Debatable debate results

Kevin Hassett:

When eight Democratic candidates for president debated last week in Orangeburg, South Carolina, they took sides on almost nothing yet agreed unanimously that the U.S. should get out of Iraq. That was about it.

If you want a Hollywood analogy, think of that scene in the movie ``Airplane'' where everyone takes turns slapping a hysterical passenger. Then let that passenger be President George W. Bush.

If it's economic substance you were looking for, you went to the wrong place. John Edwards extolled the wonders of his health-care plan. Senator Barack Obama pretended impressively to have one (which he does not). New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson mumbled something about the minimum wage.

Still, even with the wriggling and evading, the debate told us a lot about the Democratic campaign.

Before the debate, everyone knew that the Democratic field has three tiers. The first tier (the Frontrunners) includes Senator Hillary Clinton and Obama; the second (the Challengers) includes Edwards and Richardson, and the third tier (the Impossibles) includes Senators Joe Biden and Christopher Dodd, Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, and former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel.

We know a lot more now. How did each of them do?

...

Bill Richardson: It seems that every primary season some governor comes out of nowhere to steal the nomination. Richardson showed in this debate that it might well happen again. He was genuine and tough, the kind of guy who could pull the troops out of Iraq without looking wimpy. If he has a couple of more debates this good, money will start flowing his way. (Grade: A+)

...
He gives a lot of F's including one for Obama. Hillary got an A too. I thought Richardson blew any chance of becoming President by appealing to the kooks on an unrealistic withdrawal date for US troops in Iraq that he would have no ability to implement anyway since he wants them out by the end of 2007. Up until he made this ridiculous proposal I thought he may have been teh Democrats best candidate. Now he makes Hillary look like a voice of reason.

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