The Daily Background

Well, the Democratic debate is over (read my extensive liveblogging of the entire debate here).

I have a few impressions right now, and I imagine I’ll be writing about other people’s reactions later tonight or tomorrow. Firstly, Chris Dodd’s website has a cool chart showing who talked for the most minutes:

The chart was dynamically updated throughout the debate, although the results are hardly surprising.

Hillary Clinton- Senator
Anybody who’s watched the debates so far noticed that she talked about her husband more tonight than she has in the past. She didn’t screw up in a big way, but I don’t think she really shined either. Did get a few applause lines however, and gets props in my book for lauding Richardson on diplomacy. Also tried very hard not to criticize fellow candidates, often trying to turn critical questions towards Bush. When she laughed it sounded like cackles, but that’s nothing new… Bottom line is, she did what she needed to do: she didn’t screw up.

Barack Obama- Senator
I think Obama did particularly well tonight, not just because he had the most talking time (which he did, according to the Dodd campaign’s chart). He did a great job of engaging the other candidates, responding to their criticisms of him and at several points he praised his fellow candidates, which looked very, very good. Seemed to have somewhat of a rapport with Edwards in that the two lobbed soft criticisms of each other, but never failed to note that they agreed more than they disagreed on the topics discussed, and praised each other’s plans on various things such as health care.

John Edwards- Former senator
Certainly did good job, certainly better than he did in the the previous debate. He wasn’t afraid to criticize his fellow candidates, particularly Obama and Clinton for not announcing how they would vote before the Iraq war funding bill, while at the same time praising Dodd’s “leadership” for announcing how he would vote beforehand. He did however praise Clinton and Obama for eventually voting the right way on the topic. Seemed to have a rapport with Obama, and could be seen chatting with Barack across Clinton’s empty chair during the halfway-break.

Bill Richardson- Governor
Didn’t do an altogether bad job, but handled a few things strangely. I recall him taking the Republican position and he didn’t think oil and gas companies engaged in price gouging, while several of the other candidates said they would get the Department of Justice to aggressively investigate them. This kind of feeds into the mini-meme that he is in the pocket of the oil and gas industry, despite having just sold a crap load of oil stocks to try and shake this impression that some people have. Also, he strangely said education- instead of Iraq etc would be his first priority after taking office.

Chris Dodd- Senator
I think Dodd did a pretty good job, and although I was more than a bit skeptical of his candidacy when he first announced up until about a week ago, I’ve really started to warm to him- partially because he’s done a very good job pandering to the Netroots- but also because he’s right on a lot of issues. Solid job tonight, also did a good job agreeing with various candidates and not being afraid to give praise where praise is due.

Joe Biden- Senator
Holy crap, the man would not stop shouting. It seemed like every time he opened his mouth, he was loud, angry, and yelling. I felt like I could hear not only him, but his campaign strategists banging their heads against the wall every time he spoke. No matter what the issue was- from Darfur to health care, he seemed angry.

Dennis Kucinich- House Representative
Kucinich was… Kucinich. He sometimes seems to have trouble remembering who he’s talking to- sometimes he’ll talk as if he’s talking the country, and other times he’ll act like he’s on the House floor talking to other Representatives. At one point he tried to get people to look up his health care plan H.R. 3498349 or whatever it is. Nobody’s going to do that, come on. Be realistic here, Dennis.

Mike Gravel- Former senator
Stuck out on several different issues, and not just because he is more liberal than the other candidates. For one, he took the Republican position that English ought to be the “official language” of the United States, and was the only candidate to say so. Also did a very poor job answering the lat question about what he would do in his first 100 days as president: he said that he would spend them attacking the other Democratic candidates, which made it obvious that he totally didn’t understand the question and just wanted to attack them.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer- Debate host
I think Blitzer did a pretty poor job, especially when asking the hypothetical questions, which the candidates eventually rebelled against. Here’s what I wrote about this in the liveblogging thread:

8:28 - Blitzer asks a Fox News-esque hypothetical. The candidates try to move away, but Blitzer asks people to raise their hands. The candidates complain, saying it’s an extremely hypothetical question and that they can’t answer.

8:32 - Joe Biden is coming off as extremely, extremely angry tonight. The man just won’t stop shouting. Hillary says, “Wolf, we’re not going to engage in these [stupid] hypotheticals.” Audience applauds loudly.

Blitzer also kept interrupting candidates, trying to make them go faster. Yes this is necessary, but the way he did it seemed kind of nagging. It was still a great debate in my opinion, but more because of the candidates than the host.

Update: Just going through a few reactions online… everybody disagrees with me and says Dodd did a poor job, although most people seem to agree that Biden was wayyyy too angry.

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