OBAMA TO SPEAK, FUND-RAISE IN MANHATTAN TODAY

Mayor Bloomberg today will introduce Senator Obama at the Cooper Union in Manhattan. Obama will deliver what aides said will be a major, invitation-only address on economic issues. He’s also looking for a big financial boost going into the April 22 Pennsylvania primary. Mr. Obama is to attend at least four fund-raisers in New York with a reported goal of $500,000 or more.

MICHIGAN PRIMARY IS RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL

A federal judge has ruled Michigan’s presidential primary law unconstitutional, making it less likely that the Democratic Party will seat delegates according to its January 15 vote. U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds ruled against a provision restricting access to voter lists to the two main political parties. The decision is not related to the ongoing fight over the seating of delegates at the Democratic National Convention this summer, but it adds another obstacle for Senator Clinton, who wants her victory there honored. The Clinton campaign nevertheless used the ruling to repeat its call for a new election. “Michigan voters must not be disenfranchised and the Obama campaign must not continue to block Michigan’s efforts to hold a new vote,” the campaign manager, Margaret Williams, said in a statement.

TOP CLINTON DONORS CHASTISE PELOSI FOR SUPERDELEGATE STANCE

A group of 20 major donors to Senator Clinton has written a letter to the House speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, criticizing her comments that Democratic superdelegates should support the candidate that wins the most pledged delegates in primaries and caucuses. Though Mrs. Pelosi is officially neutral, her remarks hewed closely to the argument advanced by the Obama campaign and would likely be detrimental to Mrs. Clinton, who is trailing in pledged delegates. “Super-delegates, like all delegates, have an obligation to make an informed, individual decision about whom to support and who would be the party’s strongest nominee,” the donors wrote.

BILL CLINTON: POLITICIANS SHOULD EXPECT TO GET ‘BEAT UP’

President Clinton is warning voters to be prepared for more heated rhetoric as the Democratic primary unfolds. “If a politician doesn’t want to get beat up, he shouldn’t run for office. If a football player doesn’t want to get tackled or want the risk of an occasional clip he shouldn’t put the pads on,” Mr. Clinton said at a rally in West Virginia, NBC News reported. The comments serve as a response to fears by some Democrats that the battle between Senators Clinton and Obama has gotten too negative and divisive. He also said surrogates of the candidates who make off-message remarks shouldn’t have to resign. “All these guys that say bad things about any other campaign, they say, ‘Should they resign?’ My answer is no,” he said.

CLINTON CAMPAIGN MENDS FENCES WITH SIKHS

Senator Clinton’s campaign seems to have patched things up with the Sikh community after unpleasantness caused after the campaign reportedly cited “security reasons” for canceling her trip to a Sikh-led fund-raiser in Bakersfield, Calif., in November. On Sunday, President Clinton is to attend a $1,000-a-plate fund-raising lunch at the Modesto, Calif., home of a Sikh couple, Rupinder and Amarjit Dhaliwal. “There are no hard feelings,” one of the organizers of the scuttled event, Randeep Dhaliwal, said.