No Contact Townhall Blogging #3

10:02 PM: Clinton immediately touches on general election electability – keeping a Republican out of the White House.

10:05 PM: I’ve made my point on the electability issue. But this is one of the most interesting aspects of the race for me. There is a mountain of public opinion data showing how many more Democrats today identify as “liberal” than was the case a generation ago. And you see that play out in economics, on race, gender and LGBT issues. But the Clintons – both of them – came of age politically in a very different world. And it’s fascinating to watch them try to get their political footing in this different world.

10:09 PM: I’ve watched each of these debates and quasi-debates and I’ve seen the stump speeches. But I don’t feel like until tonight the basic division between the two candidates has been quite as clear-cut: Sanders ‘revolution’ and Clinton at a very basic level on defense, defending Democratic gains. ‘Defense’ can have a negative connotation. But the cost of a Republican president with what would in all likely be a united Republican Congress would be huge. There’s a lot to defend and protect.

10:13 PM: This is fairly intense for a presidential debate.

10:15 PM: What struck me about that bracing, courageous question is that the man’s question was not tightly focused – at least that’s how I heard it – on the right to die. There are a whole host of end of life questions, to put it mildly. DNRs, hospice care, palliative care as opposed to ‘heroic’ care till the very end. But Clinton seemed to take it very much in that direction, in the most controversial, hot button direction. Nothing wrong with answering it that way. It just jumped out at me.

10:20 PM: Interesting answer on the Selective Service. I get what Clinton is saying and I get that she’d prefer to avoid saying she supports the idea of compulsory draft registration for women. But the logic does not seem that complicated to me. Equality is equality.

10:22 PM: “I’ve had a lot of practice.” … “They play to destroy.”

10:26 PM: This is Clinton hitting her stride, the theme of fight, the theme of taking it to the Republicans. And that fits with the ‘being on defense’ that I mentioned above.

10:29 PM: This answer has come up a few times from Clinton. And I think she’s basically right. But I don’t think she’s quite got the answer down: basically, that a lot of the ‘trust’ issue comes from being attacked by the right for 25 years. She needs to press this point but it’s still a bit fuzzy. Not quite as convincing as I think the reality of the situation should make it.

10:33 PM: TPM Reader JB says this: “Clinton already running in the general, Bernie is not, and that makes it much harder for her to please the crowd and take bright line positions.”

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