As the Michigan primary is called for Romney, leaving that side of the race wide open - all eyes turn to Nevada. With the sun setting over the desert, the parking lot of the Cashman Center featured a Democratic Presidential debate warmup with competing "free speech zones" of supporters chanting for Barack "Obama in '08/Be a part of something great!" Obama, John "No more lobbyists/no more PACs/John will win the White House back!" Edwards, Senator "Hillary!/Hillary!/Hillary!" Clinton and Congressman "M-S-NBC/Enemy of democracy!" Kucinich. (With the Nevada Supreme Court ruling that MSNBC can un-invite him, I expect those chants will grow louder).
Streaming through the metal detectors were people reflecting the vibrant diversity of the West - African Americans, Asian-Pacific Islanders, Caucasians, Latinos, and Native Americans. Snapping a picture of the "clean coal" sandwich boarders marching by the C-SPAN staffers passing out pens and luggage tags, I chatted with some of the evening's attendees. DNC Vice Chair, CA Congressman Mike Honda was there, encouraged by the enthusiasm of last night's Asian-Pacific Islander get out to caucus rally.
Nevada State Chair Jill Derby did a walk-through with her son and daughter, reveling in the West's historic role in electing a President. Young volunteers are bustling about, hoping that the debate will inspire their peers to the caucuses. Some express concern that a lawsuit filed to cancel the at-large caucuses for Strip workers is a ploy to suppress the youth vote.
Backstage, organizers are excited about the debate, hoping that the candidates will, in the spirit of Martin Luther King's birthday, find and common purpose - and that their surrogates in spin alley won't undermine it. I am mindful of the advice a friend in the recovery movement offered for my book Campaign Boot Camp: HALT. People are likely to relapse when they are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired, so literally "halt" in those instances and step back from the brink. HALT. Then get back on track - refocus on the conversation about our future. Young and young-at-heart voters are looking for inspiration. With tensions running thick, who will HALT and inspire us?
The debate opens with questions about the dispute over Senator Clinton's comments regarding MLK and LBJ and the subsequent sniping by high-profile surrogates. How can Edwards interfere with 2 historic candidacies? Will Clinton renounce her surrogate who "Willie Hortoned" Obama? Does Obama regret condescending in the last debate? Did Edwards attack Hilary in the last debate? To their credit, the candidates try to HALT and turn the questions back to their campaign themes. Someone from the audience complains about race-based questions; the moderators pause yet ignore him.
Finally some interesting questions: greatest strengths and weakness:
Barack Obama says his weakness is he's not the most organized operating officer but he is skilled at bringing people together and thinks he can attract the best team to run the country. John Edwards says his greatest strength is fighting with every fiber of his being for other people and his weakness is a powerful emotional response to pain of the people he meets. Hillary Clinton said she gets frustrated when people don't seem to understand that there is so much more that we can do to help each other - pushing faster harder than people are ready to go. She appreciates what Obama says about a leader setting the tone, but she thinks a leader has to hold people accountable, such as Bush failed to in the gulf coast and the crony contracting. Given the chance to respond, Obama says Bush was a great manager at being on time but could not bring people with different perspectives together or make people understand that there are consequences and costs of war or only go to war on the best evidence. It's not about a bureaucracy but the ability to bring people together and mobilize them.
In the final question before the break, we are read an email saying Obama is a Muslim, sworn in on a Koran, who won't pledge allegiance to America. He said he is a Christian, was sworn in on the bible, and pledges - and sometimes leads - the pledge of allegiance on the Senate floor.
Follow Christine Pelosi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sfpelosi
It was just another MSM SHOW.
The Corporatist win.
Musslini, who invented the term Fascism said fascism should be called Corpratism
3 1/2 days of community meetings with the candidates remain so there is still ample opportunity for Nevadans to ask some of the follow-up questions posted be the commenters here. I think we all want to know: "while you Democrats agree on your broad vision for America, what are the specifics of your ideas as they affect our lives, and whom can we trust to achieve the vision?"
Tonight was another nail in the coffin of democracy, propped up by ineffectual politicians who lack courage and conviction to call out the media for censoring our choices. That should inspire you to action enough.
Or go watch AMERICAN IDOL to get your hopes up.
The buzz backstage among bloggers - including my seatmates mcjoan and Trapper John from the daily kos - was that we witnessed a substantive debate: all three candidates seemed sure of their messages and determined to resist the outright personal attacks. Senators Clinton, Edwards, and Obama all engaged like grown-ups despite the efforts to engage them in juvenile attacks.
I would have hoped for a more direct approach to young people and to urge people to come out and caucus this Saturday. The elephant in the room was the lawsuit filed to limit the at-large caucuses - no one mentioned it onstage but everyone did offstage.
With Nevada's outcome up in the air, they each needed to look Presidential: ready to lead the country and ready to unite the Democratic party without having to pick one of the others as vice president in order to unite the party. Perhaps an overdose of caution made the three candidates more wonkish than passionate - but the policy discussion was proof positive that any of them would make an excellent President.
The last question was about how they decided to run for President. Each said they decided with their families over the holidays last year and said it has been a rewarding experience.
Both thoughts equally scary, frankly...
Conjures up images of little Hitlers, in full "Sieg Heil!" mode. Shudder....
