Nothing wins votes like face-time on late-night cable comedy shows. Last night's "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central scored a trifecta.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama, and some guy named former Sen. John Edwards all spoke with host Stephen Colbert, broadcasting from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Mrs. Clinton's appearance was a "surprise," as she emerged from off-stage to help Mr. Colbert solve a technical problem.

"I just love solving problems. Call me any time," Mrs. Clinton said. "Call me at 3 a.m."

Mr. Obama, appearing from North Carolina via satellite, lamented the questions he was forced to field during Wednesday night's debate.

"Stephen, I think the American people are tired of these political games and petty distractions," Mr. Obama said.

"Sir, speaking for the news media, we are not tired of it," Mr. Colbert retorted.

Mr. Edwards, who dropped out of the race months ago, followed Mrs. Clinton on stage.

But you know what really got the tongues wagging? Evidently, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Edwards had a little private chat. But Mr. Edwards, whose endorsement is being sought by both candidates, would not reveal any details.

Mr. Obama was, likewise, chatting up kids yesterday. In Raleigh, N.C., the day after his difficult debate on national television, he called on a fourth-grade boy who wanted to ask a question.

The boy revealed that he had been elected his class representative at school.

"How many debates did you have to have?" Mr. Obama asked.

"None," the boy replied.

"None! That sounds good!" Mr. Obama said.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who decided against a White House run, said his prized endorsement will go to the most straight-talking candidate and predicted "at least we'll have an adult in office who can lead and can accomplish something."

That caused some observers to think he was dissing President Bush!

"He's not a candidate for office," Mr. Bloomberg said, befuddling everyone within earshot. "There's a constitutional provision that prevents him from running for a third term, and last I checked, he wasn't trying to change it, nor was anybody advocating that it gets changed, as far as I know."

You know what had tongues wagging in Haverford, Pa., yesterday? Tongue-wagging.

During a campaign stop, 4-year-old Sonya Wilkerson's mother, Kerri, who was on stage, tried to get her little girl to introduce Chelsea Clinton, who was there with her mother.

Sonya stuck out her tongue.

It got a big laugh from Mrs. Clinton.

"Sonya actually exhibited the way I sometimes feel when standing in front of audiences, holding microphones," Mrs. Clinton said.

It sounds like what a loan shark named Rocco might charge, but at Wednesday night's debate in Philadelphia, Mrs. Clinton mentioned that student loan companies are charging Pennsylvanians upward of 28 percent interest.

It sounded a little fishy -- and Rocco does make people sleep with the fishes -- so we started sleuthing around. Turns out federal Stafford loans carry a 6.8 percent interest rate and other supplemental loans will charge closer to 10. But students who need to borrow above federal limits and have poor credit ratings often must turn to "alternative" lenders, who can jack up those rates.

"If you have really bad credit and very high risk [of default], a lender has to charge you high rates. If they didn't, they wouldn't make the loans," said Mark Kantrowicz, of Cranberry, who operates finaid.org as a resource for students seeking cash.

So high rates are possible, but 28 percent still seems outrageous.

"I have seen 15 percent, and I have heard of 20," said Lucas Lyons, assistant director of enrollment services at Carnegie Mellon University. "But I don't know where she'd be pulling that number from."

The 28 percent figure, according to Mrs. Clinton's campaign, came from a 2005 article in Fortune magazine about loan giant Sallie Mae, which "uses high interest rates and fees to charge students as much as 28 percent annual interest on loans." That rate, though, is what students pay after they default on a loan, a distinction Mrs. Clinton did not make Wednesday when arguing for more federal control of the student loan business.

-- Compiled by Dan Majors