In your opinion which of the candidates won tonight's debate?

[Wonk]

Poll question: In your opinion which of the candidates won tonight's debate?

Feel free to elaborate why you feel the way you do :-)

on edit: 20 M mp3 for those who missed it.

[jenk]

1. Edwards, but the line of the night went to Kerry

lol, still has me in stitches :)


Woodruff was horrible, so irritable and belligerent

[billbuckhead]

3. Don't criticize President Bush. She was spitting RepUKKe......

jism out of her mouth. Now after the debate, CNN has two Republicans telling us who won the debate. This is so typical of cable news. Why are we debating with a RepuKKKe whore controling the debate? Remember the California recall debate? How the moderator protected Arnie and then let him rudely step all over Arianna? And then the repuKKKe media told us Arnie did well in the debate.

[LEW]

4. I agree, come on two repubs to disect the debate....

They kept pushing Dean, I'm sorry I cannot connect with him. He does not come across well in these debates or on TV. Edwards was good and so was Gephart.

[DrFunkenstein]

23. Fuck, Man!

This is like the tenth nasty misogynistic comment about her tonight!

The English language has lots of words in it. You don't have to go there.

[PDittie]

2. Edwards and Gephardt

followed closely by Kerry.

Dean emerges as still the front-runner.

My favorite, Clark, did not look good.

This was a wretched debate format. Judy Woodruff reallllly needs to recuse herself on account of conflict-of-interest.

[whirlygigspin]

7. Best line

the best line: Sharpton "an actor who couldn't win an Oscar
just won California"

Moseley Braun gained ground, Gephardt stood his ground,
Leiberman again turned me off by attacking Clark so hard,
Same for Kerry, *keep digging John, you keep losing votes.

The moderators were awful, (must be their worldview) lol

I think Dean comes out ahead on this one, looking organised
and having a plan.

[Mz Pip]

8. Claark was pretty much ignored

when it came to question of substance. He had to defend, yet again, thing that have been taken out of context, which he did quite well. But that is old news.

I would have loved for him to have the chance to answer the question about why everyone hates us. BUt they gave it to the two candidates who are polling at the bottom.

MzPIp
:dem:

[SlavesandBulldozers]

10. Dean

I thought Dean was on fire. He's the only viable candidate going for the jugular of the WH. He has the necessary arrogance of an executive coupled with the determination and politics of a progressive.

Let me add that I thought Kucinich was amazing. In a perfect world Kucinich is given a chance to implement his vision.

[Terwilliger]

5. other: nobody really

All of them sounded good, or, at least, no one stuck out

I think the night may have been advantageous for Kerry, Edwards, and Moseley-Braun

[poskonig]

6. Why are people voting for Dean and Clark?

Clark allowed himself to be piled on about his background, while Dean was ambushed on a few questions himself.

Edwards was also given junk tonight but handled it the best, imo.

[ComerPerro]

9. Thats their candidate

.

[Woodstock]

11. Dean had good answers & I liked Clark's style

Clark stayed focused on attacking Bush. He kept his cool when challenged (and he was frequently challenged) and showed passion.

Dean has the positions I agree with and articulated them well. He also responded well to challenges.

I went with Dean, because I think his was the best performance.

[KittyWampus]

17. Clark Was Also Not Asked A Question In The 2nd Half

Except he got about 30 seconds at the very end.

Now what does that tell you about CNN and Rove?

The want to ignore him because he's the major threat.
Unless they can set him up to be piled on by the other candidates.

I thought the Kerry fax was sleazy.

I am sick of Dean "I've got lots of money"

Dennis and sounded terrific as did Carol MB

Edwards did adequately as did Gep.

[poskonig]

18. That's false.

Clark answered twice I believe, in the very beginning of the second half. It was about North Korea or Iran or some shit; I'd hafta check the transcript.

[KittyWampus]

22. No, It's Not False.

At the very beginning, they set Clark up re:Iraq Resolution & Bush Admin. statements (which is fair game IMO)

Then later asked him a question where Clark managed to challenge the Washington folk to stop Junior's rush toward Iran.

Then they took a break.

Then they didn't ask him a single question in the 2nd half.
Except they gave him 30 seconds at the VERY end.

[ronzo]

19. I'm backing Clark, but I think Edwards was effective...

Edwards gained ground.
Gep gained ground.
And as always, CMB did a great job.

