I think Kerry won by a mile

[DJcairo]

He was strong and knocked several questions on the environment and veterans out of the park. Clark fumbled a bunch of times and is being attacked for refusing to distance himself from Michael Moore's deserter comments. Dean appeared so wounded.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

1. Kerry only got one good answer in, and just droned the rest of the time

He's putting in Bob Dole's performance from '96, not what we need right now.

[funky_bug]

12. Not Kerry's fault

Did he EVER get a decent question? Did ANY OF THEM?

[robsul82]

2. Kerry's "toss the medals" answer was good, the rest sucked.

Dean was the HR slugger...and, as much as it pains me to say so, Lieberman did a very good job for himself as well.

Later.

RJS

[Guaranteed]

31. Totally right.

Dean had the most "strong answers" out of all the candidates. Kerry had a few very good answers, but Dean had several VERY good answers. His first three and his last two were outstanding.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

43. The medals answer was a grand slam home run in the bottom of the ninth

By that I mean it's the kind of answer that wins you undecideds.

[TexasPatriot]

3. Kerry started strong

and coasted. He never got a tough one - but he hit some of the soft ones a long way, but i dont think it'll firm up his soft support much. It's probably enough to hold on to 1st in NH though.

[genius]

4. Kerry did great. Dennis was best but Kerry was really solid

I wish he had gone after Dean on Dean's support for Biden-Luger, you know, the plan Bush followed in going to war with Iraq.

[JasonDeter]

8. I just wish Dennis and good ol Al

would have prefaced their answers NOT WITH "When I am president" but with, "When human beings can finally say 'beam me up' and a space ship does it" THEN I can be elected President...and then proceeded to anwser the questions. They diminished the debate because they didn't have a chance in hell of getting elected, even for VP and took away air time from the 4 that do stand a chance.

[funky_bug]

11. Al and Dennis...

Al - great dig at Dean, but not to Dean's detriment. Sharpton meant to disrespect Dean, but instead helped him by allowing him to laugh at himself, thus looking HUMAN.

Dennis - God love him. Now not only do we have a department of peace, but we have a trip to planet earth. Sigh...

[HFishbine]

14. Think you read that wrong

Sharpton was clearly trying to give a little lift to Dean. There was no disrespect.

[funky_bug]

21. You could be right...

...but after the brown and black debate, I was figuring that Sharpton was pulling some of the same. Whatever the intent, it worked in Dean's favor.

[JI7]

40. agree, i saw it as positive

a little boost after all that went on after the speech. i thought it was nice.

[frank frankly]

19. yuck

why don't you decide, sir, who gets to debate? lets make it Jason's decidion.

[JasonDeter]

37. From now on it will be Dean, Clark, Kerry, Edwards.

They will stand in that order and will be asked questions in that order. Thank you. NEXT!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

24. Thank you for sharing

[Terwilliger]

36. he's right

for them to say "When I'm president" belies a little bit of lunacy...but then, I feel the same way when Joe Lieberman says it

[JasonDeter]

38. I mute the tv when lieberman speaks

BECAUSE I KNOW HE'S GONNA SAY IT! I CAN'T STAND THE MAN!! At the time Gore picked him I thought it was a cool choice but my gosh we didn't know what we were getting did we?

[edzontar]

48. We are down the final four: Dean, Kerry, Clark, Edwards

Time for the others to withdraw.

My two cents.

[kstewart33]

5. Dean did well but no home runs were hit

He was too wounded, and his answers did not stand apart from the others, enough to so undo the damage.

His major problem--everyone did a good job. The competition was tight tonight.

[DoNotRefill]

13. I think Clark didn't do a good enough job....

and his Taliban fumble may come to haunt him...

[HFishbine]

15. Ahhhh

But what you don't realize is that Dean did exactly what he had to do. Remember, over 40% of NH voters once supported Dean. All Dean needed to do tonight was remind people why they liked him in the first place. He did that quite effectively.

[JasonDeter]

6. I think Clark did great opening the door to a full investigation

whether the AWOL pResident left without permission to go help his daddy get elected pres. Isn't that the case?

[poskonig]

7. I'm a happy Kerry supporter.

He looked very presidential tonight.

[Meshuga]

27. I think every candidate did pretty well...

but sad that Edwards and Clark were picked on.

[funky_bug]

9. I agree that Kerry won

He definitely made the most of the stupid questions being tossed his way, and while Howard started shaky, I think he really settled in and looked pretty good... until he did his "500 soldiers dead because of those three..." dig. Bad Howard. Does Iowa ring a bell? Attacks are not going to help.

[HFishbine]

16. 500 dead

Set Dean apart. He was the only one who had the courage to remind people of the human cost of the decision some of the other candidates made. That matters -- for those of us who lead with our heart.

[funky_bug]

23. It matters to me

But I fear it is these divisive manuevers that cost him his lead in Iowa. No disrespect intended. I thought over all, that Dean did a good job tonight.

[Paulie]

30. Um, Kucinich said it first

And Dean gave Dennis his due by saying as was mentioned earlier, i.e. Dennis.

