Good thing she's not running for office.

She also, in response to a final quesiton, reiterated her irritation at the slow vetting and confirmation process, having vented publicly at the White House in unusually strong terms Monday.

"It's hard to justify not having our whole government in place six months after" the change of power, Clinton said today. "We're still not there yet."

She focused the blame for the delays this time on the Senate.

"I had no idea that when I was in the Senate asking a million questions of every nominee how really short-sighted" it was, she said, suggesting members of Congress instead "write a letter."

It looks like Organizing for America, President Obama's de facto field organization based at the DNC, is ramping up its efforts to demonstrate support for health care reform. Last week I took a look at OFA's online directory of upcoming health care canvassing efforts, and found 561 events. Now the same search turns up 677 upcoming events across the country, a nominal increase at first glance--until you realize that the myBO database only shows upcoming actions, and many of the events listed in my search last week were for last weekend, and have thus expired. And states with likely Senate swing votes appear to be getting a lot of attention.

The group was mocked a few months ago for overstating the number of pledges they got in support of the president's budget, and has since basically stopped advertising its field efforts. But Sifry's reporting suggests they're pretty extensive, and they'll be working in concert with a quiet network of progressive groups that have been gearing up for this fight all year.

UPDATE: Gillibrand raised more than twice as much as Maloney in the same period, and has twice as much cash on hand, the News reports.

Today, thanks to the unyielding passion and inspiration provided by Senator Edward Kennedy, the HELP committee he chairs has produced a proposal that will finally lower health care costs, provide better care for patients, and ensure fair treatment of consumers by the insurance industry.

Like the legislation produced by the House of Representatives, this proposal would offer Americans quality, affordable health care that is there when they need it. No longer will insurance companies be able to deny coverage based on a pre-existing medical condition. No longer will Americans have to worry about their health insurance if they lose their job, change their job, or open a new business.

This proposal will bring down costs, expand coverage, and increase choice. Through a health insurance exchange, families and small businesses will be able to compare prices and quality so that they can choose the health care plan that best suits their needs. Among the choices that would be available in the exchange would be a public health insurance option that would make health care affordable by increasing competition, providing more choices, and keeping the insurance companies honest.

This proposal would also control rising costs by investing in preventive care and wellness programs, rooting out waste and fraud in the system, and changing the incentives that automatically equate the most expensive care with the best care.

When this proposal is combined with other proposals that the Senate Finance Committee is working on, it’s estimated that health reform will cover 97% of all Americans.

The HELP committee’s success should give us hope, but it should not give us pause. It should instead provide the urgency for both the House and Senate to finish their critical work on health reform before the August recess. I want to commend Senator Kennedy, Senator Dodd, as well as Senators Harkin, Mikulski, Bingaman, and Murray on the leadership they’ve shown and the foundation they’ve laid to reform our health care system.

The round in the silent campaign, then, goes to his unspoken rival, Andrew Cuomo:

ALSO: Paterson has been spending at quite a clip, blowing through $1.8 million of the $2.3 million raised in the first six months of the year, something an aide attributed in part to expensive fundraising events, which the aide says have been ended under a new regime.

"We have been working with the Israelis to deal with the issue of settlements, to ease the living conditions of Palestinians, and create circumstances that can lead to the establishment of a viable Palestinian state. For twenty years, American administrations have held consistent positions on the settlement issue. And while we expect action from Israel, we recognize that these decisions are politically challenging.

Obama had promised Jewish leaders earlier this week that his administration would make its pressure on Arab leaders more public, and this is a move in that direction.

From the item:

FasterBetterSafer is sponsored by the US Chamber of Commerce, and today the Chamber is hosting the "Transportation is your business--Fly in." Over 100 business leaders from across the US are traveling to Washington, DC, to share their views on transportation policy with their Senators and Representatives.

These citizen-lobbyists are asking Congress to include transportation reform in any reauthorization of transportation policy.

These aren't, of course, actually paid lobbyist. But flying in your constituents is a fairly standard advocacy move, and the Chamber has been known to employ an actual (gasp) lobbyist or two.