The first of six “official” debates for the Democratic presidential candidates went pretty well last night. All the candidates came across as well-prepared and each had flashes of humor and likeability.
In some ways, many of the expected moments of the event didn’t happen. Kerry and Gephardt didn’t go after Dean with a vengeance and Dean didn’t try and moderate his message now that he’s the frontrunner.
I had a few other random thoughts:
* Gephardt was not only more aggressive at the debate than the other candidates, he was more aggressive than I’d ever seen him before. He acted like he had taken several no-doz. Gephardt was at least as fired up as Dean usually is in one of his stump speeches, and I’m pretty sure that was the point. Gephardt, I think, was essentially trying to tell the left, “Look, I’m just as angry and worked up as Dean is!” The crowd apparently liked the hyper-caffeinated Gephardt, and he seemed to enjoy the most enthusiastic applause of all the candidates.
* Kerry struck me as far more relaxed, comfortable, and confident than he usually is. He had a couple of funny lines, for example, he noted that the stock market had risen nicely in August and said, “Good things happen when Bush goes on vacation.” I also found it amusing when he joked that the only jobs Bush has created “are the nine of us running for president of the United States.” On a question involving trade, a moderator asked Kerry if we can reasonably ask Mexico to start paying its workers $5 an hour. Kerry said with a smile, “We can ask, but I think they’ll say, ‘No.'” I found this Kerry more likable than the more rigid Kerry of recent months.
* Sharpton didn’t show up for the debate, citing travel difficulties caused by thunderstorms around New York. I don’t know if that’s true or not; his recent track record is poor. He’s simply failed to attend several events at which he was scheduled to appear. It’s kind of a shame, though, because Sharpton usually delivers great one-liners at these kinds of forums.
* Gephardt kept calling Bush’s presidency a “miserable failure.” The first couple of times he used it, the line got a very positive reaction from the audience. The problem was Gephardt kept using it. I think I counted him repeating the “miserable failure” line five times. It could have been more. It’s good to have a sound-bite, Dick, but it’s even better to have more than one.
* I think the biggest laughs of the night went to Edwards, who decried Bush’s “war on work” by saying, “You know, the president goes around the country speaking Spanish. The only Spanish he speaks when it comes to jobs is, ‘Hasta la vista.'” I didn’t think it was that funny, but everyone else seemed to like it. Even Dean seemed to giggle.
* Speaking of Dean, the good doctor was good but not dazzling. These debates are clearly not his best environment. On the stump, he pounds the podium and shouts, which he seems to enjoy. In a debate, he seems uncomfortable and stiff. It’s not important, really, because the substance of his remarks were well-received, but I doubt anyone who was unfamiliar with Dean would have watched last night and assumed he was the frontrunner for the nomination.
* Dean and Kucinich were the only candidates to deliver entire sentences in Spanish. Lieberman and Edwards tried to deliver little Spanish phrases here and there. All four sounded pretty bad. Their Spanish came across with a very anglo accent. Not being Spanish myself, I don’t know whether their attempts would be appreciated or not, but Daily Kos, who is Spanish, described it as “painful” pandering.
* Most of the candidates seemed prepared to hit on a favorite Dem hot-button whether the question warranted it or not. Kerry mentioned how great it will be when we have someone in the attorney general’s office not named John Ashcroft, which got big applause, but was in response to a question about international trade. Edwards was cheered for lambasting corporate criminal activity such as Kenny Boy Lay and Enron. Dean decried racial profiling. All of these were popular sentiments, but were forced. The candidates wanted to mention these things, but when the questions didn’t relate, they just said their applause lines anyway.
* Dean, at one point, described Latin America as the most “important hemisphere” in American history. I have no idea what this means. First, Latin America is not a hemisphere, it’s a region of North America. Second, assuming he meant Latin America is the most important region for the U.S., I can’t imagine how or why it’s more important than, say, the Middle East or the Pacific Rim.
* The only meaningful confrontation of the night came between Lieberman and Dean on the issue of international trade standards. Dean handled it fine, and got applause at deflecting the criticism, but he was clearly flip-flopping on the issue. I’ll write more about that later on today, because it takes a little while to explain.