Democrats on the TV: The New Hampshire Debate

By Creature

[Updated with blog reactions below.]

Holy cow, the stage is empty. I'm going to miss Joe Biden. Waiting for punches... still waiting... Chelsea's in the audience, she did not get a good seat. Hillary left herself open by saying we were distracted from Osama. Will Obama pounce? He does: Iraq is the reason we were distracted. And who voted for Iraq? Say it... say it... nope. He's playing the front-runner role. Bill Richardson needs to fix his tie. Hillary's making a play for the independent vote. Hillary: Obama could debate himself. Does he have hairy palms too? Hillary's game plan: attack Obama as a flip-flopper. Interesting. Edwards' game plan: Barack and I are change, Hillary's the status quo. He's going after her hard. Hillary's getting way too loud about change. Yikes. Richardson's game plan: experience should count, hey, look at me. Love Edwards on the war: It's an occupation, stupid. Commercial break. Moving on...

Yes, Hillary, finally: a women president would be a huge change. If only you hadn't tried to be so manly over war. Obama: we know the GOP playbook, ignore the politicians and attract their disillusioned voters. Richardson, dude, stop tapping on the table. Edwards, dude, lay off on the liver girl story. Just noticed the seating. Barack and Edwards together on one side working against Hillary. Richardson with Hillary on the other trying to be her VP. Hillary, we get it, 35 years of change. Jeez, let up. You will never be the agent of change. Obama: words do matter, words do motivate. Edwards' fire works for me. Did I mention Chelsea's in audience? I may have a crush on her. Hillary does well when she acts girlie.

Whew, it's over. They all did well. If I had to pick a winner I give it to Edwards. Hillary takes second place, though she did go a bit overboard with the change. Policy-wise, they all speak my language. Night and day from the GOP.

Update: Nedra Pickler, writing for AP, picks up on Hillary's paint-Obama-as-a-flip-flopper strategy.

Update II: Marshall reacts. So does Marsh, Cilliza, and Gandelman.

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)