Obama Makes Obligatory "Daily Show" Stop as Dem rivals campaign in Nevada

August 21, 2007— -- Does the Road to the White House go through Hell's Kitchen?

It certainly seems that way as presidential candidates from both parties travel to the "Daily Show" studios in Manhattan to kiss the rings of host Jon Stewart and try to score political points with the young, hip audience.

Wednesday night it's Barack Obama's turn to try and match wits with Stewart – his first Daily Show appearance as a presidential candidate.

It's a tough gig – act too hip and come with too many jokes and a candidate risks looking fake. Playing it straight? Not even an option. The trick is finding that middle ground where a candidate can show they are a regular person who can take a good ribbing from Stewart and show flashes of wit and humor.

A successful "Daily Show" appearance can result in clips replayed on a loop on the cable networks. The only way a candidate can get wider exposure on TV is to get a role in Disney's High School Musical 3.

Today it was the Illinois Senator's wife who was in the headlines. Last week, Michelle Obama said at a campaign event, "If you can't run your own house, you can't run the White House."

Hmmm – a zinger in the direction of the Hillary Clinton and her house? That's what Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jennifer Hunter, thought – and Drudge quickly seized on that as his lead headline today.

Not so fast, says Team Obama. ABC News' Rick Klein reports that the Obama campaign and the candidate himself are saying "Don't read more into Michelle Obama's 'importance of family' comments last week – she was not talking about the Clintons."

"Anybody who's been listening to Michele on the stump," Senator Obama explained on a conference call with reporters, "She's talked about the importance of family, and the need for our family to be sure that we're thinking about our kids during the process of this campaign.

On the campaign trail with the Democrats…Hillary Clinton spends another day in Chappaqua, New York with no public campaign events.