First of all, Alison King did a fantastic job in last night’s debate of Democratic presidential hopefuls. Very nice work, Alison. You can ask my question next time.

That said, I learned quite a bit about these eight candidates.

• Clinton is playing it safe and protecting her lead—her response about the Yankees-Cubs World Series said it all. Still, she came across as highly confident and knowledgeable, and I liked her response when Russert suggested Bill Clinton would have answered a question differently. “Well he’s not the one standing up here, is he.”
• Obama sounded naive on foreign policy. I know he is trying to say his lack of experience is an asset, but I just don’t see that as being the case. At this point in his career, he probably would make an excellent Vice President.
• Edwards said “I was the first [blah] [blah] [blah]” about 600 times and came across salesy—me, me, me. In response to each question, he spoke not about policies but about himself.
• Dodd impressed me—I had not expected that. I’d like to hear more from him.
• Gravel is a huge distraction and needs to get out of the race, like, now.
• Kucinich, as much as I like some of what he says, also should bow out—he’s adding nothing and last night came across as self-aggrandizing.
• Biden I once liked; now he just seems bitter and brusque.
• Richardson I once thought I liked.  He has vast experience in the foreign policy arena, but he was able to demonstrate none of that experience last night.  He, too, should bow out.

Perhaps early primaries are not such a bad thing, as they could weed out some of the excess. Fewer people up there would make for a better debate, as we could get longer answers and challenge people to be more specific.

I was very disappointed that none of the eight candidates challenged the appropriateness of Russet’s question about the Bible. (”What is your favorite passage from the Bible?”) Maybe all of them are church-goers, I don’t know, but the question brought Christianity (and only Christianity) into a debate where it did not belong. Moreover, the question and its answers were meaningless. It’s possible that Russert was looking for a challenge and did not get it. I would have been impressed if one of them had said, “Tim, it is inappropriate to bring religion and religious texts into this forum. If you would like to ask me about my favorite clause in the United States Constitution, I would be happy to answer it.”