Democratic debates
(By Brooke Brower, Hardball producer)
One person in the audience, who's less than 20 feet from the stage, has binoculars -- and he's using them. It's unclear what he can see that the rest of us can't. One observation without binoculars: Edwards drinks his bottled water straight from the bottle.
(By MSNBC's Joe Scarborough)
Halfway through the first Democratic debate, it seems Hillary Clinton is meeting expectations. Not flashy but solid. Her answers on health care and government competence were strong.
Barack Obama has yet to meet expectations of healing the sick or raising the dead, but is performing as well as required.
John Edwards seems weaker than he was in his upstart 2004 campaign.
Joe Biden and Dennis Kucinich are doing well, but to little effect.
Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd seem to be underperfoming, with the New Mexico governor fighting his tongue as well as Nixonian flop sweat.
And the former Alaska senator wins the James Stockdale Memorial Award for confused debate performance
Abortion - everyone but Dodd was OK (He said he didn't regret voting for the not-so - secret right winger Justice Roberts). No throw to Hillary was disappointing given the importance of the issue to women. Obama did a good job on the big picture and Biden was the only one who took on Brian's theory that the American people support limits on abortion.
Guns - frankly, everyone was vague. They should have talked about how the Republicans let the assault rifle ban lapse.
Edwards should have knocked this one out. He didn't seem to have a focused message for the tax versus funding of healthcare issue.
Clinton used the opportunity to turn around Brian's attack on her popularity as a call for change on domestic issues. Effective.
Obama skirted the issue of funding of his priorities and instead made an effective case for more health care by using personal stories.
Clinton spoke with final authority on health care. Can anyone really match her knowledge on this?
On these Domestic issues, everyone is playing nice with each other's ideas and experience.
(By Brooke Brower, Hardball producer)
Mumbling ensued in the crowd as candidates answered Williams' question about who has ever had a gun in the house. Richardson, Biden and Dodd quickly raised their hands, but a few seconds passed before
Dodd Gravel and Kucinich raised theirs.
(By MSNBC's Joe Scarborough)
When Brian Williams warned the candidates that he was going to be bringing up elephant-in-the-room issues, the top tier candidates had to flinch. His first question tied Barack Obama to a corrupt contributor. Obama stumbled a bit but recovered quickly. John Edwards was scuffed up on his $400 haricut that was in direct conflict with his two-America's jargon. But Joe Biden hit his curveball out of the park. Williams asked whether he could assure Americans that he could stop being a human gaffe machine and guard his mouth.
Biden's answer? "Yes."
Applause followed and even Brian laughed, proving once again that brevity is the soul of wit.
Winner: Biden
Loser: Edwards
(By Brooke Brower, Hardball producer)
There have been a few chuckles so far, but Biden scored the first extended laugh with his one word reply to a question about his verbiosity. Gravel is not only getting laughs, but also prompting some in the audience to talk among themselves.
(By Brooke Brower, Hardball producer)
Nearly 15 minutes in, sporadic coughs and clearing throats can be heard throughout the hall. Clinton herself just had a subtle cough. The crowd made its first non-cough/throat-clearing noises as Gravel wrapped up his first answer. It was a soft "hmmm."
(By Brooke Brower, Hardball producer)
The clicking camera chorus continues as Obama answers for the first time. As Edwards speaks, there has been no audible reaction from the audience during
any of the initial answers.
Hillary Clinton started the debate with a strong clear position on Iraq, that positioned her as an anti-war candidate. It was crisp, almost without a whiff of nuance.
Edwards definitely managed to draw the contrast with Clinton on the war without seeming to attack her. She got a chance to respond, and once again sounded like she would do as much as anyone to end the war.
Senators Clinton and Biden gave good focused starting answers. Clinton gave the best and firm overview of the politics. Biden gave a great brief overview of the tactical military and political questions we face. They both refrained from attacking each other. Obama started with the subtle dig, then tried - and failed perhaps for lack of time - the emotional plea. Obama added nothing to his position on what to do about the war right now however. Edwards took a dig at Clinton but made a smart point against Bush and our place in the world since the war has started. Is Edwards the attack dog tonight? Clinton's comeback was sure and she got more airtime articulating her plan because Edward's attacked her. First question - A Clinton and Biden win.
