.”

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Houston, TX—

President Bill Clinton spent his Sunday morning in prayer–doing a tour of Houston area churches. The first was one of the largest in the country, Lakewood Church run by famed pastor, Joel Osteen. Osteen told the congregants that Clinton was the first president to ever visit the mega-church. Both Clinton and daughter Chelsea clapped, swayed and bobbed their heads to the music of the 130-member choir. The enormous church has a membership of 16,000, but there were only about 8,500 in attendance for the early morning service. The massive choir sang in front of a huge rotating silver globe and a waterfall. The congregants sang passionately at times waving both hands and bibles in the air.

Osteen mentioned that they were “proud” of Clinton and they had “prayed for him” in both this building and their previous residence.
When Osteen led the group in prayer the 42nd president and his daughter bowed their heads and nodded during several moments when Osteen read scripture.

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He also stopped by the Christian Hope Baptist Church, a tiny African-American congregation in a struggling neighborhood. The church could probably fit half of the choir of Osteen’s church, but these congregants didn’t need a waterfall. They sang with just as much feeling and passion—one woman fainted and that’s before Clinton even arrived.

The minister introduced Clinton as the “first Black President” and Clinton who sat right behind the podium put his head in his hands laughing–the congregation went wild. While listening to the choir he swayed and clenched his fist at one point.

The former President spoke to the crowd and was clearly tired speaking in a hushed tone as the congregation cheered him on. He addressed the “first Black president” introduction–recounting the joke that Senator Obama made previously saying that he would have to see him dance. He added– to chuckles from the crowd–that was ok, but that he wanted an “age allowance.”

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 **UPDATE**

Melanie Griffith, Chelsea Clinton, and staffers turned out to be on my flight from Cleveland to Houston. They all sat a few rows ahead of me. . .in  coach! I spoke to Chelsea briefly–she notoriously does not speak to the press–but, she was very gracious saying that she would see her father tomorrow while she is in town campaigning for her mom.

Sorry for the snarkiness Melanie!

Cleveland, OH–

Traveling from Cleveland to Houston for President Clinton’s campaign events tomorrow, I stumbled upon a very strange scene in the airport. As I was walking to the gate an elderly woman was waiting for an electric cart to take her to her gate. The beeping vehicle similar to a golf cart didn’t stop when she tried to get on. The driver said, “There is another one coming.”

Surprised at why this woman would have to wait, I glanced at the cart and there was Clinton endorser and actress Melanie Griffith, along with a staffer, gliding through the terminal . . . no time to stop for the elderly.

I guess once you endorse, you don’t walk . . .

Hillary Clinton may be a former first lady, a US Senator, and a front-runner in the race to be the next President, but she reminded reporters tosay that she’s first and foremost a mother.

Asked about MSNBC reporter David Shuster’s on-air line that Chelsea Clintonls phone calls to recruit superdelegates were tantamount to being “pimped out” by the campaign, Clinton said “I am a mother first and a candidate second, and I found the remarks incredibly offensive.”

“I can take whatever comes my way, that’s part of what I signed up for as a candidate, as an office holder,” she said. “But I think that there’s been a troubling pattern of comments and behavior that has to be held accountable.”

“So I have sent a letter to the head of NBC expressing the deep offense that I took and pointing out what has been a troubling pattern of demeaning treatment and I would expect appropriate action to be taken.”

Shuster has already been suspended for his remarks, and Clinton did not elaborate on what she thought would constitute appropriate action.

As for whether she’ll go to the scheduled MSNBC debate on Feb 26th? “We’ve accepted a lot of debates from a lot of different sponsors. So we’re going to wait and see how this plays out.”

UPDATE: read that letter below:

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Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson says he “can’t envision a scenario where we would continue to engage in a debate” on MSNBC — after correspondent David Shuster said former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton has been “pimped out” by the campaign.

Shuster was referring to reports that Chelsea has been calling uncommitted superdelegates to recruit them to support her mom; those unpledged delegates have become all-important in the Democratic race, since the two candidates have been splitting delegates pledged by state primaries and caucuses virtually down the middle.

Told on a conference call that Shuster had apologized, Wolfson said “I haven’t received any phone call. I’m not aware that the Senator Clinton or Chelsea Clinton have received any phone call. I’m not familiar with any apology. It’s the kind of thing that should never be said on a national news network.”

Referring to another apology last month from Hardball host Chris Matthews, who had said Hillary had a chance at winning the White House only because of her husband’s adultery, Wolfson said “at some point you really have to question whether or not there is a pattern here with this particular network, where you have comments being made and then apologies being given. Is it part of a pattern? Is it something that folks are encouraged to do or not do? I don’t know.”

“I’ll say this: there are a number of debates on that network, we had agreed yesterday to debate on that network, and I at this point can’t envision a scenario where we would continue to engage in a debate on that network given that comment.”

UPDATE: Shuster has been temporarily suspended. See NBC statement after the jump.

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Keeping a candidate on message is hard enough for a campaign — but even a perfect day can be ruined by factors beyond their control.

Take Hillary Clinton for example. She stayed frighteningly on message on Sunday and made zero news at any of her campaign stops, but still had a bad news day because two top surrogates — her daughter Chelsea and OH Gov Ted Strickland — went rogue.

Chelsea snubbed a 9 year old girl on the ropeline, while Strickland, who campaigned with Hillary in Iowa on Saturday, dissed the Hawkeye State’s first in the nation status, telling the Columbus Dispatch it “makes no sense.”

Clinton spokesman Jay Carson says the Senator has enjoyed the caucus process and the opportunity it provides to meet voters one-on-one. “She’s happy to have Gov Strickland’s endorsement, but she strenuously disagrees” with his remarks, he said.

Check out some video of Strickland talking up Iowa with Sen Clinton on the stump on Saturday.

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