I'm looking forward to this. I hope that Obama Hillary and Edwards has enough time to answer the questions fully. We all know they didn't have that opportunity last time.

Are very  cool.  I'm watching the preshow webcast now.    

Interesting there were chairs, then not.

Why is Ed Rollins relevant to this debate, and why is Lou  Dobbs, of all people, relevant to the broadcast?

Oh, my goodness, I heart that clock graph.  I'm going to be liveblogging over at The Texas Blue; mind if I link over?

My computer is blocking a crapload of pop ups. Am I the only one?

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• Debate starts @ 7 PM ET.

This is actually a good debate. Let's listen.

Biden falling lockstock and barrel for the right wing frames when it comes to "supporting the troops" with the funding.

I think Obama hit the "funding" question out of the park.

Edwards just gave props to Dodd!

John Edwards has some nerve. He voted for this thing. He didn't read the NIE and now, he's the "moral" authority. PLease.

Obama told Edwards that he was about FOUR years too late behind him. Warned him not to play politics with this thing.

You Go Baby!

The CRICIAL moment , Mr. Edwards was in 2002 when you made the wrong CHOICE!

CRUTIAL

Edwards did well to point out the Obama and Clinton waited in the wing till the thing passed before they voted..nor did they take a stand before hand

Richardson says his approach is different , but when pressed his position is not different.

And Blitzer pulls into the lead on the Talk Clock!!

Do I have any options?

I love how Mike Gravel mixes the things up.  He even made Clinton stutter a little bit on the IAUF quesiton.

Wow! Clinton blamed the iraqis for the failures in Iraq..what a B**ch

I hope enough minuets went by......

I loved how Edwards gave props to Obama for being opposed to the war in advance and the audience clapped. I LOVED it.

Thanks, John.

I totally disagree with most of these guys on Immigration :( we really need to enforce our laws on the books and letting in tens of millions of illigal immigrants into the country will only lower overall wages for all workers and increase crime rate..sorry but its the truth

I am not an Obama supporter (I am waiting breathlessly for Gore).

Obama's response about English as the official language was AWESOME! He just moved up a few notches in my mind.

HAHA Edwards and Obama are giving each other props and Hillary is in the middle being ignored, that's great

ON health care, Dennis Kucinich rejects your reality and substitutes his own.

Obama and Edwards going at it on UHC. I agree with Obama . I am a grown adult. I don't want a UHC that FORCES me to pay. I don't like to be FORCED!

Go Obama!

They are working quite well together. Is it an Edwards/Obama homerun?

Did Hillary just use a Goldwater quote?  The former Goldwater girl speaks her mind lol

LOL Either way, they had everybody else blocked out.

I actually think Clinton did well with the "gotcha" question.  

Biden did a good follow up as well.

I'm glad they all agree on the issue.

I think Richardson is desperate for time with his me tooism right now.

One thing completely pissed me off - no one called Wolfie on the framing of his question to Edwards about the "war on terror".

Wolf said the JFK plot would have caused "substantial damage" and great loss of life. There was no way it could have worked!

I was waiting for this and told myself that if any candidate called Wolf's bluff they would earn my vote. No one did.

Richardson is the first to talk about our "Good ally Israel."

WHo the hell wrote these questions!!!! Our great MSM at work!

Carville must have written the one regarding Bill

I'm still waiting for a candidate besides Gravel to get angry. These questions are designed to trip the candidates up, they're full of retarded frames, they're ignoring the important issues.

First one to really lay into Blitzer wins massive respect from me. To me, they're trying too much to show they have good policies. That's hard to do in a minute, and it makes more sense to prove they can fight the Right.

Also, could somebody please get Richardson off that stage? It's embarassing for him and everybody watching.

I'm watching the clock.  I'd like it if Gravel and Dodd could get more time.

Edwards/Obama or Obama/Edwards  works for me.

and I agree, not hearing enough from Dodd, Richardson not doing great

  I don't much like Hillary Clinton, but now I'm getting close to outright hating her guts.

 She's regurgitating Republican talking points, over, under, sideways, down.

 If she wins, NOTHING will change in America. Nothing.

If Richardson likes his state so much, can't he just run for Governor there?

Was his gubernatorial run full of shout-outs to his congressional district?

Can we get a Debate part 2 thread?

CNN loves the Dodd clock!

I don't want 3 minutes of talking heads.  So far i think Obama and Edwards are winning, and shining.  In fact, if anyone was watching, they would think they were the front runners with all of their "agreeing".  (Except for the IAUF vote).

That is not to say Clinton is doing bad.  Doing bad I would say is Richardson I think.  Biden I think is a little too yelling.

I'm watching CNN coverage and Candy Crowley is leading off with the meme that Edwards is doing well.  Not bad.  I support Obama, but I like the focus on the non HillaryObama horse race.

