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Tuesday: Head to head
posted at 2008-02-26 23:52 | Last modified 2008-02-27 09:10
Not a lot to pass along tonight -- I’ve been holed up all day working on a story for our miniseries on Triangle transportation issues. Part One airs Wednesday morning. My contribution, which airs Friday, would be finished by now if I hadn’t taken time out to watch Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton mixing it up in Ohio tonight.
OMG…issues?
It was actually a really interesting debate. They went into a lot more detail than usual on policy questions from health care to foreign relations, much of it driven by Clinton’s dogged follow-ups to Obama’s generalities.
If you didn’t already know Clinton was fighting for her political life, you probably could’ve figured it out. She was intensely focused, pursuing the gaps between Obama’s rhetoric and record much more keenly than ever before. She complained (justifiably) about getting all the tough questions first, but handled most of them well, anyway. (One exception: the tax records issue. What, she can loan herself 5 million dollars, but she can’t afford to hire an accountant to get them together?)
If she’d performed like this for the past three months, who knows what the race would look like now? But she didn’t, and that matters. You can blame her advisors, or the media, or whomever you like for her campaign’s many missteps. But her failure to fight hard enough till now ultimately belongs to her - and it tells you a lot about her perceptions of her own vulnerabilities and her ability to judge her political adversaries.
Obama, who admits debate isn’t his best format, spent more time on the defensive than he’s used to, and it brought out his cockiness. When he was asked to react to Clinton’s “Celestial choirs” clip, his answer -- “She gets points for delivery” – would’ve been arch if it weren’t so brittle. He also took sole credit for getting free phone calls for the “wounded warriors” at Walter Reed. (Note: No Senate freshman ever accomplishes anything alone. Ever.)
Overall, though, Obama did well too. He’s clearly been studying up on international relations – his answers to those questions were more eloquent and convincing than ever (much more so than his reaction to a query about Louis Farrakhan). And his ending statement, while not as effective as Clinton’s performance in Texas last week, was still muy gracious.
Bottom line: Clinton had solid game tonight. But if the polls are right, what she needed was a shutout, and I don’t think she got it. I guess we’ll find out next week.
Back home…
Define that: Greensboro's Mark Binker wonders whether Dem Senate hopeful Kay Hagan’s new press person understands “off the record.”
Second thoughts? Dome's Ryan Teague Beckwith says State Treasurer Richard Moore is asking AG Roy Cooper to take another swing at interpreting a public records law that’s been, um, profitable to Moore’s supporters. (More here.)
Bridge game: Charlotte’s Mark Johnson says Moore’s still trying to use a New Bern bridge against his Dem gubernatorial rival Bev Perdue. Bob Hall calls foul.
Play by play: Wilmington’s Gareth McGrath has all the details from yesterday’s criminal and civil hearings into Thomas Wright.
Just for fun:
Chapel Hill resident Lewis Black riffs on Huckabee via Britney's most famous fan. (HT: Huffington Post.)
Comments? Drop me a line.
