Who did you think won tonight's debate? Why?

[alfredo]

[mmonk]

1. Didn't watch.

No need.

[Blue_In_AK]

20. Me either

I'm burnt out on them all already.

[TahitiNut]

2. Edwards, only because Kucinich wasn't given a fair amount of time.

[Donnachaidh]

16. But Kucinich came across VERY well with the little time he had

I was impressed with both.

And Dennis didn't whine about his lack of time, as Gravel did. He utilized his face time very well. I like both Kucinich and Edwards.

[iamthebandfanman]

32. yes

i think kucinich definitely came out way better tonite than the last two.
im not a supportor persay either for the record.

[Prophet 451]

23. Seconded n/t

[Telly Savalas]

25. Cooper is weak. Blitzer totally dominated the candidates.

No way Blitzer would ever let two candidates talk more than him.

[alfredo]

33. Cooper was good. He got into the You Tube spirit with the

Tennessee/Gore question. That was funny.

The candidates seemed respectful of him.

[DemBones DemBones]

37. I say Kucinich because of what he did with the small amount of time he had.

A lot of Edwards's time was wasted trying to defend his wife's statement that he was better on women's issues than Clinton, without saying that he was better on women's issues than Clinton.

[quinnox]

3. John Edwards

I thought he gave the best answers and actually tried his best to answer the questions in the short time he had. He had a couple great answers one was on health care. I liked his basic theme of him fighting against the big corporations for the common man that ran through most of his answers. He also was good on the camera, and seems to have good camera awareness and how to play to the camera which is important. He made some criticisms on Hillary that were just right, subtle but not over the top. (Insiders again in White House for example)

Hillary did good as usual, she will always do well because she is very intelligent, but I didn't think she did outstanding.

Obama was mixed, he had some very good moments and some bad moments.

[napi21]

4. I said Hillary. Her response to would you meet with the leaders of

Iran, Syria and Lebanon was exactly right, and no matter what the question was, she had no hesitation, but still responded well to each one!

Tossing in that little jab at the DOD tiff didn't hurt her either!

[cynatnite]

15. Same here. It was a smart answer...

Obama was pretty naive in his answer.

[alfredo]

17. That response won over my wife. It showed that Hillary wouldn't

shoot from the hip.

This was a real good debate, there wasn't a loser in the crowd. The three front runners were very close. I thought Richardson did well this time. Biden was very good too.

I loved the exchange between Cooper and Kucinich when they played off the "left" position.

[cynatnite]

29. Richardson impressed me more this time around...

I really liked what he said. Overall it was a good debate, I thought. My teenager watched almost the entire thing and she's very excited about voting next year.

[alfredo]

30. Both Richardson and Edwards stepped up to the plate.

[Peregrine Took]

5. Mike Gravel won because he was the only candidate who answered the

questions honestly, passionately and with honor.

[Raine]

35. I agree

also it seemed like he was the only one who didn't view the debate as a mutual admiration society and held the others up to a standard. I was very impressed with him and feel like I have finally found my candidate.

[AtomicKitten]

6. I think they all did well and it's impossible to pick a winner.

n/t

[femmocrat]

13. Same here. I think they are all improving as the campaigns progress.

Richardson seemed a lot sharper to me tonight, for example.

[alfredo]

24. He was on his game tonight. Voted most improved?

[zulchzulu]

40. Totally agree

It's pretty subjective to think there was a "clear winner" in the debate.

All did well...some had some better comments, but if you really looked at the debate from a neutral position, there was clearly not a "winner".

[Snotcicles]

7. Edwards, I really believe he is the true populists, that will do what he says. nt

[Hieronymus]

11. I agree.

[madrchsod]

8. did`t watch

question and answers prove pretty much nothing

[BeatleBoot]

9. Edwards...

Health Care, mostly.

[frogcycle]

10. I said Edwards although all had a lot of good moments

and while some probably regret phraseology on some, I don't think anyone hurt themselves.

If you are a populist, though, Edwards' message is spot on.

Watch his "hair" video;

http://johnedwards.com/watch/hair/

[iamjoy]

14. Great Video!

I like how he is taking something being used against him and turning it right back at his attackers!

[LWolf]

12. I didn't see a clear winner.

I think they all did well. They didn't all make points with me, but they all presented their points well.

I really disagree with Obama. Every time he speaks, he says something else that repels me further. Tonight it was leaving nuclear power on the table, and leaving the corporate health insurers a place "at the table," and not supporting a mandate for universal health care.

Hillary...I disagree with her on many points, and will not vote for her because of her corporate connections. She continues to showcase intelligence and political experience and dexterity. I respect her, even though she can't earn my vote.

Gravel...I like him, but he lost some points with me with the "competition" remark about public schools.

Dodd...lost big points with me with his rants about "accountability" in regards to NCLB, as if we weren't accountable BEFORE NCLB, as if we don't WANT our students to prosper. I may not forgive him unless, and until, NCLB is abolished.

