Come on down to a Democratic candidates forum in the fightin’ 15th ward.

Party representatives will be talking turkey about state and citywide candidates. On Thursday, there will be a discussion on the US Rep race for District 3, the races for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, State Treasurer, Circuit Attorney, Public Administrator, Sheriff and City Treasurer.

The event will take place at 7 p.m., Thursday at the Fire Fighters Hall at 4271 Delor, east of Bevo Mill.

Then on Monday, April 14, there will be a second forum on candidates associated with the 15th Ward, 7 p.m. at Carpenter Branch Library, 3309 S. Grand Blvd., between Utah & McDonald.

Offices to be discussed include the race for District 5 State Senator, State Representatives for districts 59 and 67, as well as 15th Ward Committeeman and 15th Ward Committeewoman.

Reporters at Congressional Quarterly Online are taking a peak at some Missouri Republican strongholds that may be ripe for the picking by Democrat insurgents.

CQ singles out two prime House races in the sixth district, consisting of the rural northwest as well as portions of Kansas City and its suburbs, and the ninth featuring northeast Missouri and Columbia.

The sixth district race stars a four-term Republican incumbent Rep. Sam Graves fighting to stave off former Kansas City Mayor, Democrat opponent Kay Barnes. The fight for the ninth is a nonagon battle royal, featuring no less than five Republicans and four Democrats including current Republican Rep. John Hulshof who’s absconded away to run for governor, leaving his district exposed.

The GOPers are state Reps. Bob Onder and Danie Moore; Brock Olivo, a pro-footballer and Mizzou alum; and former state Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer. The Dems consist of state Rep. Judy Baker, county commissioner Lyndon Bode, Steve Gaw, the former state House Speaker, and Ken Jacob, who lost a Democratic primary for lieutenant governor in 2004.

Like with many Dem. versus GOP battles squaring up for the fall, fund-raising is the dog whistle of potential trouble-a-brewin’.

With more than $1 million raised and $743,000 cash on hand through the end of 2007, Barnes is among the best-funded candidates who are challenging incumbents of the opposite party. Republicans, though, are painting Barnes as a “big-city mayor” and touting Graves’ roots in rural northwestern Missouri. Graves is also well-funded, having reported $1.2 million in receipts and $868,000 cash on hand as of Dec. 31.

Hulshof waited until late January to announce his bid for governor, so most of the candidates to succeed him got off to a fairly late fundraising start. The only exception was Democrat Baker, who entered the race last year as a possible challenger to Hulshof and raised $103,000 by Dec. 31. Candidates in this and all other House races are due to file their next campaign finance reports to the Federal Election Commission by April 15 for activity through March 31.

CQ doesn’t like the Dems chances in other places in Missouri, ranking the Show-Me-State as a righty, hence singling out these districts as the Dems best chances in the GOP’s Fortress of Conservative Missourian Solitude.

UPDATE [7:29 PM]: CNN has projected Sen. Barack Obama as the winner of the Mississippi primary. This was considered an easy win for Obama due to high turnout among African Americans who, according to CNN, make up as much as 60 percent of the Democratic vote in the state and were trending in favor of the candidate.

How the vote falls will determine how many of Mississippi’s 33 delegates Obama will receive.

ORIGINAL STORY: Depending on who you ask this is a meaningful fight for delegates or a mere formality in Mississippi today where the latest primary in a season of primary fever for the Democratic nomination for president.

Despite wet conditions in part of the state, Miss. election officials report that the turnout is good at the polls where Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are vying for delegates in Dixie - the cotton rich state of Mississippi.

The Associated Press is reporting that Obama is the favorite to win Mississippi which has a large black Democratic electorate. Obama has been successful in pulling more than 80 percent of the black votes in most states.

This is the latest dust-up leading to a decisive battle in Pennsylvania April 22nd. The AP said that Clinton popped up in Pennsylvania yesterday with Clinton not expecting to win Mississippi. Obama was also on his way to Pennsylvania as he made on last stop in Greenville, Miss., speaking on the economic strife in the Mississippi delta. The day before Obama was in Columbus and Jackson, the state capitol.

Thirty-three delegates are in play.

Obama used his appearances in Mississippi to shoot down Clinton’s veep talk, poo-poo any such arrangement when he’s leading in delegates and states won. He was especially direct in his criticism of Clinton’s statements pointing at the bipolar nature of Clinton’s campaign who has attack Obama as being unprepared and too inexperienced to be president while tossing the joint ticket bait around liberally.

“I don’t know how somebody who is in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who is first place,” Obama said, drawing cheers and a lengthy standing ovation from about 1,700 people. He added: “I am not running for vice president. “I am running for president of the United States of America.”

Later, at a rally in Jackson with 9,000 people, Obama painted Clinton as part of the Washington establishment whose time has come and gone.

The nation does not need “the same old folks doing the same old things, talking the same old stuff,” he said, essentially lumping Clinton with President Bush and Republican candidate John McCain.

In other election news:

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was in St. Louis yesterday raking in some much needed cash for his national campaign. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting that McCain made an appearance at the Hilton St. Louis Frontenac hotel for a $1,000-per-person event.

The party was hosted by some of the toniest families in the region, including the Busches of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., the Taylors of Enterprise Rent-A-Car and the Foxes of Harbour Group.

Today McCain is having a town hall meeting with the employees of Savvis Inc., a West County based company. At the event he’s supposed to pump up his campaign message, covering the War on Terror to improving the economy.

Clinton dodged questions in Scranton, Penn. regarding New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s sex scandal that has rocked the state. Spitzer was a Clinton supporter who is a super delegate and has been a fund raiser for her campaign.

“I don’t have any comment on that,” she said when asked about reports that Spitzer allegedly paid for sex with a high-priced call girl at a Washington hotel. “Obviously, I am sending my best wishes and thoughts to the governor and to his family,” Clinton said.