I watched the debate online. There were a few interrupted moments but for most of it was able to follow it. I took notes (but please consult later transcripts for exact words).
Here are the moments that were key and that will have repercussions for the respective candidates and campaigns.
Senator Clinton's defense of accepting lobbyist money and how Edwards and Obama took the steering wheel on that issue and drove it home: We'll be hearing a lot more on that as the campaign goes on, and probably in paid advertising closer to the early caucuses and primaries. It's a very weak spot for Clinton.
UPDATE: AP leads with the lobbyist money issue.
Senator Obama's repetition of the importance of "if we are willing to engage our foes as well as our friends” and his continued toughness on the Musharraf regime of Pakistan (on which Governor Richardson weighed in that he, too, would tell Musharraf, "You go after those safe havens. If you don’t, we will.”)
Matt Bai's immortal words: "I'm losing control."
Yep.
Statements by the candidates and more memorable moments at the jump...
Top Debate Moments:
Will Senator Clinton continue to take money from lobbyists?
Clinton: “Yes, I will. I will. A lot of those lobbyists whether you like it or not represent real Americans. Nurses, social workers, yes they represent corporations that employ a lot of people.”
So is that it? The corporations hire lobbyists to help their employees achieve better pay and safer working conditions? If that is the answer of “experience” something is very rotten in Washington.
Edwards in response: “No place in America doesn’t believe that the system is rigged... We will never take a dime from a Washington lobbyist. Senator Obama and I have already done it.”
Edwards again: “How many people in this room have a Washington lobbyist representing them? We need to cut these people off.”
Obama, in response to the campaign financing questions, tried to praise Senator Dodd for being for public financing and Dodd interrupted, snarling at him, “I’m not a newcomer!” The resentment seemed pretty funny to me.
Obama continues: “I disagree with the notion that lobbyists don’t have disproportionate influence… The insurance and the drug companies spent over one billion dollars. You can’t tell me that money did not have a difference. They have an agenda (wild applause, including from Edwards). Whose got a track record on doing this?” He cites the reform bill he got passed in Illinoois and later in the US Senate with the provision requiring disclosure of “bundled” contributions: “Myself and Russ Feingold forced that provision in with resistance not just from Republicans but also from some Democrats.”
NY Times’ Matt Bai at that moment: “I’m losing control.”
Yep.
During the debate Bai hit Obama with a trick question that tried to turn him into Ron Paul, about whether 9/11 was provoked by America’s actions around the world. Obama turned it around and scored:
Obama: “I don’t think there’s any excuse for 9/11… We need to hunt down those people… By the way, they weren’t in Iraq. In our reaction to 9/11 we absolutely acted in a way that has fanned anti-American sentiment… We botched the job, we now have chaos and civil war… In 2002 I said this was a bad idea… We should end our occupation in Iraq and focus our attention on those that killed 3000 Americans…”
Obama then repeated from his foreign policy speech on Wednesday his points about Afghanistan, and “putting pressure on Pakistan,” clearly he’s not backing down on what his enemies wishfully call “gaffes” but which are evidently gaining him support in the early caucus and primary states.
Bai tried to hit him again with the same inane question.
Obama responded: "There’s no excuse for the terrorist acts… Have we always acted intelligently? We have not. We are interested in oil… I propose that we’ve got to double our foreign aid… for schools teaching math and science… If we are willing to engage our foes as well as our friends… Shut down Guantanamo and restore Habeus corpus.”
Note the repetition from the first debate: “if we are willing to engage our foes as well as our friends.” Here’s someone that doesn’t back down in the face of pundit attacks that seek to put him down for bucking the damned conventional wisdom.
Obama, this time with a question about US policy toward China:
Obama: "China is a competitor but it does not have to be an enemy unless we make it an enemy…” He urged getting out of the US banking debt with China noting that it’s hard to pressure China on human rights and trade “if they are our banker.”
He spoke knowledgeably about growing Chinese influence in Africa and Latin America: “Chinese presence is as pronounced as US absence… The same is true in Latin America… We are losing leverage. So obsessed with Iraq… neglecting all sorts of challenges and opportunities.”
Later, Richardson advocated the very policy that Obama has been attacked over:
Richardson: “We’ve got to push Musharraf. He’s not exactly a democrat. He doesn’t like elections… (he) violates human rights. I would tell him, ‘You go after those safe havens. If you don’t, we will.’”
And Kucinich advocated meeting with controversial world leaders:
Kucinich: “I’m going to visit Israel, Palestine, Syria and Iran.”
Obama also scored the most credibility on being able to wage a “fifty state” strategy in the general election, offering specifics about Mississippi.
Obama: “We’ve got to change the political map... 45 percent on one side, 45 petcent on the other each side, with10 in the middle… Ohio and Fla. And then we eke out a victory even if we do the Supreme Court overturns it. We’ve got to expand the voter face. Bringing in new people. We had a rally with 20,000 people in Atlanta and 40 percent of them were not registered to vote.” He also mentions that Mississippi is 40 percent African American and says his plan is to “put Mississippi in play.”
Richardson: “We need a nominee that energizes the American people.”
Discuss...