The Democratic Debate

Tonight, the Democratic debate will feature just Barack and Hillary as the third wheel finally went flat. This is both good and bad for the candidates:

(1) There will be no team debates without John: Barack cannot team up against Hillary, and Hillary, Barack. Is this good or bad? Hillary scored some points with voters in New Hampshire when it appeared that all of the other candidates were against her. (This has not worked for Mitt Romney though-- even though all of the Republican candidates are against him he is quite the unsympathetic figure.)

(2) There should be very little "fireworks" at tonights debate. It may be a bland love-fest. Barack cannot be aggressive against in case he were to lose political points. Hillary cannot look vindictive and must look in more control than she did in South Carolina.

(3) Wolf Blizter will need to drum up some controversy by interjecting the "Snub" and "Billary," maybe even the bridge to the past, which is not an ad personam but a perfectly valid argument in order to turn-the-tables on the opponent. These topics may not persuade new voters but just reinforce the supporters (as Debates typically do).

(4)I am not sure what the "ghost of John Edwards" will do to this race, other than raise the pandering level. Demographically, his supporters seem as if they would support Hillary. However, Edwards was not a fan of the Clintons (as they are not a fan of him) and there is a reason his supporters supported him rather than Hillary. Because of interests, they may go to Obama or Nader. Both Clinton and Obama will attempt to pander to the Edwards crowd but the two most important questions may be: who will win the crowd over (Barack and Hillary) and who will Edwards endorse (but if that even matters is an entirely different subject).

My take:
Hillary: She attempts to incite Barack to get him off his message of hope. She plays the experience card over and over and over and over and over, no matter how misleading, and attempts to make this debate out to be her versus George W. Bush. Overall: She seems "nice" during the debate but is not too emotional. Further, she works on maintaining her perfect posture and avoids any unflattering positions whereby she looks as if she wants to hit Barack over the head with a frying pan. She reminds the audience this is about George W. Bush, you know, the president that no longer receives any press, even after delivering a State of the Union Address. This strategy would have worked in 2004 but where was she then?

Obama: avoids confrontation as he attempts for humor instead. He counters experience by mentioning Iraq. He says "hope" and "change" 2.3 times per minute (average count). Overall: He also attempts to work on reducing the number of verbal pauses and avoids placing his fingers over his mouth as if he would rather be outside smoking, like he did during the state of the union. He attempts to kill Clinton with kindness and, at the same time, bashes her and her supporters (e.g. Now) for disliking intellectual diversity, reminding the audience that she would be like George W. Bush, and former President Clinton, and former President H.W. Bush, and former President John Adams, and John Quincy Adams, former President Grover Cleveland, and former President James Buchanan, and former President Rutherford B. Hayes. No one in the audience knows anything about any of them except G.W. and Clinton. He then reminds his audience he was the editor at the Harvard Law Review.

The audience: loses interest within 15 minutes when no fireworks occur. They spend the rest of the debate mocking Mitt Romney and Wolf Blitzer and wondering why the candidates are not having a conversation in front of Air Force One like the Republicans did. Overall: They puzzle over whether or not the polls are correct as to whether or not Hillary can beat McCain but opt for another glass of wine or beer before reaching a conclusion on the matter.

Rest of the world: Extremely puzzled over how the Democrats will lose the general election in 2008 and wonder if it could be possible that the Republican nominee may be the anti-torture nominee.

Any thoughts? What advice would you give the candidates?