Three candidates appeared today at Dartmouth College for an unfortunately underpublicized
forum on women's issues, put together by Lifetime and ABC News.
It was in a smallish venue and tickets were distributed to the community via a lottery system (I didn't get one) and then was televised via closed-circuit TV to several auditoriums on campus. I have no idea if there are plans to televise it nationally on either Lifetime or ABC; I don't think it was shown live.
There was a good turnout of Dean supporters outside the venue; I'd guess a little over 100 people. The guy who was holding the sign that said "Frostbitten for Dean" had it pretty much right - despite all the bragging going on in Kos' front page weather post, it was motherf'ing COLD. My feet were so numb I couldn't walk right by the end. There were several rounds of "Jumping Dean" and "Hop for Howard" in between the cheers, to keep the circulation going down to the ol' toes. In addition to the large Dean turnout, there were about 20 Kerry supporters -- peculiar, since he wasn't participating -- 5 Lieberman supporters, and exactly one Kucinich guy. The Kucinich guy did a pretty good job representin', though: he was wheeling a PA system around on a dolly playing a looped Kucinich riff, to which he was doing an entertaining rap about Kuc & issues. Everybody was pretty civilized although one Dean supporter near me, who was the mother of a soldier in Iraq, was incensed by a Kerry supporter's large "Bring It On" sign.
It seems to me like there's something intelligent to say about the significance of the three candidates who chose to attend, but I'm not sure if I'm the one to say it. I have noticed for a long time a tendency of Dean to show up for events that the other "serious" candidates skip, one on the long list of qualities I like about him. You could make the argument that being there with two marginal candidates made him look marginal; alternately, you could argue that the contrast made him look really good. There were a lot of Dean and Kerry pins on audience members and I have to wonder how the Kerry folks felt about their candidate not being there. I take their interest in coming anyway as a good sign, though.
Dean DID look/sound good for this debate, sounds like he's licked the cold for starters. More importantly, his answers were really strong and detailed. He made a point to draw on his Vermont record for every answer, and it was effective. In several of his answers, he really showed a comprehensive understanding of the problem at issue and framed a lot of his answers that way: the problem in depth, what he did in Vermont, what he'd do as pres. Lieberman generally did pretty well too (it was a relief not to hear him talk about the war or about taxes). His tendency to pay effusive compliments to the questioners and local Dem activists was pretty eyeroll-inducing, but he had some legitimately thoughtful answers. He did bash Hollywood and videogames a bit. Kucinich opened strong but got weird - lots of long pauses and off-target answers (I thought). I think his was easily the weakest performance stylistically, some of his answers were substantively good and others weren't.
I don't have notes to recall in much detail the substance of their remarks, but there were two questions on domestic abuse, one on pay equity, one on child care, one on supreme court appointments, and one on cabinet appointments (women in particular). There was a funny moment when Lieberman, following Dean, was answering the Supreme Court question and made a remark about justices deciding elections. Dean laughed in agreement and reached over and patted Lieberman on the back, the crowd applauded, and the two of them shook hands. That was kind of a nice change from previous debates.
Dean also gave up a little info in answering the cabinet appointments question. He started to back away from answering it specifically, but then said something to the effect of, "Oh well, might as well make a little news here," and named Shirley Franklin, the mayor of Atlanta, as someone he'd like on his cabinet (didn't say which position). Given her fiscal record, you can kind of see why she might appeal to Dean. He also said he'd love to have Ann Richards, but didn't think she'd accept the position.
Judy Dean was in attendance and it may or may not be significant that she was sitting next to the college president, Jim Wright (who I see has rencently taken to wearing a goatee. Oy.) Hadassah Lieberman was also there, although there was no shot of her on camera.
Sorry to Lieb and Kuc supporters that my entry is so Dean-centric, but what can I say - he's my candidate so he's who I pay the most attention to. If anybody wants to know more about the candidate's answers, I'll try to thaw out my memory.
