After more debates than could possibly be necessary, the seven remaining Democratic presidential candidates will meet tonight for the last debate before the New Hampshire primary. No matter what you thought of the previous 900 debates (I’m exaggerating, but not much), this one may actually have an impact on the race.
Fox News will broadcast the 90 minute debate at 8 pm eastern, the first with only seven candidates participating (only?). At a minimum, we’ll get to hear a little more from each of them.
I suspect we’ll hear a lot less negativity tonight than in previous debates, particularly among the major players — Clark, Dean, Edwards, and Kerry. One lesson campaigns seem to have taken from Iowa is that voters were turned off, in a big way, by internecine warfare. I expect most these guys to play nice tonight.
The exception to that may be Lieberman. His campaign is so desperate, he might find it necessary to tear down some of the more successful candidates in the hopes that it’ll give him a boost. The guy’s in single digits anyway, so he might assume that he has nothing to lose.
Nevertheless, it should make for interesting political theater. Will Dean be laid back to contrast with the still-controversial “I Have a Scream” speech from Monday night? Probably. Will Kerry’s voice be strong enough to be heard? I hope so. Will Kucinich mention bilateral trade several times? Count on it.