DISQUS

Nothing To See Here Honestly, this doesn't say anything that people don't know already. Plus, instead of taking a position and making a point--he circles around to say that some are good and some are bad?

"But most politicians realy aren't that funny."

Yep. Breaktaking insight there.

You want the truth? This is what happens when you make professors write books to get tenure.

Swing and a miss... It's great they're having this discussion, but somehow I suspect they're missing the point.

"You can't say homosexuals are bad people, because they are part of the future,"

The race for third Who would have thought going into this that the GOP race would be such a roller-coaster ride?

I think you're mostly right with this one. The Huck-o-matic seems to have locked it up for first I think. Romney seems to be making a solid push (calls, ads, press) that'll keep him buoyed at second.

The real contest seems to be for third. I think it all depends on how the Repubs feel about what's going on in Pakistan. If they think it shows our failure as a world policeman and a need for new ideas...they may turn to Paul and give him that strong third or even second. If they think that the times demand an "experienced hand" they may shift to the old warhorse McCain and boost him to second or third and leave Paul at fourth. I could see it going either way.

I think Freddie will drop out after Iowa or at least after NH and start gunning for the Veep slot.

A question to anyone who knows the Rep. caucus process: I imagine Tancredo will not be on the secret ballot used on caucus night...but do they allow write in's? Could he still draw some marginal amount of votes?

Respectfully disagree... I disagree with your ranking...at this point I'd rank the Big Three evenly...since I'd say it's an absolute tossup.

First, you say that if the caucus were held tonight, Obama would earn a "narrow victory". I think you should at least cite what evidence you're using to back this up. Nearly every time I've seen polls over the last few days, they've alternated between all three candidates. I have yet to see a consistent stream of polls that show Obama with a victory, let alone a consistent stream of polls with a lead for anyone outside the margin of error.

Also, I think the crisis in Pakistan will hurt Obama and Edwards more than you let on. If this is a battle of change vs. experience as the media and the campaigns have made it out to be, people who are truly on the fence will shift toward what they percieve as the "experienced" candidate in the face of bad news abroad. And you can't say that that's a construct created just by the Hillary camp...those big signs behind Obama say CHANGE instead of HOPE now for a reason.

Also, if enough people shift to Biden to make him viable in enough precincts where he otherwise wouldn't have been, that locks out Obama (and Edwards to a lesser degree) from those vital ABC voters who might have padded their numbers had Biden not been viable.

That's my apolitical analysis of the situation. I have nothing against any of the candidates...I'm just trying to look at it with a completely independent point of view.

Kind of a shame... I'm sure a lot of people would have rather seen Boswell step aside gracefully rather than be deposed, even by someone as worthy as Fallon.

But hey, I guess sometimes you just have to cut the dead wood...

Bill Clinton said it best... ..it's a question of conscience.

If you're a student from Champaign or Minneapolis or Omaha or wherever...if you consider yourself an Iowan, at least temporarily, then by all means caucus. If you consider yourself as being from Chicago or Nebraska or someplace else, then please respect our system and caucus there.

I think you and a lot of other people want to make this more than it is, when really it's simple.

Let it go... He did drugs, he admitted it and he's sorry. I'm a Hillary supporter and even I admire his honesty on this. It beats Bill's "smoked, but didn't inhale" sillyness. It only makes us look like bullies when we rake him over the coals on this.

Second, I believe Ron Paul has by far got a lock on the drug culture with his implied "legalize everything" message.

I agree with your ranking of Obama on top. I'm not sure if I'd  switch Edwards and Hillary around or not. I think both campaigns are in a funk, and I'm not sure who's predicament is worse. Strategically, I like Hillary for second, since she gets nearly all of the second-choice Richardson support. I also like her larger organization which means more resources going into the last minute push. I guess I'd have said Hillary over Edwards, but barely.

It's all going to come down to which of us (Edwards or Clinton) gets their mojo back first...

Sorry you got Freeped, Chase... You hit the nail on the head this time.

In my opinion, the Rudy campaign is the worst managed campaign I've ever seen. They have this massive war chest, yet spend almost nothing on advertising. They racked up some nice endorsements, but got nowhere with them. They got caught completely with their pants down on Kerik and the NYPD/Judith Nathan scandal. Plus, they let all of his speeches become nothing more than, as Joe Biden said, a noun a verb and 9/11.

