What an experience today has been!
I arrived at St. Anselm College shortly after 3pm and had to walk clear across campus to get to the Carr Activities Center. I had an umbrella and I was still drenched by the time I got to the security check in. After that, I had to wander through the Press Room until I found my assigned spot.
It was in the next to last row...by the Chinese reporter and some guy from Sweden who didn't show.
There was a lot of waiting around and they fed us pretty well. The sound in the Press Room--which was a gymnasium--was dreadful. There were televisions everywhere, but the sound echoed through the gym which made it very difficult to hear. It turns out to have been the right place to sit because the WMUR bloggers were on the bleachers in the other gym next door.
The debate itself wasn't all that impressive, honestly. It was a lot about Iraq, a good deal of Bush-Bashing and a little of Bill Clinton. None of the Democrat candidate did anything to outline how they would lead the nation as President of the United States.
In watching the debate again, Joe Biden did a particuarly good job at defending his vote on Iraq war funding. At first, in the Press Room, it seemed as though he was being too defensive, but in watching the debate again his defense of his vote was right on the money. He didn't throw his colleagues under the bus, but instead assumed accountability for his actions.
By contrast, Obama and Clinton didn't defend why they voted the way they did, they blamed George Bush.
John Edwards seemed more aggressive than usual and, in looking at how he's polling, I suppose that's not much of a surprise. Obama did a nice job of smacking Edwards down on the topic of leadership---and all Hillary did was stand in the middle during the whole exchange and nod. When she did speak finally, she went back to Bashing Bush and said, "This was George Bush's war."
Funny...I seem to recall that Congress gave the President the authorization to use force.
Hillary did seem very strong during this debate--stronger than Edwards or Obama. That's huge for her because she really needs to do well in New Hampshire since she has been rumored to be skipping the Iowa Caucuses. (Something her campaign denies.) Hillary also gave a pretty good answer with regard to not having read the National Intelligence Estimate, with the exception of her Bush Bashing.
All in all, though...none of these people were able to separate themselves from the pack.
The exception to this is Mike Gravel. I personally thought that he is now the "John McCain" of his party and, by that, I mean that he's like the crazy old man down the street that's yelling at all the neighborhood kids to get off his lawn. Honestly, I thought that Dennis Kucinich would be the wackiest member of this group.
As far as each of the candidates goes, here's a quick-hit laundry list on how I thought they did:
Joe Biden: Biden yelled a lot and, while some of his answers were pretty good, I don't think he launched himself out of the second tier.
Hillary Clinton: Clinton came out strong and looked good on the debate stage...even though she invoked the name of her husband at least three or four times. When she ran for the Senate, she couldn't put enough distance between her and her husband. In my opinion, she's still the person to beat on that side.
John Edwards: He was fired up tonight, but I still don't think he's doing much better than third place. He spent too much time drawing the differences between himself and some of the other candidates and not enough time talking about how to lead the country. Even though he didn't mention it by name, he still referenced his "Two Americas" when he said that he'd repeal the Bush tax cuts for people who make more than $200,000/year to fund health care for everyone. To me, that sounds like the redistribution of wealth, but I'm just sayin'.
Barack Obama: I had high hopes for Barack Obama. Perhaps they were too high. I thought his performance in the debate was very weak. I was not impressed, quite honestly.
Bill Richardson: Richardson seemed like a man on an island. He seemed to flounder a couple of times, but gave competent and strong answers at others. He set himself apart by not wanting to raise taxes for healthcare and he was the only one. That's not the type of idea that's going to get you elected by the Democrat base, unfortunately.
Chris Dodd: Dodd looked strong, but--as his own campaign has spammed everyone who was in the press room--he was short-changed on time. They're blaming his performance on the debate on the time each candidate got and they say it wasn't fair.
Mike Gravel: Gravel not only seemed detached from the debate, but he was physically detached from everyone on that stage. During the second half of the debate, he was all the way over to the left...alone. In the Spin Room, he must have uttered the phrase "follow the money" twenty times which leads me to believe he's seen "All The President's Men" one too many times.
Dennis Kucinich: Kucinich actually seemed stronger in this debate than he did during the entire 2004 campaign. That said, he's still never going to be elected President. Never. Ever.
After the debate, I got to wander the Spin Room and that was a fascinating experience all on its own.
While I was there, I met actor Joe Pantoliano from "The Sopranos" fame. I also saw actor Hill Harper from CBS Television's "CSI: NY." Later, I also saw actor Peter Coyote being led through the Spin Room on the way to somewhere else.
I thought that it was interesting to watch the press in the Spin Room. They would go from platform to platform following the "next big person" in the room. They started with Kucinich and then all moved at once to Richardson and then Elizabeth Edwards and then Mike Gravel and then Joe Biden.
It was odd to see Joe Biden in person. I mean, I see him every single Sunday on television on some talking heads show, but this was the first time I've been in his presence. He looked...well...odd. He had far more make up on than anyone else I'd seen. He almost looked like a wax figure at Madame Tussaud's. Kucinich, Richardson and Gravel all looked "normal," per se.
I also saw Arianna Huffington of Huffington Post fame. I was standing next to her as we were both listening to Barack Obama's campaign chair and the odd thing I noticed about her is that the woman carries three blackberries in her hands.
There were reporters everywhere.
It was a great experience and I took a lot of time to soak it all in, probably because this was a Democrat debate and I'm voting Republican. Tuesday night, should be really interesting.
I've got some pictures I'll have to go through and I'll probably compile the video so you can see what the experience was like.
One debate down, one debate to go.
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com
