Debate in Pennsylvania Gets Heated

PHILADELPHIA, April 16 -- Sen. Barack Obama repeatedly found himself on the defensive here Wednesday night as he sought to bat away criticism of his remarks about small-town values, questions about his patriotism and the incendiary sermons of his former pastor in a potentially pivotal debate six days before Pennsylvania's presidential primary.

In their first head-to-head encounter in nearly two months, Obama (Ill.) and his opponent for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), sparred over gaffes, missteps and past statements that could leave them vulnerable in the general election against Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the presumptive Republican nominee.

 

In Pa. Debate, The Clear Loser Is ABC

When Barack Obama met Hillary Clinton for another televised Democratic candidates' debate last night, it was more than a step forward in the 2008 presidential election. It was another step downward for network news -- in particular ABC News, which hosted the debate from Philadelphia and whose usually dependable anchors, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, turned in shoddy, despicable performances.

For the first 52 minutes of the two-hour, commercial-crammed show, Gibson and Stephanopoulos dwelled entirely on specious and gossipy trivia that already has been hashed and rehashed, in the hope of getting the candidates to claw at one another over disputes that are no longer news. Some were barely news to begin with

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MSNBC will telecast a debate between Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama Tuesday, Feb. 26, live from Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio, 9-10:30 p.m. ET.  NBC’s Brian Williams will moderate and be joined by "Meet the Press" moderator and NBC News Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert. It will be streamed live on msnbc.com.

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 Next Democratic Debate-Thursday, January 31st 
Sponsored by CNN, & Politico.com 

                 Next Democratic Debate-January 21st, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
      Sponsored by CNN, Co-sponsors include: Congressional Black Caucus & Politico.com

During the first portion of the debate, sparks few between Senator Clinton and Senator Obama with John Edwards fighting hard to get a word in. Edwards' at one time asked " Are there three people in this debate or two?

Things calmed down after the first break and became more civil. Edwards' for his part, came on very strong as a populist & champion of middle-class Americans. While he demonstrated he has a lot of fight in him, he often came across as an angry, frustrated, anti-establishment candidate willing to take on special interests, corporate lobbyists, and entrenched political leaders that have put big business ahead of working people.

Clinton accused Obama of liking Republican ideas better than Democratic ideas.  Obama disagreed with her assertions while sticking to a statement made in Nevada that President Reagan was a transformational president in a way that Clinton was not.  He declared he didn't say Reagan's ideas were good ones. He offered to provide Hillary with his direct quote which in context, went on to state that while disagreeing with Reagan's policies, Reagan was able to build the kind of coalition among Republicans, Democrats, and Independents to get his agenda through Congress.  He also pointed out that Hillary heaped even more praise on President Reagan in a book being published right now.

Clinton was ready with a strong comback when Obama noted that while he was a community organizer in Chicago, Hillary was representing corporate interests on the board of Wal-Mart.  Hillary came back accusing Obama of a cozy relationship with a Chicago slumlord. Obama noted that his law firm was only doing work for a non-profit organization that had a relationshp with the alledged slumlord, not representing or defending the slumload.  His firm billed the non-profit for five hours of legal work Obama did in that case.

If you missed some of the news articles about the debate, we'll be posting some of the most important ones here in the coming days.

The January 15th Nevada Debate
Download or watch the debate

The Democratic Divide
Can Clinton or Obama pull the party together?
from Eleanor Clift-Newsweek

Last Tuesday, during the debate in Las Vegas, the leading Democratic contenders were asked to name their biggest weaknesses. Hillary Clinton cited her impatience at getting results. John Edwards said he felt other people's pain too much, qualities that are more about self-aggrandizement than self-criticism. Barack Obama was the only one of the three candidates at Tuesday's Democratic debate in Las Vegas who came close to confessing a real failing. He said he tells his staff not to hand him any paper he needs until two seconds ahead of time, "because I'll lose it." He has a messy desk and needs someone to help him keep track of things. 

Democrats spar in heated debate
from CNN

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (CNN) -- Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton fought back at criticism from some of her presidential rivals Thursday night, decrying what she termed mudslinging and defending her record against the charge that she avoids taking firm positions on controversial issues

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Democrats Cordially Spar at Las Vegas Debate
from NPR

Morning Edition, January 16, 2008 · Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama publicly declared a truce on issues of race and gender as they cordially sparred at a debate in Las Vegas that also included former Sen. John Edwards.

