Debatable

Democrats stress own strengths in polite debate

Last night's debate lacked in firepower but still made for entertaining television thanks to two people who have no business still being in the race, Al Sharpton and Dennis Kucinich. Sharpton's comment that if he were Dean and lost Iowa so badly after spending all that money, he'd be "hooting and hollering" too, was the laugh line of the night. Kucinich pulled out charts that brought back memories of Ross Perot and responded to one question, about the fact that he and Edwards had agreed to pool their delegates in Iowa if necessary, with such candor that the questioner was muted. Meanwhile, Edwards made his claim to Southern charm and moral principle, and Kerry tried to rise above the fray and sound presidential. Clark refused to back away from Michael Moore's draft-dodger label for Bush, and sounded almost foolish in doing so. Dean looked tired and ill--he's both right now, apparently--and stuck to his guns about the middle class tax cut. Lieberman made his last stand by blowing kisses to New Hampshire, pledging to support its primary's first-in-the-nation standing until the day he dies.

In short, nothing much changed. Kerry and Edwards looked and sounded the most electable, and nothing he said will hurt Kerry in the polls that now show him between 8 and 12 points ahead of Dean and far out from the rest of the field. If Kerry wins New Hampshire and Edwards takes South Carolina, it could be a two-man show pretty quickly. But we've all seen how fast this race can change. Stay tuned.