Not that there's any doubt about Hillary Clinton's focus these days, but two moments from her appearance at this afternoon's Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee luncheon at the Grand Hyatt neatly illustrated her campaign priorities.

At the end of a brief press "avail" before the event, New York's junior senator was asked how she's preparing for this Friday's debate, her first opposite hopeless Republican challenger John Spencer. "Well," Clinton said languidly, "I'm talking to you … and hanging around." She paused for a couple of seconds and seemed to let her thoughts drift. Then she started to walk away. "I'll get organized on that soon," she finally concluded.

A half-hour later, Clinton turned on the passion. After accepting the committee's annual "Champion of Democracy Award" (which was kind of a nifty trick — accepting honors from a group she helped launch six years ago), Clinton ripped into the national Republican leadership as "extremists" that are driving disheartened, moderate GOP types to her side. "They didn't sign up for a radical Republican party," Clinton said, introducing a new, rousing refrain, and bringing the crowd to its feet. "They didn't sign up for budget deficits …They didn't sign up for science being pushed out of the way by ideology … They didn't sign up for the denial of climate change … They didn't sign up for North Korea getting nuclear weapons … "

Also not signing up, in this case to Clinton's cause, were two protestors from Code Pink. Dressed in gray corporate attire to blend in with the businesswomen in the audience, the activists unfurled pink banners with "Stop Supporting the War" in black letters and briefly yelled the phrase at Clinton from the back of the room until they were hustled out by security guards. Clinton didn't give them the slightest attention, plowing ahead with her praise of upstate congressional candidate Kirsten Gillibrand.

— Chris Smith