By Big Tent Democrat

Dan Gerstein, LieberMcCain Dem extraordinaire, has the funniest column I have seen in a long time. dangerstein claims that Obama's win in South Carolina is a defeat for daily kos and, as far as I can tell, a win for JOE LIEBERMAN. I kid you not:

[South Carolina] resolv[ed] the pre-eminent conflict of the party's present -- between the politics of hope and the politics of Kos. (That being the Daily Kos, the nation's most influential liberal blog and the left's poster child for partisan pugnacity.)

. . . The country got an initial taste of this tactical tussle in 2006 when the Lieberman-Lamont Senate campaign in Connecticut went national -- and an initial test of the relative merits in the general-election portion of that race (in which I was Joe Lieberman's communications director).

. . . The hope candidate [Joe Lieberman to dangerstein!] soundly beat the Kos candidate -- Kos actually taped a commercial for Lamont -- by 10 points. . . .

There you have it. Lieberman's 2006 run was a test of Obama's politics of hope. Never mind that Lieberman is no longer a Democrat or that he has endorsed McCain. Anyway, this is truly one of the funniest pieces I have ever read.

By Big Tent Democrat

President Bill Clinton will offer his regret regarding the tone of the campaign in South Carolina:

On Sunday the former president is scheduled to visit black churches in South Central Los Angeles, where he's expected to offer a mea culpa to those who "dearly loved him" when he was their president, Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.) says.

Does Clinton NEED to apologize? Perhaps not. But I think it is good he will. And not just for the Clinton campaign. I think it is good for the Democratic Party and the country.

It takes a big man to stand down sometimes, even if you are not sure you did anything wrong. The Big Dog is a big man. Good for him.

By Big Tent Democrat

Harry and Louise. The infamous fictional couple used by the Health Insurance industry to fight against health reform remain synonymous with the power of special interest money in politics. As a result, Paul Krugman's charge (see also Ezra Klein) that Barack Obama's campaign is playing the Harry and Louise game is a serious one:

Obama does Harry and Louise, again

The Obama campaign sends out an ugly mailer. Sorry, but this is just destructive — like the Obama plan, the Clinton plan offers subsidies to lower-income families. And BO himself has conceded that he might have to penalize people who don’t buy insurance until they need care. So this is just poisoning the well for health care reform. The politics of hope, indeed.

More . . .

By Big Tent Democrat

FWIW:

In a resounding vote today, MoveOn.org Political Action's members nationwide voted to endorse Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for President. The group, with 3.2 million members nation-wide and over 1.7 million members in Super Tuesday states, will immediately begin to mobilize on behalf of Senator Obama. The vote favored Senator Obama to Senator Clinton by 70.4% to 29.6%.

I am not a fan of Move On, as a result of its capitulation on the Not Funding issue on Iraq. Your mileage may vary. Does it matter? In a word, no. Not one bit.

By Big Tent Democrat

The last season of the West Wing featured the fictional Democratic Presidential candidate Matt Santos giving a rousing speech that ended with him saying "I'm proud to be a member of the Democratic Party." Last night was a Matt Santos night for Democrats. The Presidential debate produced an "I'm proud to be a member of the Democratic Party" night.

Barack Obama produced his finest debate performance of this campaign. He was engaging, funny, personable, knowledgeable, hard on Republicans and specific on issues. I am not sure what he could have done better. If political debates were like debating society debates, he might even have scored a win last night.

But political debates are NOT debating society debates. They come with existing narratives and stories. Going into the debate the stories were about the Clinton campaign's negativity, Ted Kennedy's endorsement and Obama's mo. The story coming out was how well both candidates did, how capable our candidates are and how well they both represent the Democratic Party. Sounds like a fairly neutral storyline no? But consider WHAT IT WAS before. When both Clinton and Obama are perceived as historic, even inspiring, candidates, Obama has lost some of his edge. If people are writing that the debate reminded them that they actually LIKE Hillary as opposed to the campaign of the last weeks, then this was a good night for Hillary Clinton.