Richardson...GREAT on NCLB, thanks. I really like MOST of what this man has to say. His connections to the DLC take him off of my list, which is, frankly, regrettable. If he would cut ties with the DLC, and perhaps avoid canned trophy hunts for exotic species on Ted Turner's ranch, he'd probably be my #2.

Edwards...He's doing great. I'm impressed. He doesn't get my vote. His improvement is too recent for that. I haven't forgotten his vote for the IWR, his speech on the floor of the Senate in support of the Patriot Act. I've noticed that his platform seems to have adopted the ideas of others, which is fine and good, when they are good ideas. Honesty would require him to give credit where credit is due, though, and I'm not hearing that.
If he continues to evolve at the rate he's going now, I can see myself supporting him for something at some time in the future.

Biden...I respect his service to the nation over the course of his career. His stance on Iraq loses me. Period. He did, though, have the second best line of the night, concerning the questioners "baby," lol.

Kucinich...He wins with me. Not on his performance tonight; it was great, but he wasn't allowed to contribute enough to actually "win." Given and equal # of questions, and equal opportunity and time to speak, he just might have "won." His platform is by far the best, whether he gets a chance to share it or not. He also gets the best one-liner of the night, noting that there was no candidate "to the left" of him for the final question. :D

[bbgrunt]

18. I'm not surre anyone won, but I was astonished that on both FUX

and CNN they were pushing focus groups that seemed to think Obama had won them over from being Clinton voters. It looks like the media is trying to make it a horse race again--what oh what will they spend their time covering if not the horse race? Maybe news or hearings or Harriet Myers refusal to show up-----ooops my bad. I guess somewhere in the new constitution it says that the media picks the president.

Wow. It is so apparent how they are trying to fill up all the cable news time with nothing but low cost political crap.

[theredpen]

19. Audience Response favored Obama

If you watched the streaming video, you could choose to watch the debates with one of two audience response graphs. One graph was Las Vegas, NV, but that channel had technical problems. The other was an audience in Manchester, NH.

"Neutral" was 50%. This is where the line hovered between questions. As a candidate spoke, the line would diverge from 50%. The line never when down, which meant that all of that answers were received favorably overall. The most consistent rating was 70% (+20%). This seemed to be the threshold for what would be considered a "good" audience response.

Most of the time, a candidate's answer would reliably top out at a 70% rating. Sometimes it took a little while to build past 60%-65%. Gravel was the only candidate who seemed to have trouble hitting 70%. Obama, particularly in the first two thirds of the debate. Routinely scored 80% or better on his answers. Later on, he began to stumble and by the end he was hitting the 70% mark with the rest. Even when his answers scored less than 80%, he still tended to do better than his opponents.

On a couple of occasions the audience was already responding with 70% approval just to the question. The two issues that did this were education and health care. Dodd's education answer shot up into "Obama territory" pretty quickly. On health care, the audience responded well to the sentiment that it is scandalous that such a rich country fails to provide basic health care to so many of its citizens.

The candidate with the second best audience response was Edwards. Clinton did well, hitting the 70% mark most of the time. Other candidates had less air time, and it was difficult to gauge their effectiveness. Biden, Kucinich and Gravel got the most consistently muted responses, but Richardson and Dodd both had moments of high audience reaction.

At the end of the debate, the person running the Manchester feed opened some kind of application, which became visible on-screen. They calculated some kind of tally of average response and saved out a graph. I wasn't quick enough to grab a screen shot, but I suspect we'll be seeing that graph somewhere on CNN.

That's my "Audience Reaction Report."

[alfredo]

21. Thanks. I was going to watch online, but opted to watch on TV along with

my wife. I think Hillary fared better in NV and so did Richardson with a bit of a home town advantage. I think Richardson did better in this debate than the last few.

Gravel did very good, fleshing out his positions. Edwards hit the populist themes out of the park.
there were so many great one liners this time around.

I loved the question from Tennessee.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

22. I really do not think there was A winner. In a way, that is incredibly comforting.

There was a debate. It caused me to think even more about what is important.

The framework was fabulous.

I want more.

[B Calm]

26. Edwards talks about helping the working class...

just so happens I have to work for a damn paycheck..

[mnhtnbb]

27. Edwards came across as passionate and clearly leading on the issues

with Obama and Hillary falling all over themselves to deny that Edwards
wasn't out front of them.

and I LOVED his campaign video. What a giant finger to the media that
can't get over all things hair about him.

[alfredo]

28. I love that ad. At first I didn't catch it.

[Nutmegger]

31. Edwards without a doubt.

He was strong and passionate and his ad is brilliant!

[harun]

38. I'm with you on Edwards, they seemed to try and give

Hillary and Obama the most time. They all did real well but I think the slight edge would have to go to Edwards.

[Selatius]

34. The plurality of the responses to this thread seem to favor John Edwards.

I'm talking about responses, not votes cast in the poll.

[alfredo]

36. Though we may not represent the typical voter, we may reflect

the primary voter. This may bode well for Edwards.

[harun]

39. Can't wait till Jan 14, 08 to see who wins the primary in Iowa (n/t)

[alfredo]

41. It won't be just money, it will be the ground game.

[alfredo]

42. Hillary is catching up.