Nevada Democratic Debate 1/15/2008

In the Democratic debate last night in Nevada everybody tried to show themselves in the light of an uniter and not a divider.  But with Hillary it felt contrived.  Very contrived.  While she looked presidential in the debate, especially because she had the center seat, her tone was shrill and her demeanor harsh.

Overall, I felt Obama prevailed in last nights' debate.  He appeared thoughtful and calm.  Of all 3 candidates, Obama was the only one who would answer the question head on, assert his positives, and stop talking.  Almost every single time Hillary and Edwards would try to either evade the question or talk about one of the other candidate's shortcomings.  Obama did it a couple of times but with the other two the negative contrasting seemed excessive to me.

Obama also made the audience laugh with him at least 3 times.  And each time his humorous comments had a genuine warmth to them.   He came across as the most human candidate of the 3.  By far.

BTW, commentators haven't noticed yet but they will soon.  The worst line last night came from Hillary "I am a political realist ..."  Great going.