SNEAK PEEK: Speak Now

October 25, 2007— -- Just in time for her 60th, here comes the Starbucks set!

Keying off of a Gallup analysis conducted for National Journal, Ron Brownstein writes in Friday's magazine that Hillary Clinton has cut into Barack Obama's "core" by "dramatically gaining ground with better-educated Democratic women." LINK

"If she stays where she is among college women, it is going to be incredibly hard to catch her in New Hampshire," Andrew Smith, the director of the University of New Hampshire's survey center tells Brownstein.

And to add icing to the cake, the AP's Nedra Pickler has former Dean strategist Steve McMahon saying: "If this were a wedding, we'd be at the 'speak now or forever hold your peace' part." LINK

As for Clinton's Friday, she is slated to spend it in Chappaqua, N.Y.

For his part, Obama spends Friday raising money in Ohio and Missouri while his "Embrace the Change" concert series kicks off (without him) at 7:00 pm ET in Charleston, S.C.

Neither Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin (who has called homosexuality "a curse") nor the Rev. Andy Sidden (the gay minister who was added to the program after the McClurkin flap) will be on hand until Sunday.

In Sioux City, Iowa, John McCain marks the 40th anniversary of being shot down over Vietnam. He will be joined at his 10:00 am ET event by Col. Bud Day, the man who nursed the senator back to health in his POW cell.

Rudy Giuliani is fundraising in Texas friday-- but he had a key meeting on Thursday with Sam Brownback, the staunch abortion rights opponent who ran for president on a "pro-life, whole life" platform before pulling the plug last week.

Asked if Giuliani had put his concerns on the abortion issue to rest, Brownback said that he now has "much more confidence," per ABC's Z. Byron Wolf.

In an interview with ABC News last week, an unnamed Brownback adviser explained the Kansas Republican's thinking: "He is making the same calculation that Republican primary voters are," said the adviser who spoke about Brownback's endorsement plans on the condition of anonymity. "Every indication is that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee and we will really have to sit down and ask ourselves: if that's the binary ---