Dem Chitown Debate: Kucinich Got Game, Obama Fights Back, Hillary Brings It On

Got home late from our local election night to watch the repeat of the AFL-CIO debate for another upcoming election you might have heard about.

The Democratic candidates went at it at Soldier Field in Chicago, with mighty-friendly moderator Keith Olbermann. The following are my "moments":

• Great line by Hillary, and a crowd pleaser too: "For 15 years I have stood up against the right-wing machine and I've come out stronger, so if you want a winner who knows how to take them on, I'm your girl." And she did it will a smile too! The message: I'm driving this train to the nomination kids, you might as well get on now!
  
• "There's was a myth when I was growing up in Cleveland that if you dig a whole deep enough, you'll get to China," said Dennis Kucinich. "We're there." He was referring to trade with China, and got huge props from the labor crowd.
• Obama can land a punch. The other Dems are pouncing on his position to go into Pakistan to fight Al-Qaeda. "I find it amusing that those who helped to authorize and engineer the biggest foreign policy disaster in our generation are now criticizing me for making sure we are on the right battlefield and not the wrong battlefield in the war against terrorism." Zing. Take that. Good moment for Obama.
  
• Clinton got booed for her response: "You can think big. But remember, you shouldn't always say everything you think if you're running for president because it has consequences across the world," Sen. Clinton said. How to fight the war on terror seems to be central debate in the fight for the Democratic nomination right now. Seems that Obama won the crowd on this one.
• Joe Biden ignores a question from a woman who lost her husband in the Sago mine tragedy. The question was about worker protections. He quickly moved back to talk about Pakistan. That's clearly his strength, but the guy has got to be tone deaf. Bill Clinton would've never done that! What was Biden thinking? That woman was probably thinking he's a cold, calculating politician that didn't think her question was important enough. Not good. And he lost the crowd -- BIG time.
• John Edwards asks the labor crowd to ponder: "Who was with you during crunch time?"
• Hillary goes back to the woman who lost her husband in the mind. (Take notes Sen. Biden) She talks about strengthening the Labor Department and then hits a series of key labor points. She saw Edwards making the push, and she went into overdrive.
• Does anybody notice Obama says "uh" a lot? Especially right at the beginning of his answers --- uh --- when he's still processing --- uh ---- the question. For all the rave reviews about his speaking, it kind of gets annoying. It's not good for TV reporters, or politicians.
• Dodd pulled a Biden -- at first ignoring a question from a sympathetic union worker who insulates buildings and wants to know about the environment. The crowd boos. Aren't this guys learning anything?
• Clinton is asked again about why she takes money from lobbyists, who make much more than the average American. She flat out doesn't answer it. And then goes on to attack the Bush administration's ethics. If the crowd could smell a dodge, this one would REEK.
• Obama dodges a question about whether he would honor Barry Bonds at the White House. But his answer passes the smell test, and it's an acceptable dodge.
• Biden delivers another classic one-word answer. "YES." He would pledge to stop no-bid contracts. Way to shut up and win back the crowd!
• Bill Richardson not only has bad hearing on stage. He also has weird debate answers. "We need enormous challenges to face," said Richardson. Everybody makes verbal mistakes. He's just had too many.

Overall, Hillary did well because that's what she does. It's clear Obama is upping the ante against Clinton, and is ready to attack. Edwards is the angry populist, but is his message getting stale among all that Hillary-Obama star power? Biden knows as much as anyone on that stage -- it probably hurts him because he is gray, balding, from Washington and has too much experience. But to be honest, it was hard to pick a real true winner.

The pundits pick the WINNERS & LOSERS:

Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post thinks Obama won for positioning himself as the Washington outsider. He also thought Obama handled the Pakistan attacks well. Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown says Edwards did poorly. MSNBC's Pat Buchanan thinks Hillary won the debate. He thinks Kucinich makes Edwards look "vanilla." But Buchanan says because of the atmospherics of Solider Field, Hillary almost became "too strident," getting close to yelling into the microphone.

Thoughts?