Edwards and Richardson did very well in this debate, but mostly because no one was gunning for them. Obama did not hurt himself. Clinton obviously doesn't understand why she lost Iowa, and feels all she has to do is knock down Obama to come back. Ironically, John Edwards thinks all he has to do is knock HER down in order to become the front-runner. Neither understands that every person who decides NOT to vote for either of them is going to Obama right now.
Overall, I do not think the race will change significantly after tonight.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Immediate reaction to Dem side of the ABC Debate
Posted by Nomad at 10:04 PM
Labels: debate, debates, democrats, presidentialcampaign
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6 comments:
You are right, it won't change, but it was good to see the field winnowed and we got to hear more of substance... as much as they would give up.
I think the big winner of the night was John Edwards. He really was able to make the strongest argument yet for his candidacy. I think we will get a nice bump in the polls from this debate. I don't think we will beat the top two, but he will make it closer. I also think Richardson did well and was surprised that he was able to make a couple of arguments well that Clinton should have made. (Like defending experience as a good thing in a candidate.)
I agree that the weirdest thing of the night was seeing the debate turn from a free-for-all into essentially a game of 2-on-2.
I think that Clinton articulated how her policies would be created and what she obviously believes better than the other three. I actually thought she did the best in the debate, but I think that right now democrat voters aren't interested in actual policy minutia, but in feeling hopeful. She doesn't make people feel hopeful despite having a better idea of what it will mean to make the kinds of changes democrats are looking for. I think that she's making the only argument that she can make and that she is actually the most qualified of the top 3. Unfortunately for her, that's not what democrats are looking for.
I think that Obama actually won tonight because Edwards was making the attacks on Clinton and Obama could look like he was staying above the fray.
Richardson made a few good points, but honestly I fast forwarded through most of his points since most of the time he seems to have his head so high in the clouds that he can't see the ground - and that really annoys me. Gosh, I love DVRs :p
I also got the feeling that Edwards and Richardson are running for VP at this point - hence the 2 on 2 debate we ended up with.
Sean,
I think Edwards is still running for President, and is counting on the fact that if Clinton is out the race, he can capitalize on Obama's inevitable misstep at some point in the race. Edwards does not want to be the Veep Nominee again, he wants to be #1. Especially since if Obama gets nominated, he'll need a Cheney-type to balance his youth and charisma with experience. Richardson could be VP material, but only for a Clinton and even then I suspect Hillary would want someone more loyal to the Machine.
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