All in all, this was the most negative debate of them all. I read a lot of the comments in the debate threads celebrating this kind of aggressiveness, but I was uncomfortable with it.
Overall, I would say Edwards won this debate. He has improved his debate performance since NH, and I think he had a good balance between attacking his opponents on the issues (mainly Obama), delivering substance, connecting the issues of race, poverty and the economic troubles facing the country, and taking advantage of the Obama-Hillary spat to rise above it and re-center the debate on the issues. He was particularly quick on his feet tonight.
I think Obama took a risk tonight and blew it. He started the attack from the first question and escalated it to the point where he seemed to forget about the people of South Carolina and was more concerned about what Bill and Hillary were going to say about him. Bill Clinton has clearly gotten into his head.
[more on the flip]
Obama's Walmart comment was a cheap shot that didn't help him, and Obama had the 'slum lord' comment coming to him after that one. Even on the issue questions, he kept changing the discussion to a critique of Hillary rather than looking forward to what he would do as President. He got tripped up on explaining some of his votes (or non-votes), and pretty much got punked on the health care issue. Obama's lack of clarity affected his message. I think he was surprised to be critiqued by Edwards so sharply. He sounded hurried, embattled and approached the point of whining when complaining about distortions of his record. He almost reminded me of Bob Dole when he famously said to George Bush I 'Stop lying about my record!'. (Bush won that primary btw and the 1988 election). Obama seemed to sense it himself when he pulled back from attack mode in the second part of the debate and praised Bill Clinton.
Hillary had one bad moment in this debate when she belabored the discussion on Obama's Reagan comment. She clearly enjoyed getting under Obama's skin on that one, and I think it would have been better to have pulled back and refocus. Fortunately for her, Edwards refocused the debate and helped her out on a few questions when she went out on the limb on Obama's record on the bankruptcy bill or on the Illinois legislature 'present' votes. Hillary showed herself to have the cooler head and steadier style even when things got ugly. When things got back to substance and to attacking Bush, Hillary was her usual sharp self.
Her answer on Iraq was a real high point. She has been extremely clear and committed to removing troops. She said it as if she was speaking to the Iraqis themselves, and I think the clarity of her comments will reverberate in the Middle East.
All in all, I didn't like the tone of the first hour of the debate, and I think Obama got the worse of it and hurt himself tonight. Hillary neither gained nor lost, she had high points and low points. Edwards mitigated some of her low points and exacerbated Obama's difficulties in explaining himself. Edwards helped himself tonight and made himself relevant, which was vitally important for his campaign after a rough weekend in Nevada.