Yearly Kos: 3-Day Late Debateblogging

Everyone's kind of said what's needed to be said about the Yearly Kos Convention's Presidential Leadership Forum, so I'll confine myself to some quick remarks.

• The format: Less Matt Bai and more Mcjoan would have helped (the questions she didn't ask were excellent. But overall, the candidates appeared looser in front of a live audience that wasn't forced to sit on their hands. The instant feedback was interesting because it forced follow-up questions and justifications. And it was nice to see a debate without the so-called "hot button" (read: meaningless) isues. The "raise your hand" crap still got in there, though; I'll never forgive Wolf Blitzer for entering that into political discourse.

• Richardson: He did better than some of the other debates. People were right to boo his call for a Balanced Budget Amendment, though I guess he cleaned it up in his breakout session by saying it could be suspended in a fiscal emergency, making it more of a "Balanced Budget Suggestion." But right after that, he called for eliminating corporate welfare, which was unexpected for this so-called "pro-business Democrat" to say. He was also very strong on election reform, calling for same-day registration, paper ballots, and an end to voter suppression. And he was adamant about the "no residual forces" in Iraq with a 6-month pullout, citing actual examples of moving that number of troops and equipment in that time. This was a good job.

• Gravel: He actually claimed that his proposal for a "fair tax" on all goods wasn't important because Congress wouldn't enact it anyway. "Vote for me... my priorities aren't possible!" He really is the Get Off My Lawn candidate. Not much else to say.

• Kucinich: His new slogan of "strength through peace" certainly has a point of view that is diametrically opposed to wingnut neoconism. The rest was familiar: single-payer, impeaching Cheney, no additional funding in Iraq. He thought he got a zinger in when asking Edwards not to take money from hedge-fund managers, but considering that Edwards has called for raising their taxes by treating their income as earned and not through investment, I don't get the quid pro quo there.

• Dodd: Chris Dodd now has a more compelling reason to run - protecting the Constitution. Without the Constitution "we're a trade association, and who wants to be President of a trade association?" he said in an interview with Glenn Greenwald. And in the debate, he was very strong on the subject. His first answer sucked, another "I was duped by the Bush Administration" line about Judge Roberts; if you've been duped by Bush, are you to be trusted in the world? But the rest of his performance was execellent. He railed against Rupert Murdoch's purchase of the Wall Street Journal in the context of media consolidation, he defended bloggers against Bill O'Reilly, he stood on principle on Iraq ("I'd rather have 25 votes for something meaningful than 50 votes for something toothless"), and how he would restore the Constitution in a variety of ways (habeas being the most notable). I think he gained the most from the community.

• Obama: He did have pretty much the same tone as other debates, not kicking it up a notch. But he was still very impressive, and when he needed to hit hard, he did. The particular takeaways were on the Clinton lobbyist flap: "Pharmaceutical and health insurance companies spend billions of dollars, they don't do that in the public interest." I think his use of the phrase "We must end the occupation of Iraq" was significant as well, a reframing of the whole exercise. You can't win an occupation the way you can win a war. He said "we believe in two-way fair trade" with respect to China. I believe Obama has progressive principles that he tries to wrap in a universal language. Obama's call to double foreign aid mirrors Edwards' anti-poverty proposals as a means to fight the conditions that create terror.

• Clinton: I agree with Matt Stoller; she really screwed this one up. While I admire her attendance, her depth of knowledge, and her willingness to answer honestly, she really let her slip show with that "lobbyists are people too" comment. That's a little much for this progressive to swallow. And she continued her "safer but not yet safe" garbage, as if taking your shoes off at TSA is an expression of safety. There's a way to answer that now that the 9/11 Commission recommendations have been implemented, but her way is not the way. Until those answers, which were near the end of the debate, she was sailing. But those missteps, combined with blaming Al Gore for the Telecommunications Act in her breakout session, showed the cracks in the armor. Clinton wanted to be booed, I think (she said "I've been waiting for this" the first time she was) but the way she spun the key lobbyist answer was awful. And she's already taking a lot of heat for it. There are optics here, and Clinton is losing the emotional argument by tying herself to big business.

• Edwards: Which brings us to the debate's winner. I didn't appreciate Edwards' canned answers to the first couple questions, which revealed an obvious "people vs. the powerful" pre-written agenda. Love the message, the approach not so much. But Edwards hit hard on the lobbyist issue and I think it will benefit him. When he disavows the unitary executive approach to government in specific terms (close Gitmo, no warrantless wiretapping, no torture); when he says "government belong to you"; when he says "Less allies, more terrorists"; when he calls for universal education as a way to dry up the madrassas in Pakistan and moderate the society; when he decries the rigged system and calls for a grassroots reform movement to effect real change; I am ever more convinced that he is the right man to lead the country. He called for Elizabeth Edwards to be his official White House blogger, too. The lobbyist issue is a real nice way to take a small idea and make it symbolic of the big idea of transformational change. He needs to keep hitting this.

If you want to see crappy debate blogging, by the way, go to Swampland and keep scrolling.