As you’d imagine, I taped and enjoyed the first debate featuring all nine of the Democratic presidential candidates over the weekend. There weren’t many surprises in the South Carolina event, but the debate ended up being more substantive than I had expected and I think nearly all the candidates made a fairly good impression.
In the spirit of the grades EPSN analysts give NFL teams after the league’s draft, I thought I’d give each candidate an A to F rating for the debate. (The order is based on the way the candidates were seated, going right to left)
* John Kerry — B
He was losing his voice, which never helps, and Kerry got off track early with more shots at Howard Dean. When George Stephanopoulos asked whether Dean was fit to serve as Commander in Chief, the right answer would have been, “That’s for voters to decide.” Kerry’s answer instead dealt with petty criticism of Dean’s dumb foreign policy remarks. On the other hand, Kerry responded very well to a question about international trade and wrapped things up with a terrific closing. Didn’t help himself much with the debate, but didn’t hurt himself, either.
* Bob Graham — Substance A, Style C-
Graham, who looked tanned and rested, reinforced every belief Democrats have about him. He’s smart, nice, and sincere while being dull and uninspiring. He had a great line in his closing, “I’m Bob Graham and I come from the electable wing of the Democratic Party,” a funny shot at Howard Dean’s standard stump speech about coming from the “Democratic Party wing of the Democratic Party,” but Graham flubbed it and stumbled through the delivery. He also said South Carolina’s one-time teacher of the year had been laid off due to budget cuts, which turned out to be incorrect. Graham showed that he needs a lot more polish and charisma to be competitive.
* John Edwards — A-
Watching Edwards reminded me a bit of watching Bill Clinton 10 years ago. He’s slick and prepared without appearing too slick and overly prepared. He told the story about his humble origins twice, which made it sound cheesy, but his remarks were otherwise direct and substantive. I think he probably improved his chances of winning the South Carolina primary, which he’ll desperately need if he has any chance at all.
* Howard Dean — B+
More squabbling with Kerry hurt him and got him off to a slow start, but Dean stuck to his message and did well. He was clearly on his game when talking about health care, which, before the war, was the raison d’etre of his campaign. I would have given him an A, but he read his entire closing statement, instead of looking into the camera to connect with voters, while the others spoke from memory and looked right into the camera. Little things like this reinforce concerns about Dean being an amateur and not quite ready for prime time.
* Joe Lieberman — A-
I still don’t like Lieberman, but he did well in the debate. He looked like a grown up dismissing the bickering between Dean and Kerry as meaningless “political theater,” and seemed most comfortable discussing national security issues and the war in Iraq. Lieberman got big laughs when Stephanopoulos suggested he might be too nice to be president, to which Lieberman responded, “I’d like to come over there and strangle you, George.”
* Al Sharpton — Delivery A+, Substance C+
Sharpton continues to be the best and funniest speaker of all the candidates. With every public event, the guy demonstrates the ability to stand toe to toe with real candidates and come across as entertaining, if not electable. He got the biggest laugh of the debate when he compared Bush’s tax cuts to the 1978 mass suicide at Jonestown. “Like Jim Jones giving Kool-Aid, it tastes good but it’ll kill you.” He also had the crowd going at a pre-debate event, when he said the purpose of his candidacy is to “kick the donkey.” “I’m going to slap the donkey until the donkey kicks and we are going to kick George Bush out of the White House,” Sharpton said. Great material for a stand up comic, but he still has no shot.
* Carol Mosley Braun — A-
Braun has barely been campaigning and her candidacy has been startlingly low-key, but she did very well Saturday night. While she wasn’t aggressive in being heard on every issue, when Braun spoke, she was confident and well-prepared. She still has no chance of winning, but she’s rehabilitating her tarnished reputation and might be positioning herself well for a cabinet post should a Dem win in ’04.
* Dick Gephardt — A
Gephardt has always been a strong debater on the House floor and he put those skills to good use at the debate. When his ambitious health care debate came under criticism from Edwards, Dean, and Lieberman, Gephardt gave a spirited and relatively persuasive defense. More importantly, it kept focus on his bold ideas, which will help his campaign.
* Dennis Kucinich — D
If candidates could get votes on pity alone, Kucinich might do well. The poor schmo is basing his candidacy on canceling NAFTA. While the other candidates ignored him and condescendingly referred to him by his first name, Kucinich was really in trouble when Stephanopoulos mentioned that Cleveland had to file for bankruptcy during his tenure as mayor, a point that generated laughter from the audience. When party faithful begin laughing at you and not with you, it’s time to go. “The issue of NAFTA alone can bring me the nomination,” Kucinich said. Sure Dennis, sure it will.
Post script: ABC News’ coverage included one annoying feature I wanted to mention. Candidate captions would frequently include three things under the candidates’ name: date and place of birth, educational background, and religious affiliation. I might be overly sensitive about this, but why does the network think we should know about a candidate’s faith tradition? Does anyone care that Howard Dean is a Congregationalist? Does it matter that Graham is a member of the United Church of Christ? Article 6 of the Constitution reminds us that there can be no religious test for public office. Note to ABC: let’s leave religion out of this.