Senators Clinton and Obama had been sniping at each other for days in a back-and-forth that left many Democrats worried about an adverse impact on the party's prospects for the general election.

NEW HAMPSHIRE DEBATES | Republicans say Democratic front-runner isn't ready

GOFFSTOWN, N.H. -- Back-to-back GOP and Democrat presidential debates Saturday provided a preview of how newly minted Democratic front-runner Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will be fileted by the GOP if he is the Democratic nominee.

The double-header came as Obama is poised to win the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary after scoring a decisive victory last week in the Iowa Democratic caucus. A new ABC News/WMUR is showing he is closing the gap with chief rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY.), and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) may end up in third.

December 13th, 2007 

Our apologies for missing posting info on a couple of the Democratic & Republican debates due to illness in the family of our webmaster.  We're back on it now with only three weeks to go before the first voting takes place.

By far, the best one-liner of the debate in Iowa came when debate moderator Carolyn Washburn asked Barack Obama how he could promise a break from the past when so many of his senior advisers were Clinton administration veterans, Clinton jumped in with a laugh line: "I want to hear that."  Obama shot back: "Well, Hillary, I'm looking forward to having you as an adviser, as well." 

The Reviews are in…Obama Wins

Reviews:

New York Times (Katharine Seelye):  Mr. Obama continues to be on a roll. LINK

The Page: Mark Halperin’s debate grades:  Obama:  Mature and polished — a reassuring yet passionate presence.” A- .  LINK

MSNBC (Chuck Todd): … Perhaps no one benefitted more from this subdued format than Obama since he's the guy with the momentum. LINK

CNN (Jessica Yellin): [On Change]… It has been a winning issue for Obama, because he's the one that voters have received as the one who is most capable of being a true fresh outsider.

NBC (Andrea Mitchell): … Obama scored by saying: "Well, Hillary, I'm looking forward to having you as an advisor as well." LINK

Fox News (Mort Kondracke): To the extent that winning a debate like this counts for something, if the focus group is right, then Obama did better than Hillary by a lot, and it's trouble for her.

Newsweek (Andrew Romano): …Obama displays one of his greatest gifts as a politician: that cool, ironic sense of humor. LINK

TIME (Joe Klein): … Obama, clearly, is feeling it. LINK

ABC News (Rick Klein): Obama with the line of the night!! LINK

Video clips

Obama: “Hillary I’m looking forward to you advising me, as well” Watch the Video

Obama’s First Year In Office: Watch the Video

Fox News (Frank Luntz) Focus Group of Iowa Democratic group weighs in on ‘dirty politics’ question: Watch the Video

Fox News (Frank Luntz Focus Group): Watch the Video

 October 30th-MSNBC Debate in Philadelphia

WASHINGTON - With barely two months to go before the Iowa caucuses, the seven leading Democratic candidates will be facing off for the 8th time - but as things get closer, every meeting takes on greater importance.

They face off in Philadelphia on Tuesday, October 30th, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Moderated by NBC's Brian Williams, the debate will be live on MSNBC and streamed on msnbc.com.

Republican Debate Tuesday Night, October 9th

CNBC/MSNBC/The Wall Street Journal are jointly sponsoring the first Republican Presidential debate of the 2008 campaign focusing on economic issues. It will be held Tuesday in Dearborn, Mich., and will be broadcast live on CNBC at 4 PM ET and re-broadcast on MSNBC at 9 PM ET. The event will be streamed live on msnbc.com. CNBC's Maria Bartiromo and MSNBC's Chris Matthews will host the debate.

Note:  This will be Senator Fred Thompson's first faceoff with his GOP chellengers.  How ill he do?  Can he ive up to expectations?

In an unusual political season that seems to offer up a presidential debate every week or so, the Republican debate tomorrow is expected to offer something new: Fred D. Thompson.

Untested in debate against his opponents until now, Mr. Thompson, a late entrant to the race, chose to skip the last contest in favor of announcing his candidacy on “The Tonight Show” early last month — a decision for which he was roundly criticized.

Many have been wondering how Mr. Thompson, a former senator from Tennessee, will do. By his own admission he is “a bit rusty” when it comes to debating, and he has said he hopes he will be able to “hang in there” with the other candidates, including Rudolph W. Giuliani, the sharp-tongued former New York mayor, and Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, who is known for his polished delivery.

Commentary on 9/26 Debate--

I listened to all the pundits leading up to the MSNBC debates of September 26th and one consensus emerged--Barack Obama had to take the gloves off and draw sharp distinctions between himself and Hillary Clinton.