My top three for tonight.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

12. I voted for Judy!

Haha, just kidding. Anybody notice how flustered she was? Sweating, getting pink, etc. Trying to shut people up and limit their time was really getting to her, I guess.

Anyhow, I voted for Clark because he came off well (as usual), in the background but very strong and surefooted. Kerry was good, and Gephardt was a standout as well.

And I'll never understand what people see in Dean...he has the weirdest quirks, and he really doesnt sound that much different than anyone else. Personally I cant see him as President.

[Demobrat]

16. I became a Dean supporter based on things I read

before I even knew what he looked like. The first time I ever heard him speak was at a meetup, and I was kind of surprised that he wasn't more smooth. But I don't care about smooth, or quirks. I'm a Dean supporter because everything that comes out of his mouth is what I would say if I could.

[Demobrat]

13. I don't think anybody won.

That debate was a mess. I don't think Kerry's stature was enhanced by that stupid attack on Dean, though. If he didn't authorize that, he should fire whoever did.

[Renew Deal]

14. That was horseshit.

Where did that come from? That had to be planned. That was slimy.

[Toucano]

15. Agreed.

It was sucky of Judy to bring it up in the people's section.

There was no winner. The format sucked. Until every candidate gets to answer the same question, no one can win.

[ronzo]

20. I didn't care for that at all...

What the hell was that? Somebody handed Judy something with that attacking point on Dean? I had my back to the TV so missed the set-up. Just recall thinking 'how low budget is that?'...
To save me a little thread diving, can somebody fill me in real quick? Thanks.

[welshTerrier2]

21. The Problem with Polls Like This

is that the "who won" seems to look just about the same as the "whom will you vote for" ...

My scorecard for tonight't debate: the dems did not come across as well as they did in the last debate ... Woodruff had an agenda and even though she failed, her constant interruptions took something away from the oratory ...

One thing did stand out for me though ... I thought Clark did a very poor job fending off the attacks ... he is still, you'll pardon the pun, way too general ... if he gets caught distorting his previous statements on supporting bush, he's toast ... he did a barely adequate job convincing me he's not tapdancing around on the issue ...

It's important to show not only that he's "more liberal than one would think", he's got to show that he's been committed to democratic causes all his life and has been an effective force in fighting for these causes over a long term ... if he's a "johnny come lately", i'm glad to have him with us but he's not been at "it" long enough to be president ...

[KittyWampus]

24. I'm A Clark Supporter & Voted For Kucinich

Cause I personally thought he was credible and sincere and came across much better than the other debates.

[JohnKleeb]

25. I missed how did he too

[DemocratSinceBirth]

27. He Spent His Entire Adult Life In The Military...

where partisanship is forbidden...

He's only been a civillian for three years of his entire adult life.....

[welshTerrier2]

28. well, then Clark is not ready to be president

first of all, i was not suggesting that Clark should have to show a lengthy history of working for the democratic party ... my point was that he does not have a track record of accomplishments on many of the issues democrats care about ...

does his long tenure in the military prevent him from speaking out on issues? are people in the military prevented from participating in the discussions that shape our country? i'm not talking about partisan politics ... i'm talking about issues like the economy ... issues like education ... issues like healthcare ... issues like civil rights ...

that he served in the military for so long may well be an admirable achievement ... but the key measure of a candidate should be a track record of accomplishments that qualifies you for the job as president ... if Clark does not have such a track record, perhaps he should develop one before he runs for this particular office ...

[Terwilliger]

29. what's the deal with capping each word in the subject?

:shrug:

[DrFunkenstein]

26. I Applauded Several Times For Gephardt

Whom I'm not very fond of. But he was passionate about defending the Democratic way.

I found myself applauding for him several times. But I voted for Dean, because his supporters need to feel re-affirmed.

[texas is the reason]

30. how can anyone say clark won????

i have been considering supporting clark since the last debate- he looked really good there (he WAS reading note cards, though..), and i do think he is marginally more electable than dean; but i was really turned off by his demeanor tonight- and people say dean has an attitude problem! i was waiting for clark to jump up and scream "YOU CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH!!" after being faced with a few very valid criticisms... he really needs to tone down the drill sergeant side to him FAST, because he really rubbed me the wrong way tonight(and i am sure others, too). I now remember why i was weary of a general as president.