Garling Gauge

Nevada Democratic Debate Firsts 11/15/07

Diamonds & pearls in Sin City.

We’re in Vegas, baby. Biden connects, Richardson rises & Clinton fights back.

Democratic Debate Firsts 11/15/7

First presidential debate ever in Nevada: This one!
First to appear on screen: Moderator Wolf Blitzer
First to walk on stage: Former Sen. John Edwards
First to wear a striped tie: Sen. Barack Obama
First to wear a gray jacket: Sen. Hillary Clinton
First to receive a question: Clinton
First to mention asbestos: Clinton
First to mention Social Security: Obama
First to look like he’s growing out a mustache: Obama (look closely!)
First to say “I cannot let that go unanswered”: Clinton
First to say “garnishing”: Obama
First candidate spat: Clinton vs. Obama on health care

First to take a drink of water: Clinton
First to mention ‘trust’: Edwards
First to look uncomfortable: Clinton being attacked by Edwards (look at her eyes when Edwards says ‘corrupt’)
First to say “When somebody starts throwing mud at least we can hope it’s accurate and not right out of the Republican playbook”: Clinton responding to criticism from Edwards
First to say “Don’t make me speak”: Sen. Joe Biden
First to say the American people don’t give a darn about what they’re talking about on stage: Biden
First to say the presidential election is about ‘action’: Biden
First to get a clapping and laughing response from the audience: Biden
First to get booed: Moderator John Roberts
First candidate to be accused of flip-flopping: Edwards (surprise!)
First candidate to be booed for attacking Clinton: Edwards
First to say the Democrats need more backbone: Edwards
First to comment on the the shrillness of the debate: Richardson
First to introduce himself to the audience (jokingly): Gov. Bill Richardson
First to say Edwards wants a class war, Obama wants a generational war, Clinton wants to continue the war, I want to give peace a chance: Richardson
First to say “Hell no I wouldn’t support any of these guys” (in jest): Biden
First to mention lightning: Obama
First to say “In-and-Out Burger”: Obama
First to challenge Wolf Blitzer’s question: Rep. Dennis Kucinich
First to say there are no illegal human beings: Kucinich
First to say education is the single most important issue: Sen. Chris Dodd

First to say No Child Left Behind is a disaster: Dodd
First to say the union movement is essential to upholding human rights: Kucinich
First to say he is the candidate of workers: Kucinich
First to say his administration would be a ‘Workers White House’: Kucinich
First to say he wants to be the Education President: Richardson
First to propose a minimum wage for teachers: Richardson
First to mention art: Richardson
First to say he would junk No Child Left Behind: Richardson
First to quote his father: “Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you value”: Biden
First to discuss a personal phone call with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf: Biden

Democratic supporters rally outside the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada

First to say Human Rights can be more important than American National Security: Richardson
First to say “Ad Hoc”: Edwards
First to say National Security is more important than Human Rights: Dodd
First to wear an American flag lapel pin: Richardson
First to say “Republican math”: Richardson
First to mention international law: Kucinich
First to say the violence in Iraq has moved from horrific to intolerable: Obama
First to mention Edwards used to be a trial lawyer: Kucinich
First to overuse the word ‘critical’: Dodd (surprise! Not Obama this time)
First to say Peru is a small country: Obama
First to suggest the U.S. should send their own safety inspectors to China: Obama
First to mention nuclear energy: Moderator John Roberts
First to say ‘greenhouse gases’: Obama
First to say he’d turn Yucca Mountain into a national laboratory: Richardson
First to mention Las Vegas: Clinton
First to say they’re not attacking me because I’m a woman, they’re attacking me because I’m ahead: Clinton
First to get booed for saying Clinton takes money from lobbyists: Edwards

First to answer a question while sitting down: Biden
First to say ‘fester’: Clinton
First to say ‘God bless you’: Edwards
First to say ‘weapons of mass destruction’: Edwards
First to say he agrees with Clinton: Obama
First to be wished Happy Birthday by an audience member: Richardson
First to say he would pull out all the contractors from Iraq: Richardson
First to say there is illegal spying on the American people: Edwards
First to say as president of the United States no torture would be tolerated: Edwards
First to say he read the Patriot Act: Kucinich
First to say “Just imagine what it will be like to have a President of the United States who is right the first time”: Kucinich
First to say “Impeach them now”: Kucinich
First to say there is nothing in the Patriot Act that allows [racial] profiling: Biden
First to say Dick Cheney and HMOs have a higher approval rating than Congress: Richardson
First to say a southern border fence won’t work: Richardson
First to say “Mexico: Give jobs to your people; At very least stop giving maps of the easiest ways to cross”: Richardson
First to speak Spanish: Dodd
First to say ‘I promise you’: Dodd
First to say he’s presided over more Supreme Court Justices than anyone in history: Biden
First to say he wants someone who ran for dogcatcher to be on the Supreme Court: Biden
First to say the next person on the bench should be a woman: Biden
First to say the next Supreme Court nominee would have a pro-choice litmus test: Kucinich
First to say Sen. Biden understands the Supreme Court nomination process better than anyone: Clinton
First to mention Independent voters: Obama
First to say “drawer”: Biden
First to be the most convincing that he could work well with Republicans: Biden
First to say Republicans are afraid to take on President Bush: Biden
First candidate to be asked if she prefers diamonds or pearls: Clinton (she chose both)
First to say he prefers diamonds to pearls: Biden