To be certain, taking on Hillary Clinton would have to be done in a careful, calculated manner. With Clinton being the only woman on the stage, it was important that there not be a "piling on" by other candidates. Barack would have to be expecially careful given the fact his campaign has been been billed as the "campaign of hope" and an opportunity for real change. Being too pushy in a debate could have negative consequences. Yet being too soft would enable Clinton to reinforce the notion she is the most in command, has a firmer grasp of the issues, and her candidacy is all but inevitable.

I kept waiting for the Obama gloves to come off and it never happened. If anyone drew any real distinctions, it was U.S. Senator John Edwards.  Several pundits later described Obama's performance as listful, disjointed, and bland. I wouldn't go that far however, it is clear to me that with Clinton's numbers rising, now is the time for Senator Obama to start stepping up the attacks, pointing out the differences, and really fighting for this nomination!

To be sure, last week's Iowa poll of likely voters is good news for the Obama campaign.  In that poll Obama beats Hillary 28% to 24%.  While encouraging, this is still within the margin of error and not something one can take to the bank.  In national polls, Clinton has increased her lead. There was other good news for the Clinton Campaign this week.  For the first time this year, she beat Obama in quarterly fundraising. 

While every campaign goes through its ups and downs, the timeline towards the first votes in Iowa is speeding ahead. There is not that much time to make up new ground. Democrats who are following this election closely are making up their minds. January is just around the corner.  It's time for Obama to up the ante.  There are many issues which the previous Clinton Administration  and Senator, the consumate supporter of many of those policies can be taken to task for:

    1.  Senator Clinton's misguided vote on the war.  Hit at the judgment question and hit hard.

    2.  Free trade and NAFTA needs fixing. Ross Perot was right about the giant sucking sounds of jobs going to Mexico.

    3.  Don't ask, Don't tell has been a disaster and over 10,000 gay soldiers have been dismissed since it became law.

    4.  Remember that failed Health Care Plan presided over by Senator Clinton?

    5.  Republicans are itching for Hillary to be the Democratic candidate-imagine the commercials. 

    6.  Talking about a divided country-make Senator Clinton the nominee and you will see a country really divided.

I'm not one to profess to have Obama's ear but absent a real push, and a hands-on fight for this nomination, Hillary Clinton will be the nominee.  Obama has the money. He has the organization.  He has the talents. The one thing I see lacking is the will to hit hard at Clinton's weaknesses.  There are many.  Whether Obama is willing to highlight them and present himself as the real alternative, remains to be seen.  With several months to go, it's not too late. One thing is certain...we will have to see more of Obama's fighting spirit if we're to see an Obama presidency.

Next Debate Wednesday, Sept. 26th

MSNBC will host the next Democratic debate at 9 pm on Wednesday night, September 26th.

Questions to be presented to the candidates can be sent in advance to MSNBC however, there is no guarantee your question will be selected for the program. You can find the form for submitting your question by clicking here . 

Watch the 2008 Democratic Presidential Candidates' Debate on MSNBC TV and MSNBC.com on Sept. 26th to see if your question is asked.

The debate will be moderated by Tim Russert, NBC News Washington Bureau Chief and moderator of "Meet the Press."

NBC News, NECN, Dartmouth College and N.H. Public Radio will co-sponsor the debate among the Democratic candidates. The debate will take place at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.

Pure Horserace: Enough Is Enough For Obama

Democrat's Decision To Limit Debate Appearances May Prevent Overkill

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., walks off stage following the ABC News Democratic candidates debate, Sunday, Aug. 19, 2007, at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Obama's campaign says he will limit appearances at future debates and forums. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

(CBS) If yesterday’s debate seemed oh-so familiar to even the most casual of political junkies, they’re hardly alone. While both parties have engaged in enough debates and joint appearances to fill the summertime television schedule, Democrats have been much more prolific with their events. In just the past few weeks, most all of the candidates on that side of the aisle have appeared before national television audiences, labor groups, a gay-rights organization and answered questions submitted to the video-sharing Web site, YouTube.

For at least one campaign, it’s getting a little out of control. Barack Obama’s camp yesterday announced that their candidate will be sharply cutting back on such appearances in the future, saying the demand is just too great. If they agreed to accept every such invitation, the campaign said, there would simply be no time left over for the important things, like, you know, actual campaigning. Obama’s campaign said they will participate in the four remaining debates sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee, two Iowa debates in December and one sponsored by Univision, but are unlikely to agree to any more debates or similar forums.

