Edwards is now defending Obama but in the end agrees with Hillary that they shouldn't be talking in terms of hypotheticals. Audience claps for his answer.
Now on to second half of the question, is Hillary electable? Goes to Obama: Doesn't answer. We're going to need someone who can break out of the pattern we've been divided into the past 20 years. That's him.
Edwards: Dems won in 2006 because they want change. If we maintain momentum of change, we will win. We can't sit down with lobbyists. Hillary has done a great job as First Lady and Senator. But she won't rid herself of lobbyist money.
Hillary: Karl Rove is never going to endorse me, he's obsessed with me. She touts her experience. We will win because we have a better plan. She's fought them her entire life. The distinction is artificial, it's the people who hire the lobbyists we need to be concerned about. She advocates public financing of campaigns. Audience claps.
Dodd comes out in support of public financing. Goes to Kucinich who changes topic to health care.
8:30 am. Moving it Iraq. Plays part of Biden's new tv ad. Richardson repeats our troops should be out by end of year. Hillary says she agrees more with Biden. Edwards: Would be hard to do it by December. The differences between them are minor, compared to difference with Republicans. All of the Democratic candidates will end the war. Gravel: Turn to Iran to help.
Richardson asks Biden and Hillary why they would leave residual troops? He says bring them all out so the residual troops don't end up being targets. Biden forcefully disagrees. He says we will have a minimum of 4,000 civilians there and we need military troops there.
Obama also agrees with Biden that we will have a presence there for a long time. He wishes those on the stage had asked that question before they authorized the war.
Worst question ever: Their views on personal G-d, in context of the bridge collapse and similar events? Goes to Hillary. Prayer is very important. Dodd agrees. Edwards: Agrees prayer is important but prayer can't stop bad things from happening. Gravel: We need more love between people.
Richardson: It's a personal thing. It's important to have faith, but if President, he won't wear it on his sleeve and impost it on anyone. Biden talks about the death of his wife and daughter. Answer: No. All the prayer in the world won't stop the hurricanes. It will give you the courage to deal with life's crosses.
Obama: We don't have the power to prevent hurricane but we do have the power to make sure the levees are properly enforced. We have to express our values to our government not just our religious institutions.
Kucinich: "George, I've been praying for the last 45 minutes you would call on me." Big audience laugh. As president, he will bring strong spiritual values to the White House.
8:50 am. Question from a farmer, what will they do to help small farmers who are in danger of being taken over by big corporations? The question gets changed (by an editor for the Des Moines Register who seems to be co-hosting with GS) to how do you protect jobs of American workers. Good for Hillary who brings it back to family farms. She says what she has done so far.
Obama: We have to cap the subsidies to farmers. Richardson: We need to promote conservation.
Commercial. ABC's pretends it's American Idol and asks viewers who is winning, to call in.
9:06 Reader question about whether the candidates have always told the truth about their positions. Edwards regrets his vote for the war in Iraq. Hillary says she also regrets her vote. Richardson: I'm making about a mistake a week. I'm not the scripted candidate. He makes a well-received pitch for reversing mistakes on torture, removing habeas, etc. Dodd agrees and gets a lot of applause.
Move to education, Richardson has another one point plan. The No Child Left Behind Act: Scrap it. Richardson is doing really well today. Kucinich will create a universal pre-K program by taking money from defense authorization. Applause.
The debate ends with Hillary thanking women who went before her and her mother.
"Well, when I was growing up I didn't think I would run for president, but I could not be standing here without the women's movement, without generations of women who broke down barriers, the civil rights movement that gave women and people of color the feeling that they were really part of the American dream."
You can watch that part here.
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Original Post:
Here's one Democratic debate I won't be live-blogging: ABC's early Sunday morning debate from Iowa with George Stephanopoulos. It starts at 8:00 a.m. MT. Way too early for me.
If you're watching, let us know what you think.
Obama, by the way, is saying no to many of the upcoming debates.
"We simply cannot run the kind of campaign we want and need to, engaging with voters in the early states and February 5 states, if our schedule is dictated by dozens of forums and debates," writes Obama campaign manager David Plouffe in a statement posted on the candidate's Web site Saturday morning.
....So from here on out, says Plouffe, Obama will only participate in the five remaining debates sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee -- two December debates in Iowa and a Sept. 9 debate in Miami to be aired on the Spanish-language channel Univision.
It does seem like there have been too many debates in too short a time period lately. We had You Tube, Yearly Kos, the AFL-CIO and the LGBT forum.
