http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/17140672.htmDemocratic candidates gang up on Bush, war in Iraq
By Steven Thomma
McClatchy Newspapers
ORANGEBURG, S.C. - Candidates for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination eyed each other politely - even warily - Thursday in their first face-to-face debate, a session that offered little likelihood of dramatically shaking up the young campaign.
The eight candidates differed sharply with President Bush, particularly on Iraq, but seldom with one another. The format did not allow them to directly challenge each other - and few did.
Rather, they mostly agreed in their desire to get U.S. troops out of Iraq, to expand health care to the uninsured while controlling costs for those with insurance, to support abortion rights without qualification, and to bar access to guns for the mentally ill like the gunman who killed 32 at Virginia Tech.
Absent direct challenges - or any pronounced gaffes - the debate probably did nothing to fundamentally change the shape of the contest with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina leading in the polls and the rest trailing well behind.
Campaign aides said afterward that they saw little in the debate that would dramatically alter the political landscape - though each predictably said that his or her own candidate did very well.
Mark Penn, senior strategist to the Clinton campaign, said it was too early to expect direct attacks that would turn off voters just getting to know the candidates. "Now is not the time for sharp exchanges," he said.
more...