Is this really the 26th Democratic presidential debate of this cycle?
No wonder we all groan at the mention of another debate. But it’s been about six weeks since the last one (if you don’t count the faith forum whatchamacallit the other night), so we’re good to go.
Standing by for 8 ET start . . .
7:59 PM … Can we expect the candidates to bring any blue collar props on stage? A bowling ball? Maybe a shot glass?
Josh will be joining us later. He has other professional obligations at the moment.
8:00 PM … No Wolf? No Tim Russert? Peace.
8:02 PM … No blue collar props. Maybe they’re packing heat.
8:05 PM … Amy Poehler’s Hillary is so dead-on that I can’t watch Hillary speak without conflating the two in my mind.
8:06 PM … Blessedly short opening statements. Someone must have reminded the candidates that this is the 26th time they’ve done this.
8:07 PM … Commercial break. A good time to point out that ABC is imposing a blackout on its debate footage until tomorrow morning — or trying to.
8:08 PM … Charlie Gibson stumps them right off the bat with Mario Cuomo’s suggestion that the winner pledge to make the loser his or her running mate.
8:11 PM … By “stumps,” I mean moment of awkward silence. They both manage to avoid answering the question directly.
8:12 PM … Straight to the bitter clingers question . . .
8:14 PM … Obama addressed the question and admitted he “mangled” his words but seemed defensive — and didn’t really address the subtext to the question.
8:15 PM … For a moment, I thought Hillary was going to throw back a shot of whiskey before answering the question.
8:18 PM … Here he goes. Obama circles back to elitism and condescending subtext.
8:22 PM … He got in a few shots about Hillary learning the “wrong lessons” and adopting GOP campaign tactics. She only mildly engaged, also sidestepping the subtext of the charge.
8:26 PM … The Wright question to Obama almost seems like a blast from the past. But oddly enough, I think the Wright controversy erupted between the last debate and this one, so first time Obama had a chance to be quizzed on this in a debate.
8:28 PM … Ding, ding, ding, ding. Hillary just invoked 9/11 in explaining how Wright would have been “intolerable” to her as her pastor.
8:32 PM … Speaking of mangled, I doubt Obama meant to say he “disowned” Wright.
8:33 PM … Another blast from the past: Tuzla.
8:36 PM … Both candidates seemed unprepared in a sense for a reprise of these earlier gaffes. Getting bogged down in the minutiae.