But that's ok, I'm used to distortion and selective hearing.... :D :D :D ;) ;) ;)

[Eurobabe]

10. kerry was his usual autopilot self

i thought he was pretty boring. sorry, I like him in general, but I don't think this was his finest hour. i bet the NH voters are just as confused as they were pre-Iowa!

[DJcairo]

17. Boring? Sorry, it's called thoughful and presidential

He was also inspirational. He is a leader and the rest follow. Clark fumbled all his tough questions. I don't know why you guys are supporting someone who said all that great stuff about Bush. Geez!

[Forkboy]

35. I dont support either

and Kerry is a boring drone at times.

[HuckleB]

45. Sorry, but every undecided voter I spoke with this morning said...

exactly that. "Kerry was a bore." The quote of quotes is: "He's just a typical politician. I can't get behind that." I'm sorry, but this is my worry about Kerry. And this is coming to fruition with the public that matters.

[maggrwaggr]

18. I thought Kerry did great, and I don't even like him that much

Seemed much more human than the professional politican I've seen in the past.

[jpgpenn]

20. Why? for acting nervous and statue like?

[Zech Marquis]

22. Kerry did very good

He got a lot of appluase when Jennings asked him about the BFEE calling him another liberal form the Northeast. Last time I checked, sapce cadet * is ALSO from the Northeast :evilgrin:

[askew]

25. Have to disagree.

He had one good answer, the "throwing the medals" question and he really blew the Iraq question.

Personally, this is how I would rank the candidates' performances tonight:

1. Dean - He hit 2 huge home runs and did a good job with the rest of the questions.

2. Lieberman - Though I hate most of the man's positions, he did a great job of defining his positions well and got a few laughs.

3. Clark - He got some horrible questions tonight, but I thought he handled them well for the most part.

3(tie). Edwards - This wasn't a great performance for him overall. He had some great answers, but he blew the Islam question and really blew the DOMA question.

4. Kucinich - I thought this was his worst debate. He did great on the NAFTA/WTO question. But, he just didn't connect as well tonight.

5. Kerry - One good answer, one horrible answer. The rest forgetable.

6. Sharpton - Really blew the fed. reserve question.

[newsguyatl]

26. kerry did well eric

but i wouldn't say he won...


i just can't get past his political rhetoric to get excited about him... yet at least.

[economic justice]

28. I agree.....I'm a Clark guy...but...

I think Kerry actually was the most impressive tonight. I thought he looked a foot or two taller than the rest of the field..... Not literally....you know what I mean :)

[Ramsey]

29. He held his own

Kerry has always been knowledgeable and articulate without being charismatic. He was that again tonight.

As an Ivy League educated academic liberal elitist snob :evilgrin:, I very much appreciate Kerry's statesmanlike ability. I am not sure it resonates with the larger audience.

[molly]

32. He was VERY charismatic when I met him

a handful of years ago at a Biden Seminar. He was magnetic and inspiring without appearing pompous and elitist. He was warm-elegance with a very good dribble of humor.

He walks like a king with the humility of who we are.

:grouphug:

[OneBlueSky]

33. Kerry was predictable and non-charismatic . . .

and the television lights made him (and Kucinich) look like shit . . . I still support him, but he needs to be able to energize and excite people, and he sure didn't show any of that tonight . . . he also needs a good tv makeup guy . . .

[Toucano]

34. Kerry did okay, but Edwards got the most exposure. n/t

[IndianaGreen]

39. Kerry pleased everyone one on IWR and PATRIOT

If you are for them, Kerry was for them. If you are against them, Kerry was against them. If you waffle on them, Kerry is Mister Waffles!

If Clinton had the waffling skills of Kerry, we would still be confused about the nature of his relationship with Ms Lewinsky.

[dreissig]

41. Waffling Skills

I don't respect "waffling skills". I'm reasonably intelligent and I usually understand what people are saying. With Kerry, you know he's finished when he stops talking, but you can't remember what he said. In some contexts, that's a terrific skill. However, I expect straight answers from a candidate for the presidency. (I also expect a few dishonest ones, but not a steady diet.)

[milkyway]

42. Kerry did well, but he had the softest questions...

It's easy to hit them out of the park when they're soft. Clarke, on the other hand, was in the crosshairs all night and handled it very well. It reminded me of some earlier debates when Dean got a lot of gotcha questions, while somebody like Edwards would be asked to talk about his economic program, a question in which they can just recite their stump speech.

[HuckleB]

44. As far as the debate goes, Lieberman won. And I am no fan.

Edwards, Dean and Clark tied for second, with Kerry and Kucinich a distant fifth. Sharpton blew it big time.

None of it changed my preferences, however.

[Monument]

47. The Medals question was very tough, and Kerry did very well

I think that Kerry was asked a couple of dud questions, but that medals question was clearly a knock against him and he just nailed it.

[HuckleB]

49. I didn't see it that way.

Nor have any of the undecided folks that I've talked to this morning.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

50. A major home run by Kerry

very strong answer and appropriate to the historic moment of Iraq.

[Kira]

46. Dean

totally won the debate last night. He was great. Kerry said some good things but I didn't think he was at his best.