QUESTION: How to overcome partisan divide? And from moderator to Obama, aren't you attacking Hillary by saying she can't?
OBAMA: She can do it, I can do it better. Wouldn't be running if didn't think was best suited to overcome this. America must lead by shutting Guanatanamo and restoring habeas. Americans hunger for this.
CLINTON: I'm always overcoming differences. I find common ground. I am a leader. There will still be differences but we can begin to listen to one another and find common ground and I will lead that.
BIDEN: I start by ending the war, and I've already gained respect of Republicans in Congress. I've already done all this. I'd have Republicans in administration. They think this war stinks as well. Independents think so too. This won't be hard once loyalty to Bush isn't necessary. Don't buy premise that average Republicans don't agree with this. (Some confusion between average Republicans and movement ones there...)
RICHARDSON: North Korea! I am a diplomat! Have you heard my resume? Protection for Israel and Palestinian state. Talk to Syria, Iran. It's called leadership and diplomacy and I can do it.
QUESTION to Clinton: Diamonds or pearls.
CLINTON: I am sometimes accused of not being able to make a choice, and I want both.
Biden interjects for diamonds.
And that's it! Sorry this last thread started at such an awkward moment, so use it for your post-chat, too.
Standard post-debate caveats: "Winning" a primary debate is a tricky question and it's not a zero-sum game like a general election debate - more than one person can "win" in the sense of doing what they need to do to help their campaign gain some traction.
But taking into account home runs hit, errors, and general meh, who do you think comes out of this debate most ahead of where they went in? Is it the person you supported going in? Did you actually change your candidate preference due to this debate, do you think your candidate won, or are you sticking with your candidate while thinking someone else did better? A poll can't capture all of that, so just let us know who you thought won, but talk about the other stuff (and whatever else you want) in the comments.
UPDATE: And the CNN pundits decree . . . that Hillary won. Gergen says that she recovered after a couple rocky weeks, and that Obama wasn't as strong as in the last debate. JC Watts (!?) agreed. Carville is surprised that the "fireworks" were in the first 12 minutes. (MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE THE EARLY QUESTIONS WERE DESIGNED TO INVITE ATTACKS, JACKASS.)
Anyway, I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with this consensus -- just throwing it out there. As we saw last time, these snap media judgments have a big effect. The narrative coming out of the last debate was that Hillary equivocates, and is weak. And sure enough, that was THE media narrative for two weeks. Will "Hillary rights the ship" be the new narrative? Sounds like it.
My editorial judgment is that Wolf Blitzer is a superficial twit. --Trapper
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