Garling Gauge

South Carolina Democratic Presidential Debate Firsts, 1/21/08

Sen. Clinton, Sen. Obama, and former senator John Edwards in South Carolina

Fireworks on MLK Day

It’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day ‘on’ from work to remember the man, the message, and the movement. But political wonks paying close attention to the Democratic presidential primary could easily argue that the reverend’s message of peaceful resolutions has fallen on deaf ears amongst the candidates.

With former president Bill Clinton stumping for his wife’s candidacy and highlighting the relative inexperience of Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic party is torn between two powerful messages: the stalwart experience of our party, and the desire for American unity after two polarizing presidents.

Will Clinton play it safe on MLK day? Can Obama rev up for the crowd? Will Edwards sell what could be his final real pitch?

Lets find out with more debate firsts.

Debate Firsts

• First to wear a tie that matches his hair: Moderator Wolf Blitzer
• First to appear on stage: Former Senator John Edwards
• First candidate to clap for himself: Senator Barack Obama
• First question is on the economy, and it goes to Senator Hillary Clinton. Could be the new front burner issue of the campaign.
• First to mention President Bush: Clinton (in her first answer no less! The more she mentions his name, the better for her campaign)
• First to stutter: Obama (a weak start for the well-spoken)
• First to mention ‘green infrastructure’: Edwards
• First to separate himself from the other candidates: Edwards (the best high card he can play)
• First to say NAFTA was a mistake: Obama
• First to mention another candidate’s father: Obama (Edwards’ ‘I’m the son of a mill worker’ rift has officially sunk in)
• Doh! First to mention his own father: Edwards (yup, he even did his rift)
• First to say that in a year he would be president: Obama

• First to say another candidate has lied: Obama on Clinton
• First to mention another candidate’s website: Clinton on Obama
• First to mention ‘the future’: Clinton (had to beat Obama to that one)
• First to say let’s talk about Ronald Reagan: Obama (ew, do we have to?)
• First to interrupt another candidate: Clinton
• First to get upset: Obama
• First to say he was fighting for America while Sen. Clinton was on the board of Walmart: Obama (wowzer!)
• First to say ‘There is a third candidate in this debate’: Edwards (trying to get a word in edgewise during a Clinton/Obama scuffle)
• First to say “I can’t tell who I’m running against sometimes”: Obama (in reference to Sen. Clinton and former president Bill Clinton)
• First to say she was fighting for America while Sen. Obama was representing a slum lord: Clinton
• First to appear as the adult on stage: Edwards (hard not to after a scuffle like that)

Clinton, Obama, and Edwards, in likely reverse order of who will exit the presidential race first

• First to wear an ugly purple tie to a presidential debate: Moderator Joe Johns
• First to take a drink of water: Edwards
• First to say the financial sub-prime loan problem is a racial issue: Edwards
• With two questions in a row after the Clinton/Obama squabble, Edwards appears to be selling his message
• First to say Obama doesn’t take responsibility for his votes: Clinton
• First to get booed: Clinton for making that remark
• First to say that Clinton will say anything to get elected: Obama
• First to say he doesn’t enjoy being criticized as a presidential candidate: Obama (boo-hoo)
• First to appear completely on the defensive: Obama (stuck between Clinton and Edwards literally and verbally)
• First to stare deeply at another candidate: Obama eying Edwards while waiting to respond to criticism
• First to mention ‘Band-Aids’: Clinton
• First to say Obama’s health care plan doesn’t cover everyone: Edwards, er Clinton, er Edwards, er… hard to tell
• First great question for Clinton - Are you looking to end or win the Iraq war?: Ooh.. how sneaky
• First to rub his eye: Obama
• First to bring up al-Qaeda: Obama (whoever becomes the Democratic nominee, he or she needs to play the I’m-strong-against-terrorism card right away)
• First Break

Clinton & Obama arguing on stage

• First to say that no other candidate has worked harder for the goals of MLK than he has: Edwards
• First to say how long it’s been since she graduated: Clinton
• First to say he’s in a fight with Bill O’Reilly (and he likes it): Edwards
• First great question for Obama: Do you think Bill Clinton was our first black president?
• First to say he’d have to investigate further the dancing abilities of the former president to confirm or not that he is indeed a ‘brother’: Obama
• First to mention Frederick Douglas: Clinton (you know she’s been waiting to plug that in)
• First question to get a rumble from the audience: Is Bill Clinton’s rhetoric against Obama too much?
• First to say the one thing Bush and Cheney have done for us is to give their party a really bad name: Obama
• First to bring up Sen. John McCain as the GOP front runner: Edwards
• Second Break
• New Poll: U.S. more comfortable with a black president than a woman president
• First to invoke JFK: Obama
• First to say Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wouldn’t endorse any of the Democratic candidates: Obama
• First to frown when he shook Edward’s hand at the end of the debate: Obama
• First to frown when he shook Clinton’s hand at the end of the debate: Edwards
• End Debate

[flv]http://garlinggauge.com/videos/flares.flv[/flv]
Tempers flare between Clinton & Obama

Mark Halperin’s take on the debate

So who won the debate? Tough to gauge. The crowd was with Obama, Clinton stood tough, and Edwards walked mostly above the fray. Mark Halperin of the Time blog, The Page, summed up the debate with the above photo.

Political Director Chuck Todd of MSNBC summed up the Clinton-Obama tit-for-tat in the follow way:

Obama consistently got caught in a debate trap by responding to every charge with an explanation. It’s a standup thing to do on one hand, but it ends up putting Obama off message; and it allows for the attack to get more air time rather than the original point or message Obama meant to be heard. Clinton, in contrast, rarely answers a charge directly and instead deflects by counter-punching, which shows her discipline.

We’ll see which plays better in South Carolina and on Super Tuesday: Steadfastness or discipline. I think Joe Klein of Swampland has the best summary of the debate, a one word first sentence on his blog:

“Oy.”

• Video from Time
• More Debate Firsts

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Images: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/, http://www.cnn.com/, http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper1146/stills/6iuqwp3g.jpg, http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/21/debate.main/index.html, http://usatoday.com/, http://www.politico.com/, http://letgodtoday.com/siteimages/MLK.jpg, http://thepage.time.com/

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