Another Democratic debate, and another resounding victory for Hillary. This race is really starting to get fun.
Hillary won the debate by such an overwhelming margin, it's hard to know where to begin. As PBS' Tavis Smiley, who moderated the debate, said on Good Morning America today, the multi-racial focus groups assembled by PBS thought "Hillary Clinton had clearly won the debate."
They're saying the same thing in Iowa, too. According to the Des Moines Register:
Clinton’s fine showing should help her in Iowa
By DAVID YEPSEN
REGISTER POLITICAL COLUMNIST
Score one for Hillary Clinton.
The New York senator turned in the single most impressive performance during a debate among the Democratic presidential candidates Thursday night in Washington, D.C.
Clinton was crisp, cogent and methodical in her answers. She understood better than any of the other candidates the need for terse answers when so many candidates are given so little time in which to answer questions.
It’s more than just a debating skill. American presidents lead the nation through television appearances, and Clinton’s performance Thursday night suggests she can do that. She showed she has mastered the ability to put a lot of information into a few seconds on the tube.
She did that by talking more about solutions instead of yammering about how bad the problems are. Some of her opponents, who’ve had careers in the U.S. Senate or House, didn’t get to the point before their time was up.
The Associated Press characterized the debate as Obama's to lose:
Obama, the only black running for the White House, came into a debate Thursday night at predominantly black Howard University with the crowd on his side, chanting his name as all eight Democratic candidates posed for pictures on stage. But Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared to win many of them over in an impassioned performance that addressed their anger over inequality.
According to the New York Post (which has not been kind to Hillary in the past, as everyone knows), debate focus groups of African-American voters in Harlem and Washington said Hillary won, by large margins:
June 29, 2007 -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was the runaway winner over the race's lone black candidate in the Democratic debate, according to groups of African-American voters in Harlem and Washington, D.C.
In the nation's capital, 33 undecided voters who identified themselves as people of color and who supported John Kerry in 2004 scored last night's face-off an overwhelming victory for Clinton.
Twenty-seven participants gave the former first lady the nod, compared to just two who went with Barack Obama.
Yep, that's not a misprint. 27 out of 33 in the Washington panel picked Clinton. That's 81%, for those keeping score at home.
The Harlem panel went as follows:
The Harlem panel, organized by The Post, had a more mixed response but still leaned to Clinton.
Of 18 voters - eight of whom were truly undecided - six thought Clinton won, two people gave candidate John Edwards the edge, and one gave Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd a nod.
Just one viewer thought Obama won, while eight others picked one of the other of the eight candidates on stage.
"I would have liked to have heard [Obama] give more of [Clinton's] answers," said Ernestine Roach, a 66-year-old Harlem denizen who works for the Sanitation Department.
Thomas Donaldson, a 41-year-old lawyer supporting Obama, said, "I think [Hillary] spoke forcefully and with conviction . . . I don't think it's a measure of his candidacy. I just think she's a better performer."
According to the Nation, Hillary won overwhelmingly:
Another Debate, Another Good Night for Hillary Clinton... Rather, it was a comment by Clinton to the reality of how deeply racial disparities still divide and damage the United States. During a discussion of responses to the AIDS crisis, which had hit young African-American women especially hard, the senator from New York said, "Let me just put this in perspective: If HIV-AIDS were the leading cause of death of white women between the ages of 25 and 34 there would be an outraged, outcry in this country." Clinton had to struggle to finish the sentence, as the crowd's applause rose to deafening levels. It was a masterful moment; one that, fairly or unfairly, inspired comparisons with the best performances of his husband, Bill. And, while Clinton did not dominate this debate as she did the last one in New Hampshire, she again came off as the most polished of the candidates.
The pro-Hillary website "Hillaryis44" was blunt:
Does anyone other than Hillary know how to debate? She was the only one that seemed to understand you have a time limit so you had better make your answers quick and concise. Hillary responded with very concise answers such as "You need to do this, then this, then this" or "I’ve done this before and here are the ten things that need to be done." Check our reaction as the debate was going on (below), notice how Hillary consistently answered with specifics and within the time limit. Richardson, does not understand the concept of clocks. Obama too seems to be lethargic and out of touch with the reality that you do not have hours to get to the point.
This should have been Obama’s night. The audience started off by being on his side. If he can’t come out the undisputed leader on a debate about domestic issues as they effect the African-American community, when can he possibly come out ahead? Obama tried by speaking about some issues he worked on in the state legislature but that is like a PTA president talking about school district politics to the Secretary General of the United Nations.
The liberal San Francisco Chronicle also gave Hillary the nod:
Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, who served as Democrat Al Gore's campaign manager in 2000, said the debate gave Obama an opportunity to introduce himself to many black voters who aren't familiar with him after he served just 2 1/2 years in Washington. "He didn't knock it out of the park," Brazile said, adding that Clinton was a standout.
"She clearly understood that these issues deserve urgent attention, and she connected on that," Brazile said of the New York senator.
Hillary's finest moments were near the end of the debate, when she was really in a groove. Her answer on the Darfur question was a grand-slam: she spoke with passion, reason, and force, and drew loud and sustained applause. Her best moment, though, was the standing ovation she got, when her answer on the AIDS epidemic brought the house to its feet:
SOURCES:
http://www.nypost.com/...
http://www.forbes.com/...
http://sfgate.com/...
http://www.youtube.com/...
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/...
http://www.hillaryis44.org/...