Check out the future/past tense shifts in this debate preview posted by the AP today. The debate's not starting for hours from the story's posted time of 11am PDT, yet 3/4 of the text is past tense, including the lede..
MANCHESTER, N.H. - The Iraq war was the dominant issue confronting Democratic presidential candidates Sunday night at their second televised debate of the campaign, this one in the leadoff primary state.
All the major candidates planned to participate in the two-hour debate, including Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record), Chris Dodd and Joe Biden; former Sens. John Edwards and Mike Gravel; New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson; and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich.
More after the jump...
It's just weird...
The contenders were expected to take questions from a team of journalists for the first hour. In the second hour, questions were to come from about 100 New Hampshire voters who say they are undecided in the contest.
The debate was sponsored by CNN, WMUR-TV and the New Hampshire Union Leader. The site was the campus of Saint Anselm College in Manchester.
The war was expected to be a main focus, as it was during Democrats' first debate, in late April in Orangeburg, S.C.
I can't wait to see the post-debate story, to see how much was cribbed from this story.