At a rally in Dublin, Ohio, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown took the microphone prior to Senators Obama and Biden. During his brief introductory remarks, Ohio’s junior senator mentioned new-to-the-national-scene GOP candidate, Sarah Palin.

The crowd predictably booed. “Think about this,” Brown said. “Barack Obama, John McCain have each had one major task of their judgment. John McCain chose someone who was a mayor of a town of 7,000 people, then was elected governor, has been governor of a state for 18 months — governor of a state that’s half the population of Franklin County,” he said incredulously. “And yet she’s gonna be a heartbeat away from the president?”

Someone on the crowd of 18,000 yelled out, “No way!” Brown replied, “No way is right! Now on the other hand, in his first exercise of good judgment, Barack Obama chose Joe Biden.” **

Meanwhile, Obama has not mentioned Palin by name - or referenced McCain’s veep pick at all - at any campaign event, only answering questions about Palin from reporters. Today he alluded to the GOPer for the first time at the Dublin rally.  “After 19 months of traversing this country, traveling to every state except Alaska, which now that I think about it…” Obama began his stump speech. As the crowd laughed, he added, “I’m gonna have to go up there now.”

Obama later told reporters that Palin “seems to have a wonderful engaging personality” and that her election to the governorship “shows she’s got real political skills.” That said, Obama accused her of subscribing to the same policies as John McCain. “I don’t get a sense that the addition of this vice presidential choice is gonna change the fact that he wants to take the country in the wrong direction,” he said, treading the fine line between complimenting and attacking the GOP’s history-making candidate.

While Republicans counter Palin has more executive experience than either Obama or Biden, the Democratic nominee encouraged reporters to compare Biden’s experience with Palin’s. “I feel confident about my choice,” he said.

The debate, no doubt, will continue.

**In case you were curious, according to the 2006 census, 670,053 people live in Alaska, while 853,476 reside in Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware.

Obama visited the Cowboy State for the first time as a presidential candidate to return fire directed at his campaign. And to give residents of Casper, Wyoming, a show - something the normally politically quiet state hasn’t seen the likes of in some time.

Responding to criticism from his Democratic rival about comments his now-former foreign policy advisor made to the BBC, Barack Obama said, “Now, I just have to mention this because I don’t want anybody here to be confused.” Clinton had quoted Samantha Power at an event earlier today, who had told the BBC that while Obama has given a timeframe for withdrawal in Iraq, it would depend on the situation at the time.

To clear up the confusion, Obama defiantly said, “If it has been up to me we would have never been in this war. It was because of George Bush with an assist from Hillary Clinton and John McCain that we entered into this war. A war that should have never been authorized, a war that should have never been waged. I’ve been against it - 2002, 2003, 2004, 5, 6, 7, 8. And I will bring this war to an end in 2009. So don’t be confused.” He continued, “Don’t be confused when Senator Clinton is not even willing to acknowledge that she voted for war. She says she voted for diplomacy despite the title that said authorization to use US armed forces in Iraq. So I don’t want to play politics on this issue because she doesn’t have standing to question my position on this issue.”

Obama also brought up that pesky “red phone” ad that may have cost him votes in Texas - part of what he calls the “politics of fear.” “I mean, what do people think I’m going to do? I’m going to answer the phone,” he said as the crowd laughed. “And I will find out what’s going on, and I won’t be, and I won’t be browbeaten into launching a war that wasn’t necessary, I will get all the information about what crisis is taking place, and I will exercise the same judgment that I have shown over the last several issues ranging from, ranging from Iraq to Pakistan to all the other issues that are going to be so critical for the next president to deal with.”

If Casper wasn’t awake by the end of his animated town hall, he definitely got their attention (and that of his traveling press corps) when he brought up the experience issue - something that has plagued his candidacy from the beginning. “Senator Clinton and Senator McCain, they say, ‘We’ve got all these years of experience and this and that and the other.’ Look who’s run the best campaign. Look who’s managed this campaign from scratch. You know, that’s worth taking a look at. Look at what we’ve built from scratch to compete against people who have been building this thing for 20, 30 years, and we’ve done just fine.”

Obama heads to Laramie to hold a rally on the campus of the University of Wyoming before returning to Chicago later tonight.

At a town hall meeting in Beaumont, Texas, Barack Obama fielded a tough question from a man standing in the front row of the 1,500 strong crowd, which had been cheering loudly at every  applause line. “You’re the junior senator from Illinois and you have not finished your first term,” the man began. “And you’ve got this audience all in the palm of your hands, but you have 200 million people that you have to convince by November, that you have the experience to take over all these issues. How do you tell them that you have the experience?”

The crowd began heckling the man, who turned out to be the news director for KBMT-TV, the local ABC affiliate in town. Obama tried to answer the man, but the pro-Obama/anti-questioner crowd continued to jeer. “No, no, no - listen. Wait, wait, wait. Wait, wait everybody that was a legitimate question. That was a legitimate question,” Obama said to try to quiet the audience.

