OBAMA REPUDIATES FARRAKHAN, DRAWS JEWISH LEADERS’ PRAISE

Senator Obama’s decision yesterday to distance himself from his hometown minister and repudiate the Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, has drawn praise from leaders in the Jewish community. The issue arose after a Washington Post columnist, Richard Cohen, penned an article that pressured Mr. Obama to take a stand on a decision by his Chicago church to honor Mr. Farrakhan, who has made repeated anti-Semitic statements over the years. “I decry racism and anti-Semitism in any form and strongly condemn the anti-Semitic statements by Minister Farrakhan,” Mr. Obama said in a statement issued after the column was published yesterday, adding that he disagreed with the decision to honor him. The head of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman, said he welcomed Mr. Obama’s statement, and he later joined eight other Jewish leaders in an open letter condemning “hateful e-mails” that have circulated mischaracterizing the religious beliefs of the Illinois senator, who is a Christian. “We reject these efforts to manipulate members of our community into supporting or opposing candidates,” the letter states.

AD WATCH

A government employees’ union is running a new television spot featuring women praising Mrs. Clinton for finding her voice. “I didn’t know how personal this was for Hillary,” one woman says in the ad. The political committee of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees reported yesterday that it purchased about $225,000 in broadcast time in Nevada to support Mrs. Clinton. Meanwhile, John Edwards is taking on his top rivals more directly in four short television ads he launched in South Carolina yesterday. Each spot flashes pictures of Senators Clinton and Obama to show their differences from Mr. Edwards’s positions on trade, the influence of lobbyists, and electability. “Which Democrat has never taken a dime of campaign money from Washington lobbyists?” the narrator asks in one ad. “John Edwards is the only one.”

CLINTON RETURNS TO NEW YORK TO STUMP FOR CASH

Senator Clinton has set what’s billed as her last fund-raiser in New York before the Super Tuesday primary. Tickets for the January 24 reception at the Capitale Restaurant on the Lower East Side start at $1000. In a measure of the campaign’s need for cash to survive what could be an unexpectedly long primary season, the invite says no general election funds will be accepted, meaning new donors are being courted in lieu of those who have already given the $2,300 maximum for the primary.

ENDORSEMENT WATCH

Senator Obama has picked up the endorsement of a prominent Nevadan who is one of President Carter’s sons, John “Jack” Carter. Mr. Carter, who ran unsuccessfully as the Democrats’ nominee for the Senate in 2006, said Mr. Obama could fight “divisiveness” in America. “I believe Senator Obama has the message, the desire, and the enthusiasm to bring our country together in a smashing victory in November,” the investment consultant said.

DAYTIME TV WATCH

Mrs. Clinton’s campaign is aggressively promoting public discussion of the moment last week when she almost teared up during a discussion with voters in New Hampshire. “It really did make me emotional because that is when I think we are at our best as a country—when we really are honest and real,” Mrs. Clinton said in an interview set to air Friday on the syndicated “Tyra Banks Show.” She said she would make a better contestant for “Dancing with the Stars” than “American Idol” because she is a better dancer than a singer.