I may not have made it to Chicago this year, but I’ve learned a few things from the tubes about what the Democratic presidential candidates were up to at YearlyKos:<\/p>\n
* Hillary Clinton’s defense of accepting contributions from lobbyists was probably the day’s most controversial comment<\/a>. She seemed to get to the right answer, but it took a couple of tries<\/a>.<\/p>\n * John Edwards was in his element<\/a> today.<\/p>\n * Barack Obama was excellent<\/a> in his private off-the-record session — so much so that he probably shouldn’t have been speaking off-the-record.<\/p>\n * When Bill Richardson touted his position on the Balanced Budget Amendment and the line-item veto, it may have been “the first fiscal policy booing on record<\/a>.” (YearlyKos attracts a smart crowd.)<\/p>\n * Clinton learned valuable lessons<\/a> about healthcare in the early ’90s, and the issue will be her highest domestic policy priority if elected.<\/p>\n * Chris Dodd was clever enough to hit Rupert Murdoch and Bill O’Reilly<\/a> in a single answer.<\/p>\n * Dave Johnson types quickly enough to live blog a presidential forum<\/a> really well.<\/p>\n