Candidates Blog

Arianna Huffington talks about Clinton’s debate performance in the New Hampshire debate last night.

Hillary tells moderator Wolf Blitzer why presidential candidates shouldn’t answer hypothetical questions.

Hillary discusses how all the Democratic candidates are united in their desire to bring the Iraq war to an end.

Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts talks about Hillary’s performance in tonight’s presidential debate.

Hillarys great line on Dick Cheneys diplomacy skills…

Not very lively, but more informative than the silly thing MSNBC put on before them. CNN had a ton of technical problems that included terrible camera work with zooms and swishes and awkward angles that made us suspect someone behind the scenes partook in happy hour a little to [liberally?] much. The debate took place in the first primary state, in case you care.

The AP notes that The Iraq war was the main focus, as it was during Democrats’ first debate, in late April in Orangeburg, S.C. Polls show the war has become deeply unpopular among voters and especially among Democratic activists, who vote heavily in primaries. More from the AP‘s take:

The candidates sought to highlight their own differences on the war in Iraq.
Obama told Edwards, who voted in October 2002 to authorize the war in Iraq but now says that the vote was a mistake: “John, you’re about four and a half years late on leadership on this issue.”

Obama was not in the Senate at the time of the vote but had voiced opposition to the war resolution at the time.

Edwards conceded, “He was right, I was wrong” on opposing the war from the beginning. And Edwards sought to highlight his change of heart on his vote with Clinton’s continuing refusal to disavow her vote for the war resolution.

Said Clinton: “That was a sincere vote.”
She again declined to say her vote was wrong.

Both Edwards and Clinton agreed that they voted for the war resolution in 2002 without reading an intelligence report on Iraq that was available to them. Both said they sought other information and believed they were thoroughly briefed.

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich said the war on Iraq should not just be blamed on Bush, but on the Congress that authorized it. U.S. troops “never should have been sent there in the first place,” he said. Rather than debate timetables and benchmarks, the Democratic-controlled Congress should “just say no money, the war’s over,” he said.

Kucinich called on other debate partners who were members of Congress to remember that voters had given Democrats control of both House and Senate last November largely in response to opposition to the war.

To a question on whether English should be the official language in the United States, only former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel raised his hand in the affirmative. But Obama protested the question itself, calling it “the kind of question that was designed precisely to divide us.” He said such questions “do a disservice to the American people.”

The candidates squared off as a new national poll found Clinton maintaining a significant lead over her rivals. The Washington Post/ABC News poll found the former first lady leading the field with 42 percent support among adults, compared with 27 percent for Obama and 11 percent for Edwards.

CNN Blog Report on the Debate: