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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18296908/

Ongoing debate blog

Tim Russert hosts tonight’s MSNBC Democratic debate.

Here we go!

Debate Firsts

First question: How do you end the war in Iraq? - Moderator Tim Russert
First to say he wouldn’t pull out all the troops from Iraq by the end of his first term: Sen. Barack Obama
First to wear a blazing orange outfit: Sen. Hillary Clinton
First to call President Bush irresponsible: Sen. Hillary Clinton
First to mention differences between the candidates: former Sen. John Edwards
First to take a shot at Clinton: Edwards
First to mention genocide: Russert (what a downer)
First to sport a Donald Trump hairdo: Gov. Bill Richardson
First to say ‘light equipment’: Richardson
First to say he’s extract all troops from Iraq: Sen. Chris Dodd
First to say ‘when I become president’: Sen. Joe Biden
First to say ‘when I become president’ twice in the same answer: Biden
First to say ‘honest’: Rep. Dennis Kucinich
First to quote Lincoln: Kucinich
First to elicit a positive laugh from the audience: Kucinich
First to look angry: former Sen. Mike Gravel
First to wear a shiny pink tie with funny shaped little bricks on it: Gravel
First to say he was ashamed of Clinton: Gravel
First to laugh in the face of criticism: Clinton (expect lots of laughter in the upcoming months)

9:20

9:30

9:40

First to quote President Bush: Dodd
First to jokingly say he was mistaken for Anderson Cooper: Dodd
First to say ‘I want to be the health care president’: Clinton
First to say ‘…it’s like the rest of America doesn’t exist’: Edwards
First to say he’d remove his Presidential Cabinet’s health care if they couldn’t provide it for every American: Edwards
First to say credit card companies deserved being stuck with his bills: Gravel
First to talk about going bankrupt: Gravel
First to mention his Nobel Peace Prize nominations: Richardson

10:00

First to mention his children: Edwards
First to say ‘Nobody made me God’: Edwards
First to demonstrate that this debate so far is kind of lame: the audience’s reluctant clapping at breaks
First erectile dysfunction advertisement during the debate: Cialis
First to say he’d raise taxes to resolve Social Security funding: Biden
First to say ‘bipartisan’: Clinton (took a while)
First to say ‘draconian’:Dodd
First to say ‘It’s not funny money, it’s real money’: Russert

Debate heating up now

10:20

First to mention drunkenness: Biden
First to consistently ramble on each answer: Richardson
First to say he would support lowering the drinking age to 18: Gravel
First (and only) to say he would support lowering the voting age to 16: Kucinich

10:30

First to completely avoid an easy opportunity to attack Clinton: Obama
First to say ‘I’m gonna get in trouble for this’: Biden
First to say ‘…or you can have a president who’s tall’: Kucinich
First to mention Christmas: Russert
First to say he wouldn’t accept the honorary position as head of the Boy Scouts of America as POTUS: Richardson
First to say ‘magic bullet’: Obama
First to suggest wind power is the magic bullet for US energy needs without using the words ‘magic bullet’: Gravel
First to say that faulty intelligence on Iraq before the Iraq war was beaten out of a prisoner: Biden
First to say of Bill Clinton ‘Well he’s not standing here now’: Clinton on a policy disagreement with her husband (torture)
First to say fighting terrorism is the main obligation of the American people: Richardson in an obvious gaffe
First to mention September 11, 2001: Kucinich
First to say ‘bundling’ and ‘funneling’ in the same sentence: Obama
First to say he was born into nothing: Edwards
First to say ‘Hi Mom’ to the cameras: Kucinich
Last candidate word of the debate: ‘Yankees’