Interesting Coincidence Surrounding Hillary Clinton's Emotional Moment

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Emotional Advantage?

Many political observers are saying that Hillary Clinton's tear-up during a campaign event Monday may have helped to humanize her - and may have swayed New Hampshire voters — especially women — giving Clinton the votes she needed to beat Barack Obama.

But some skeptics question the spontaneity of the emotional moment. Take a look at an interview with the TV program "Access Hollywood" done Sunday — was this a subtle preview of things to come? Again that interview was done Sunday, and the emotional moment in the diner was Monday.

Reporters covering the campaign say to their knowledge — Hillary had never cried in public on the campaign trail before that Monday event — and had never talked about crying before that "Access Hollywood" interview Sunday.

Meanwhile the woman who asked the question that precipitated Senator Clinton's tear-up says she believes the emotional response was sincere — but —she voted for Barack Obama anyway!

Marianne Pernold told a Washington radio station that she attended one of Obama's rallies earlier in the week — and his stirring speech brought her to tears.

Fuzzy Math?

There is new information about a report in the British medical journal The Lancet — released three weeks before the 2006 elections — that said casualties in Iraq since the U.S. invasion had exceeded 650,000.

The National Journal magazine reports that the figure is widely acknowledged to be inflated. And it says the study was funded by noted war critic George Soros' Open Society Institute.

Two co-authors who admit to being war opponents say they sent their report to The Lancet on the condition that it be published before the election. And the Iraqi researcher involved in the project had been an official in Saddam Hussein's government — and failed to follow established procedures for making his data available for review.

Apology on the Way

Several members of the Columbia University faculty are planning to visit Iran — in order to apologize to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for comments by Columbia's president.

Last September Lee Bollinger introduced Ahmadinejad during his appearance at the school by calling him a "petty and cruel dictator" and criticized his denial of the Holocaust, support for terror groups, and many other things. Some Columbia faculty were outraged.

And now Iran's Mehr News Agency reports a delegation of Columbia deans and professors will apologize to the Iranian leader. Bollinger has warned the faculty that their visit should be private — and not characterized as endorsed by the school.

— FOX News Channel's Martin Hill contributed to this report.