I've gotta say that Edwards has been holding his own tonight and he's not afraid to rankle the others to make a point.

While Kuccinich was talking.  Obama was the only one looking at him.  I wonder if anyone else thinks that that is a big deal.  Doesn't any one else think he has something important to say?  I don't know.  Maybe I'm stretching with my Obama support.  It's live blogging afterall.

Kucinich was stymied by that question on how to rebuild the military. That one burns.

I believe John Edwards has fabulously shown how different he is from the other candidates and that he can be the vessel of change for our country.

He makes me proud to be an American again. I think he has done excellently so far!

It just occurred to Obama this week that the VA has some problems?

I think Obama is stumbling a bit on this question.  He's wondering.

Never mind he just came back around.

I wonder how his "VA access" answer will play.  

Richardson was all over this.  I think he has the better answer.  

Is it me or is Hillary getting less face time then some of the others..not that i'm complaining mind you :D

and Richardson just screwed up..its not the lady's husband its her son..

anybody else getting sick of Hillary's cackle

this is a much better format than the previous debate

Thanks for asking Barack if he knew about the shortcomings of the VA. My wife is a Vet and I know there are problems. It blew me away when Barack stated that he became aware of the deficiencies when he was on the oversight committee.

How can you get into the Senate and not know someone  that has had serious problems with the VA system?

Got to give props on the Dick Cheney Joke.  I wonder if it was really on the spot.

but listening to Gravel is like listening to fingernails on a chalkboard. Could he get any shriller or more obnoxious? Sheesh.

edwards nailed it on the response to the iranian issue

I liked Edwards's answer on Iran, he's not talking about a military option.

I think Biden actually gave the best answer on the iran question.  He gave the facts about how far away from actually being a threat they are.

Yes Biden didn't do too bad on that either

in general the dems are showing their superior intellect

I'm so glad they didn't let that last hand raise pass - what a irresponsible and ridiculous question. Go to Hell, Blitzer.

lol they're not letting Blitzer get away with this raise your hand crap lol good for them and that does show superior intellect on their part

Didn't like Edwards' answer on Pakistan. A bit too United Fruit for my liking.

"Wolff, were not going to engage in these Hypotheticals" That was great!

Why is it that they are letting Hillary be the one to attack Blitzer?

I love it. They rejected the HYPOTHETICAL on Darfur!

So far I think the Democrats are winning.

Richardson is genius on the Olympics as a tool against China - he's really proving he is the diplomat.

I don't like how Dodd disagreed with the Olympics card so quickly.

Edwards - Great on Darfur.

go joe biden

Here goes Biden again

What the hell is the deal with Wolfie's Hard on with the China Olympics?

I wish Blitzer would quit cutting the candidates off.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but Biden really impressed me on the Darfur question. I'm not sure if his plan is feasible, but I do like his attitude - not getting in and trying to run somebody's country for them, but using our technology advantage to stop crimes like genocide.

those little pink bars spike whenever he talks, so hopefully he can eat away at Clinton's numbers eventually

a similar thing seems to be happening with Edwards... feel good candidates?

I think this was my favorite question of the night.  It gave everyone several directions that they could go.  And it came not from some "gang of 500" pundit, but an 18 year old kid.

I liked everyone's answer on it.

Just give us a # Obama, Say 200K a year is "Rich".

Also, how about eliminating the cap on Social Security taxes?

he didn't understand??

He can't give a straight answer, avoiding the question.

straight answer!

I'm partial to Dodd but I really did like his answer  to that question.

I loved Obama's final framing on the Bush tax cuts.  Plus I think it's the first time a major candidate actually implied that they are either a liberal or a "progressive" since announcing they are running for office!

well to be fair Obama did say 250k

college for everyone, again, edwards leads with ideas

You are in fact a rich man.  Not that there's anything wrong with that but if you'd like to know what a rich person is just look in the mirror.

The next time there's a debate, we need to have a pool on how many times Richardson says "I'ma Governor!"

I haven't been paying attention. What job does Richardson have now?

/snark

What's Richardson's job? I've forgotten.

GO DENNIS GO

What did she just say about a reach around?

All Democrats, next time you get asked a question with the subtext "Taxes killed and ate my baby", here's your quote:

"Taxes are the price we pay for living in a civilised society."

Edwards should have had a good one-liner right off the bat about ending the war in Iraq

dammit!! Edwards should have said what Hillary did say..get out of Iraq >.<

Got all your talking point out yet Richardson? Ready to actually answer a question?

biden is so cool

dennis, dennis, dennis

Wow, I've been teaching for almost 15 years and I'd get a raise with Richardson

Thank you for restoring our rights Dodd, why wait until you are President to do so?

Dodd's answer wasn't bad either heh

GREAT TO BE A DEMOCRAT

well..no one really will have made an impact to change the pecking order methinks

This debate really makes me proud to be a Democrat. I'd be happy with any of the top 3 being president.