He Said, She Said: Hillary and Barack in Ohio

Overall Impression

The NBC debate in Ohio between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama last night turned over little in terms of new ideas, but managed to suck the life out of the those that had been covered. Seriously, is it me, or does anyone else want to scream "enough" when it comes to the "mandate" differences between Clinton and Obama's health care plans? We all know that it will come down to what Congress will agree to and then it will be up to whichever one is elected to sign it into law.

I am sure I wasn't the only one to wish things like global warming initiatives and how they plan to deal with the economic crisis would have been discussed.

Also, am I the only one who is less interested in the hearing "shoutouts" to cities in the state? The formula seems to be "I was talking to a [fill in the blank] in Parma, Dayton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Youngstown and [he/she] told me [place issue here]."

Who Won

Overall, I think it was Hillary's night. She was much more specific and explanatory about her views. The format of the debate was more her speed. She started off sluggish by complaining about being asked the tough questions first and that Obama, basically, is being coddled. However, after that, she was all business.

Obama, while not ceding points to Clinton, was not disarming in his counterpoints, which has been his strong suit. Like Clinton, he was prickly about what he deemed to be unfair play by the Clinton camp.

Who Lost

NBC's Brian Williams and Tim Russert who seemed to delight in the picayune statements from the campaign trail and kept trying to push buttons to get reactions. They also did little to keep the debate on track.

Lines of the Night

Obama

On distancing himself from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan "I don't see a difference between denouncing and rejecting," he said, adding that he would both reject and denounce Farrakhan if it would satisfy Clinton, a remark that drew laughter and applause.

On the Iraq War: "The fact was, this was a big strategic blunder. It was not a matter of 'Well, here is the initial decision, but since then we've voted the same way.' Once we had driven the bus into the ditch, there were only so many ways we could get out. The question is: Who's making the decision initially to drive the bus into the ditch?"

Clinton

On Going First in the debates: “Well, could I just point out that, in the last several debates, I seem to get the first question all the time,’’ Clinton complained last night in Cleveland. “And I don't mind. You know, I'll be happy to field them, but I do find it curious. And if anybody saw "Saturday Night Live," you know, maybe we should ask Barack if he's comfortable and needs another pillow.’’

On Universal Healthcare: "It's just that I know that parents who get sick have terrible consequences for their children. So you can insure the children, and then you've got the bread-winner who can't afford health insurance or doesn't have it for him or herself. And in fact, it would be as though Franklin Roosevelt said let's make Social Security voluntary -- that's -- you know, that's -- let's let everybody get in it if they can afford it -- or if President Johnson said let's make Medicare voluntary. "

Nevada Democratic Debate Highlights

FactCheck had this to say aboeut the facts of the three leading Democratic presidential candidates and noted the following:

* Hillary Clinton once again mischaracterized the 2005 energy bill, saying it had "enormous giveaways" to oil and gas companies. In truth, the measure raised taxes on those industries.

* Barack Obama accused the Bush administration of failing to make "any serious effort" to encourage use of alternative fuels or raise fuel efficiency of automobiles. In fact, President Bush has signed major bills that do both.

* John Edwards said he dropped his support for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage site in part because of a scandal over forged documents. But he switched his position in 2004, and the scandal came along a year afterward.

* The three candidates made sweeping claims about their intentions to remove troops from Iraq quickly, but all three admitted under questioning that they could have U.S. combat troops fighting in Iraq for years to come.

* Clinton puffed up her role in stopping the "Bush administration" from taking back signing bonuses from those later wounded too seriously to complete their enlistments. Actually the Pentagon said its policy has been not to reclaim such bonuses and that a bill the Army sent to one soldier was an isolated case that was reversed.

I'm In a Nevada State of Mind: From Plants to Pearls

Last night's "Dustup in the Desert" in Nevada showed off a strange side of "we the people." Apparently audience members of the Democratic debate thought they were at a WWF cage match event, as they whistled and booed at candidates' statements. Seemingly CNN ringmasters Wolf Blitzer and John Roberts, not unlike a professional wrestling referees, were oblivious to this.

Clearly it was important to all the candidates to perform well, but to a front-runner, "well" is not good enough. The word to HRC organizers was probably to turn out the troops. And turn out they did. This time instead of planted questions, there seemed to be a potted (if not "planted") audience.

Sour grapes you say? I'll confess that the boos did seem focused on the two-closest-to-Hillary-in-the-polls candidates--John Edwards and Barack Obama. But you tell me, what other debate's decorum was like this?

And what about the final question of the evening? Do you prefer pearls or diamonds? I don't suppose that Dennis Kucinich even minded being passed over on that one--it was such a meaningless softball (right up there with the boxers or briefs question that WJC was asked by an MTV audience some years back).

Despite the theatrics of the evening, it is up to the rest of us to pay attention to what these candidates actually say and to decide which one we believe will be the best leader to win back the White house in November 2008.

Dems to Debate from Des Moines Early Sunday

This Sunday morning bright and early at 8:00 am (check here for your area), the Iowa Democratic Party will co-sponsor a live debate featuring all the Democratic presidential candidates with ABC News and ABC5/WOI-TV. The debate will be held at Drake University and broadcast live on a special edition of This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

The 90 minute debate will also feature questioning from David Yepsen of the Des Moines Register.This will be one of six debates sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee and all eight Democratic presidential candidates have confirmed their attendance. Senator Joe Biden, Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Chris Dodd, Former Senator John Edwards, Former Senator Mike Gravel, Representative Dennis Kucinich, Senator Barack Obama and Governor Bill Richardson will all be participating.

“The Iowa Democratic Party is proud to co-sponsor this debate with ABC News and ABC5/WOI-TV,” said Iowa Democratic Party Chair Scott Brennan. “We are looking forward to welcoming all of the candidates to Iowa. Iowans take their role as first-in-the-nation caucus-goers very seriously and this debate is a great opportunity to hear all the candidates share their vision for our country with Iowans and Americans.”

Gravel-tis and other Dem Vignettes from South Carolina

This is what is great about being a "lower tier" candidate.



Obama and Kucinich Square Off


Biden His Time



First 9 minutes of Debate - 4 minutes of promoting South Carolina, MSNBC promotion, Iraq




Last Six Minutes (Moral Leadership, Nuke Proliferation, Wal-Mart, Happy Talk)


The whole thing is at MSNBC

Airing on the Side of America

From Ben Smith Blog

Tweaking the Fox News Channel, the president of liberal Air America Radio this morning sent a letter to the chairmen of four state Republican parties, offering to host and broadcast the state parties' upcoming presidential debates.

Agreeing to the debate “would allow Republicans to differentiate themselves from Democrats,” Air America President Mark Green wrote to the Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, and South Carolina Republican chairmen in a deadpan communication provided this morning to The Politico.

The Nevada State Democratic Party dropped plans for Fox to broadcast an August debate after furious pressure from online activists, a move that drew attacks from Fox and the label of “Stalinist” from one Fox News commentator, Mort Kondracke.

“Should you accept Air America’s offer, Republicans would both embrace free debate and stick it to Stalin at the same time,” Green wrote.

The letter presses forward with what Fox’s critics see as a victory over the network, and draws a parallel between Fox, which famously presents itself as “fair and balanced” despite a prime-time roster heavy on conservative talking heads, and Air America, an openly partisan outlet that, despite recent business woes, claims to have 2.5 million listeners around the country.

Green – who dismissed as a front an invitation from Fox to provide a questioner to the Nevada debate -- offered to co-host the debate with Fox or another conservative outlet.