By Big Tent Democrat

From the moment they walked out on the stage, an African American and a woman, the Democrats won. Whomever wins the nomination, whomever wins the election, Democrats won. And America won.

Eugene Robinson said that that was the most electric moment of the night, and it was for me too. I did not expect to feel that way. I knew this already. But seeing it made it different. It just did. John Edwards said he was getting out of the way of history. And as powerful as his message and campaign were, he was right.

Folks can try and figure out the tactical who won or lost, and I will, tomorrow. But tonight I feel proud of my Party and yes, proud of my country.

Update: John Amato of Crooks and Liars, Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo and Arianna Huffington are on MSNBC with Keith Olbermann. Amato was impartial, Marshall said he gave it slightly to Obama.

Arianna mentioned the two lines I thought stood out the most that I mentioned in the live thread -- Hillary saying it took a Clinton to get the first Bush out of the White House and it will take another Clinton to get the second Bush out -- and Obama saying, in conceding Hillary would be ready to lead on Day one , that it's just as important to be right on day one as ready on day one.

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Original Post

Wow. What a change from last month. They hugged, laughed and congratulated each other.

Both did a great job. I think it was Obama's best debate yet. Hillary did well and was really up on the issues. What did you think?

Great answer by Hillary about Mitt Romney saying neither she nor Obama had ever been a CEO.

Live Blog below the fold, online now.

I'll be starting about 7:45 pm ET. You can comment same as always in the comment section and live blog there yourselves and/or you can send me live messages through the software.

I'll put up some polls to see how you think they are doing.

I'm really curious to see how Hillary and Obama treat each other. Their position on issues is similar.

What do you expect to see tonight? Will sparks fly, will either distort the record of the other or will they keep it cordial?

Bumped. Jeralyn will be live blogging tonights's debate.

Update: (TL): I'm just getting online and in front of a tv for the first time all day. I'll be catching up and then starting a live blog. Hope you'll join me. I'll start thread one at about 7:45 ET.

By Big Tent Democrat

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will face off tonight in a CNN Debate to be telecast starting at 8 EST. This is the most highly anticipated debate and is likely to attract the largest viewership of any event in this campaign. Is it make or break for Clinton and Obama? Perhaps.

Obama has not been impressive in debates, but he has not yet had a one on one format. Perhaps he will shine tonight. Clinton has performed well in most debates.

My big question is how negative will the debate be. Do not get me wrong, I think the candidates SHOULD mix it up, to explain why they are the better choice than the opponent. That is what debates are about. I am not a big fan of speechifying debates. But it is clear that being too negative poses a risk, at least it does for Clinton. With the Obama Rules in place, it is not clear that Obama runs much risk in going negative.

More . . .

By Big Tent Democrat

That is the assertion of Harold Meyerson:

For 40 years now, since 1968, the Democrats have wandered in a political desert. From Nixon to Reagan to the current Bush, it's been a conservative era, and the genius of Bill Clinton, the most successful Democratic politician of that time, was primarily defensive -. . . The times themselves mandated incrementalism and triangulation, wars without movement fought behind battlements and moats, and no one learned the lessons of that era more brilliantly than Hillary Clinton. In a 51 to 49 nation, she is probably the best the Democrats have to offer.

I think it is interesting that Bill Clinton actually won his elections by 5 and 9 points and yet someone like Meyerson talks as if Clinton was a 51-49 President. I also think it is interesting that Meyerson does not for a moment consider the SIMILARITIES between the Obama campaign and the Clinton campaign of 1992 especially. There is a willful blindness to this from some circles. More . . .

By Big Tent Democrat

Josh Marshall writes:

One point that should not go unmentioned is that what former President Clinton is described as doing in that Times article is little different from what the first President Bush has done in his post-presidency. And his son is the president. So if it would be a problem with Bill, and I think it would be, it unquestionably is already a problem with the current president's dad. And no one has seemed to much bother about it.

Geez Josh. What could possibly explain that double standard?