Senator Clinton was called out for calling Karl Rove for playing the fear card in 2006, yet talked about London's terrorist attacks on the eve of the New Hampshire primary as a way of saying only she was prepared to lead. She responded that we have to talk about being ready; that perhaps because she was a Senator from New York on 9/11 she feels it acutely, she talks about fighting terrorism and thinks we need to fight and to rebuild relationships from the Bush administration.
Senator Obama said we have been dominated by the fear of terrorism since 9/11. The attacks were traumatic. She did good work bringing New Yorkers together but when she uses the spectre of a terrorist attack at the time of a new prime minister in a campaign, that is an effort to use 9/11 as a political tactic and I think that is a mistake. We must fight al qaeda, and we diverted resources and relationships from finding bin laden into the war in Iraq.
Pressed on whether she is saying al qaeda would test President Obama more than President Clinton, she acknowledged "no." She then reiterated the facts of the London attacks and said the job of President means be prepared on day one.
Uh, does that mean they repudiate their votes and will work to restore consumer protections?
I just don't get anybody that tolerates these responses.
Are the bankruptcy bill and the Iraq war votes something they would repeat or not?
I'm waiting for someone to ask-
Do you support pre-emptive war?
Do you support bankruptcy protections for corporations being denied consumers?
Both Clinton and Edwards have very DLC voting records which aren't being questioned in a manner that can let us hold the candidate to a position.
If they won't go on the record, how can we hold their feet to the fire as others have suggested?
Is it really a good idea to even need to do that though? Do we want to elect a candidate that has a history of voting against us? Do we want to be in the position where we need to hope that even though they weren't with us last time they will be with us this time?
I'm just askin since there is an alternative.
Senator Clinton said she opposes illegal guns. She wants to keep illegal guns out of the hands of criminal and sick people like the man at Virginia Tech. She no longer supports national registration of all guns. Senator Obama said national registry is not politically possible but sensible controls are. Asked if it is impossible to win a national campaign proposing a national registry of all guns, Senator Edwards said that based on growing up in North Carolina he knows you must respect people's 2nd Amendment rights but people know that you don't need an K-47 to hunt.
Asked about the high dropout rate among young black men, Senator Obama said the problem needs empowering teachers, paying them well, giving them tools to teach - not no child left behind's restrictions - and parents need to parent. Senator Clinton agreed and said mentoring is a key part of this. Senator Edwards added that universal pre-K is needed to give kids a good start in their education.
Senator Edwards was asked if he supported English as the official language. He said his comprehensive immigration plan included a path to citizenship with a requirement to learn English, and no amnesty for people here illegally - "we can't pretend it didn't happen."
Senator Clinton was asked about her pollster saying hispanics don't vote for blacks. She said her pollster was stating the division as a historical fact. Noting that this was a "black-brown" debate she said all should work together on issues.
Asked to respond if the latinos not voting for blacks was indeed a historical fact, Senator Obama said, "I don't know; they voted for me!"
Turning local, Senator Clinton invoked her husband for the first time this evening by saying that she opposed Yucca Mountain being used as a nuclear waste repository and Senator Edwards voted the other way. She also mentioned that one of Senator Obama's corporate supporters tried to make Yucca Mountain a repository.
Senator Obama interjected that he was not a supporter of Yucca Mountain being a repository.
Senator Edwards said that unlike his opponents he is not agnostic (Clinton) or open (Obama) to nuclear power - he is against it.
Questioned about his vote for the energy bill of 2005, Senator Obama said he voted for its investments in renewables. He wants to create a menu of energy options with a cap and trade system to cap greenhouse gases and create a market to create billions of dollars to invest in new tachnology and look at the science on nuclear - if the the science says it's not sound then it will be taken off the table.
Senator Clinton retorted that "the energy bill that Dick Cheney wrote" was a big step backward for energy independence; she wants to take away the giveaways.
Senator Edwards pointed out that despite her rhetoric, Senator Clinton has taken more money
from corporate polluters than anyone in the campaign. She deflected by reiterating her plans to make energy independence our moon shot. Senator Obama added the need to conserve energy as part of the solution.
Senator Clinton asked Senator Obama if he would join her in legislation calling for redeployment from Iraq with no military bases. Pointing out that he opposed the war from the start, Obama said he would redeploy the troops as President.
When Tim Russert observed that this seemed different the earlier debate in which all 3 Senators did not commit that all troops would be out of Iraq by 2013 (at the end of the first term), Senator Obama said he would get all the combat troops out but that a small force to protect the embassy and react to attacks would be needed.
Senator Edwards said he was singularly proposing to get all combat troops out of Iraq in his first year (2009 not 2013) because as long as you keep combat troops or military bases, you keep the occupation. He would keep a ready force in Kuwait but not in Iraq. Senator Obama says it may be that as commander in chief he may be advised to keep the force in Kuwait; he is open to that.
MILITARY RECRUITING
Senator Clinton said she would enforce the law requiring schools that receive federal funds to have military recruiting on campaus. Noting that veterans need support including combat pay increases and affordable college, she said she was working with a Republican colleague to change that.
Senator Obama said he would enforce the law and touted his national service plan - $4000 every year in exchange for service - military or civilian; not just the peace corps but in the foreign service as well.
VETERANS
Senator Edwards concurred in support for the law and stressed the need for mental physical screenings for all returning veterans. "We need a guaranteed stream of funding for the Veterans Administration" he concluded.
Senator Obama said this issue showed that failures of the Bush administration.
Senator Clinton said she is working on the mental and physical evaluation for each returning veteran that Senator Edwards talked about, and expressed concern for increases diagnoses of traumatic brain injury.