Former Senator CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN chats with students in the Kirkland Junior Common Room yesterday before her “Hardball” appearance.

Hours after hiring her third campaign manager and losing two aides, Carol Moseley Braun maintained her poise during a live broadcast of Chris Matthews’ “Hardball: Battle for the White House,” at the JFK Jr. Forum last night.

The first female African-American senator and former ambassador to New Zealand is not one of the favorites for the Democratic nomination for president.

But Moseley Braun was emphatic when Matthews asked her what she would do if she woke up one morning as president and had to deal with the ongoing involvement in Iraq.

The United States went in like a bunch of “desperados” without a plan, according to Moseley Braun.

“I opposed the Iraq War, but now that we’re there, we can’t cut and run,” she said.

“Why did we go to war with Iraq?” Matthews asked.

Moseley Braun’s answer was an eloquent shrug of her shoulders in her immaculate gray suit.

“You’d have to ask George Bush that,” she responded glibly. “[The Bush administration] has a view of the world that doesn’t fit with any reality I understand.”

Moseley Braun did not exonerate the other Democratic candidates who voted to authorize the invasion of Iraq, saying that was why she was running.

As Matthews pointed out, however, her campaign is running on small change. Moseley Braun said she had spent $500,000 so far, compared to the tens of millions in Howard Dean’s war chest.

It is also a campaign is in flux, as Moseley Braun appointed Patricia Ireland as her campaign manager and two other staffers just yesterday.

Ireland, former president of the National Organization for Women, watched intently from the front row as Matthews challenged Moseley Braun to name the states where she thought she could win the primaries.

Moseley responded that she thought she could win “all over the country.”

Moseley Braun insisted in response to a student question that symbolism wasn’t the drive behind her long shot bid.

“I am in it to win it,” she said, repeating one of her campaign’s catchphrases.