9:43 PM: TPM Reader JB writes in: “The tough part for Reid is refuting Angle’s falsehoods without sounding unbelievable himself or, worse, like a condescending bully.” Yep.
9:45 PM: I wonder if this claim about Ashjian is going to hurt her. Promising him special favors to get out of the race? That’s the same access as every voter will have? Not sure about that.
9:49 PM: I get that I’m becoming a broken record on this one. But God, just lie after lie. The whole point of the HCR bill is that you can buy from multiple vendors. Ugh. You sort of have to have heard Angle’s response. But classic up-is-downism.
9:53 PM: Economy is doing so poorly because of looming threat of non-extension of Bush tax cuts. Genius.
9:55 PM: I thought Reid was joking when he said he needed to pull his notes and paper together to give his final statement. I guess not.
9:58 PM: And that’s all she wrote. On first blush, looking at comments on Twitter and reader emails, I think Reid did a bit better than people are giving him credit for. Angle simply ignored most of the point where she was asked about various false statements. But in general I don’t get the sense that anything that happened in this debate was really enough to change the dynamics of the race. If you don’t already get that Angle is nuts, I don’t think there was anything is this debate that was going to convince. Reid showed he understands the issues and has realistic responses. But again, if that mattered to you, you’d already be voting him. The fact that both candidates speak English as a second language only made things a bit more painful.
