As the Democratic candidates arrive in South Carolina for tonight's debate they'll only have about six minutes of speaking time to make their case to the audience, not enough time to score many points but enough to overhaul their public image, writes The Politico's Ben Smith. Barack Obama's goal should be to show there's "substance under the sizzle," according to Democratic strategist Bob Shrum. While Obama is the "most famous orator of the group," his 2004 debates were "by most accounts, unremarkable." In the same year John Edwards stayed out of the Democratic crossfire, and Sen. Hillary Clinton has prepared more for debates than her rivals against Republicans, and in the last one she came across as "well-prepared and at ease, if not dominant."

The Hill's Sam Youngman writes that last week's Supreme Court partial-birth abortion ruling as well as gun control could be part of the opening questions volley and Democrats may face the "precarious balancing act" between state and national voters. Clinton will almost surely be asked about her thoughts on the likelihood of Democrats succeeding to get President Bush to accept a timeline for Iraq withdrawal. The New York Sun's Russell Berman reports that Clinton said, "I think that it will be extremely challenging, if at all possible. We're going to keep trying, but at some point we don't want Democrats being blamed for our troops not being well-equipped, not having the resources they need..."

Yesterday's presidential kickoff from John McCain began with a "thinly veiled critique of the Bush administration," in which he pledged to "restore competence to foreign and domestic policy and welcome compromise with Democrats," writes the New York Times' Adam Nagourney and Michael Cooper. McCain later said Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should resign "out of loyalty" to Bush.

Bush isn't the only Republican getting criticized by McCain: Rudy Giuliani is taking heat on Iraq from McCain backers who claim he's dodging the issue, reports the New York Observer's Jason Horowitz.

Giuliani is also getting hit on abortion by Mitt Romney, who in an interview with The Politico said "there's a lot more to being pro-life beyond appointing conservative justices," including sex education, the morning-after pill, all as a part of encouraging a "culture of life rather than the culture of death." This week Romney started to air $2 million worth of ads, most of the national ones on Fox News and others in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Finally, DNC Chair Howard Dean criticized press coverage of presidential campaigns and suggested that candidates be invited to meetings and the press be barred from them. In regards to the primary races, Dean is warning that states will be punished for moving their primaries ahead of Feb. 5 and candidates who step foot in those states. Early states wouldn't collect delegates and scofflaw candidates would have their delegates reapportioned to all other delegates in the given states.

Get these and today's other elections stories at RCP's Politics and Elections page.

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