Highlights from the Logo Network/Human Rights Campaign Debate/Forum August 9th:

On Friday night, Aug. 9th, six of the leading Democratic candidates participated in a forum on issues affecting the gay community.  The debate was sponsored by the Logo Network and the Human Rights Campaign .  Highlights from the debate/forum can be found here.  If you missed the debate, it will replayed again on the Logo Network Monday night, August 13th at 9:00 pm.

Senator Obama to participate in gay issues forum

Senator Obama is participating in the historic HRC Presidential Forum in Los Angeles on August 9th. This forum will be televised on the LOGO Network nationally, and we want to make sure everyone has a chance to see it.
 
Because not everyone has the LOGO Network, we are encouraging people those who do to host forum-watching parties and open their house to neighbors, friends and family.  If you are interested in hosting a party, or would like to attend a party in your area, please click here to register your party or find one near you. For more information, you can This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or directly by phone at 312-819-2509. 
 
This presidential forum is an amazing way to highlight Senator Obama's strong support of the LGBT community. It is only through your efforts that Barack can continue to spread his message of hope to the country.
 
Please forward this message to your friends across the country who may be interested in hosting or attending a party.

Source-The Obama LGBT Team

Clinton, Obama Skirmish Over Pakistan, Lobbyists at AFL-CIO Labor Forum Aug. 7th
By Kim Chipman and Michael Forsythe

Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama sharpened their differences at last night's AFL-CIO forum, while they and the other candidates expressed skepticism about free trade.

New York Senator Clinton went after Illinois Senator Obama over his recent comments that he would use military force against terrorist training camps in Pakistan if the country's president, Pervez Musharraf, failed to do so. Democratic rival Christopher Dodd's criticism of those remarks last night prompted Clinton to offer some unsolicited advice to Obama.

Obama whips up Chicago crowd before AFL-CIO Debate

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has a strong contingent of support at the AFL-CIO forum at Soldier Field.

Obama whipped up a crowd of several hundred this afternoon at a rally in a parking lot outside the field that's hosting Tuesday night's forum.

August 7th, 2007 

CNN Debate:

Sweet Dem debate special: Obama aims punch at Clinton

WASHINGTON—The thought going in the debate was that everyone would go after front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) But the only strong punch to Clinton came from Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and it was, once again, over her vote to authorize the Iraq war.

That Obama opposed the war from the start is a central calling card of his candidacy. He used the question of whether soldiers died in vain (a question he botched in the first press conference of his campaign) to lob this at Clinton:

“But what I also know is that the time for us to ask how we were going to get out of Iraq was before we went in. And that is something that too many of us failed to do,” Obama said.

But let’s go back to the question about dying in vain. It’s a potential landmine, hidden under the road. But it is one Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) drove over once before and he knew where not to go.

07/23/07 

Barack Dominates June 23rd CNN/YouTube Debates 

Barack Obama’s performance stood above the competition in last night’s debate as he continued to show the qualities that will make him a strong Commander in Chief.

He displayed the judgment that led him to oppose the war in Iraq before it began and reminded the other candidates that the time to ask how we were going to get out of Iraq was before we went in.

Watch the video and share it with your friends:

Televised debates are notorious for rehearsed sound bites and canned answers. Barack demonstrated his leadership by speaking with passion and personal conviction about education, Social Security, and changing the way Washington works.

This morning’s news coverage declared Barack the clear winner of the debate. Here’s a sample of what they had to say:

    Time and time again Obama sought to take specific questions and broaden them into a conversation over who represented real change in the field. He castigated lobbyists and special interests in Washington, offering a sweeping condemnation of business as usual (by both parties) in the nation's capital. "We don't need just a change in political parties," said Obama. "We need a change in attitudes of the people representing Americans."

We're here with 24 Democrats, independents, who thought that Senator Hillary Clinton would be the best performer here tonight, but the results that we just got in, this is a focus group; show that Barack Obama got the most favorable in terms of the best performance from the 24 people who are here tonight.

-- Mary Snow, CNN

The New Hampshire debates are just the beginning. Stay tuned to CNN as our series of presidential debates continues.

• July 23: Democrats, South Carolina
• November 15: Democrats, Nevada
• January 24: Democrats, South Carolina
• January 30: Republicans, California
• January 31: Democrats, California

Debates sponsored by CNN in partnership with YouTube and Google (July 23), the Congressional Black Caucus (January 24) and the Los Angeles Times (January 30-31).

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