“I mean the one point I would just make right off the top, right off the bat is this question has been asked for the last 13 months, so it’s not like you’re the first one who’s thought of this question,” Obama said confidently. “There has not been a debate, there has not been a forum with the other candidates where this question hasn’t been answered. We’ve now had primaries and caucuses in 35 states and there are a whole bunch of people who appear satisfied by my response. Let me give it once again,” he said sharply.

Standing a few feet away from the man and looking down at him from the stage, Obama ran through his CV, talking about his experience as a community organizer, a civil rights attorney, a constitutional law professor (”at one of the top law schools in the country”), a state senator, and a U.S. senator. The crowd approved of his credentials and cheered. “I’m not done, I’m not done. Sit down everybody, settle down. I’m not done,” he said

“The point is - I’ve got 20 years of experience. I haven’t been in Washington as long as some of the other candidates, so if your criteria for who the best equipped is to be president is how long you’ve been there, then we shouldn’t have even had a primary and a caucus - we could have just looked at Joe Biden, who’d been there the longest and settled it that way. But I think what the American people are looking for is not just longevity, but they’re looking for judgment and they’re looking for  who can bring the people together,” Obama finished.

The audience member/news director took a step towards the stage, apparently satisfied with Obama’s response. “Uh oh!” Obama let out as a Secret Service agent raised his hands to stop the man. Obama received the man’s extended hand.  “I appreciate it. I think I convinced him. All right, there you go, I got his vote.”

It’s unclear if the newsman was there for work purposes or for pleasure, but a reporter and camera crew from his station were on hand to cover the event.

The Obama campaign has invited several celebrities speak at events across the country, including Oprah Winfrey, John Legend, Usher, and Chris Rock. But today actor Robert DeNiro surprised supporters and members of the press alike by appearing on stage to help introduce Senator Barack Obama at a rally in Newark, NJ.

The campaign didn’t event hint there would be an A-list Hollywood actor alongside Senators Kennedy and Obama at the home of the New Jersey Nets. The reason per traveling press secretary, Jen Psaki - celebrity appearances aren’t always certain and should the actor have had a change of plans, bad press might have followed.

The normally politically inactive actor made the trek across the Hudson River from his home in New York City to explain why he was speaking out on behalf of Obama. “I’m here because finally one person has inspired me, one person has given me hope, one person has made me believe that we can make a change - that person is Barack Obama.”

DeNiro began his remarks by mocking Hillary Clinton’s argument that Obama doesn’t have enough experience to be president. “Barack Obama does not have the experience to be President of the United States and I can prove that. Remember, he wasn’t experienced enough to vote to authorize the invasion of Iraq,” he said sarcastically. “Instead, even then he voted against the war he said would lead to a war of undetermined length and undetermined costs and undetermined consequences. He just didn’t get it!” DeNiro said as the crowd laughed in response.

“You know, that’s the kind of inexperience I can get used to. That’s the kind of inexperience our country deserves. But if this election were just to be decided on the quantity of experience, Dick Cheney would be our next president. I prefer the quality of Barack Obama’s experience,” DeNiro said to applause.

DeNiro watched Obama’s speech behind security barricades and did not talk to the press corps about his decision. Watch it here:

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At a town hall forum in Washington, Iowa, tonight, Senator Barack Obama defended his foreign policy credentials to voters. “Even by the standards of Washington, I have dealt more with foreign policy than let’s say Bill Clinton had when he became president, or Ronald Reagan, who was a governor at the time,” Obama said.

He continued, “I’m not relying on the conventional wisdom - I’m relying on judgments based on a lifetime of experience and my service on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and that’s why I’m confident of my ability to provide leadership on the foreign policy front.” As evidence of his qualifications, Obama offered his consistent views on the Iraq war, his opposition to the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment dealing with Iran, and his disapproval to the practices Pakistan leader, Pervez Musharraf. In the past, Obama has touted his years living abroad as a child as part of his foreign policy resume.

Tonight Senator Obama went one step further. “You could argue that there are more foreign policy experts from the Clinton administration supporting me than Senator Clinton,” he said.

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And that is when the Clinton Camp responded.

Spokesman Jay Carson quickly issued a list of 83 names of former Bill Clinton advisors who are backing Hillary Clinton  (according to the Associated Press, the Obama campaign provided 47 names) , and poked fun at Obama’s word choice, saying, “I could argue that the Red Sox have won more World Series than the Yankees, but that doesn’t make it true.” His “false claims,” Carson said, raise “more questions about his own lack of experience,” a recurring theme of the Clinton campaign.

The war of words continued when Team Obama noted that the list provided by the Clinton campaign is “full of ambassadors that were fundraisers, not policy experts.” They pointed to a New York Times article, which stated, “Hillary Clinton’s inner circle consists of the senior-most figures from her husband’s second term in office….but drill down into one of Washington’s foreign-policy hives, whether the Carnegie Institution or Georgetown University, and you’re bound to hit Obama supporters.” These supporters, journalist James Traub wrote, are Clinton-types who have “decamped to Obama.”

This fight will likely continue to brew on the campaign trail before the Christmas holiday.