They should have capitalized on Huckabee's rise to split the social conservatives between Huck and Romney, leaving the path wide open for him to march to the nomination with the blessing of the security/business conservatives.

Seriously...by rights he should have been able to use his 9/11 cred to pull an Eisenhower like cakewalk to the convention. His failure to do so is the story of this election so far.

I wish I was a tenured professor... ...so I could make an ass of myself in public with no repercussions.

Come on now! Sister Soulja! All the bad things going on in the world, all the other bad decisions Clinton made (not to say he didn't make a lot of good ones) and this is what he makes his stand on?

And dressed like "a contemporary robot"? Try a guy in a silver vest and gym shorts...

The Beer Vote I know I'm going to catch hell for this, but here goes...

Don't underestimate the power of the "beer vote". People want to vote for nice folks. They want to vote for people who they want to sit down and have a beer with. Huckabee is that guy. He's genial, funny and seems to have a very pleasant personality. He cracks jokes during the debates and isn't afraid to poke fun at himself.

Ron Paul, and the rEVOLution, as far as my limited perception goes, isn't coming across like that. Now, I know presidential politics is serious business--I don't need a lecture on that. I know there are big issues and big problems facing the country. But if you guys would just lighten up a little bit, I think you'd win over more converts than you can imagine. Just look at how much traction Huckabee got out of that silly Chuck Norris commercial and Hillary got out of that commercial with the guy with the sick kid. You can't expect all of America to do it's homework--that's where image comes in. Like Mary Poppins said, "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down..."

Anyone want to really discuss this... or are we just going to talk about Ron Paul?

I think you guys are a lot closer to the money on this one than on the Dems rankings, which is surprising. Still, I think I'd tweak it a bit.

Rudy has been trending down in every poll that's come out since the start of the year. Unless he does something drastic between now and the caucus, he's going to sink lower. Lower than Ron Paul, for sure, and probably lower than Right Said Fred. And the "screw Iowa" strategy is a risky one.

Secondly, I don't know what to make of Ron Paul. He does have the numbers. But I'm not sure how many of those people will actually go out and caucus. It's one thing to click three times and put some money down on Paul, but it's another thing to get out, register, and caucus. Still, if everything comes together for him...he could be a strong third. A scary strong third.

I say:

1. Romney


2. Huckabee


3. R. Paul


4. Right Said Fred


5. Giuliani

P.S. Can one of you Ron Paul guys answer a question for me ...without yelling at me and calling me names. Why did you rail against "big money" politics earlier in the campaign but now make such a big deal of how much cash he's been raising? Just curious, please don't beat me down...

In any case... I'd award this debate to the "third tier" candidates. Biden for his Rudy line, Dodd for landing the hardest punch on Hillary with the "illegal ID" exchange and Kucinich for being brave enough to believe in little green men.

I thought that while Edwards and Obama really took on Hillary much more aggressively this go around--neither stood out from the other well enough to further their hold on the ABC vote. Plus Obama fumbled some great chances to be witty--the Halloween question and the "funny name" questions among those.

Hillary was clearly the loser this time, but I think it's not a loss that has a lot of staying power. As Russert implied in the after-debate party...there's no "killer clip" of her to make hay out of.

Overall--Meh. I'm getting tired of the debates, and this doesn't change that. Good night, folks! :)

The "Nanu Nanu" Round Kucinich actually handled the UFO question very, very well. Obama nailed the ET question, too. But what's up with these goofball questions?

Oh, Hillary... I bet she spends all her non-speaking time thinking murderous thoughts about Tim Russert...

Talk clock relevant? Is the talk clock really relevant anymore? It's going to be seriously skewed towards Hillary from now on, because she's going to need a fair chance to respond every time someone takes a swing at her...

Lame Baseball Question The baseball question is really lame. And who's running the camera for God's sake!?! It's all over the place!

Obama What, because he wrote "several strong statements" with Jesse Jackson Jr. on Jena?

Social Security They've got high hopes, they've got high hopes

They've got high apple pie, in the sky hopes...

And is "the cap" going to be this election's "lockbox"?

Gravel Is there anything even remotely legal/ethical about Gravel shafting his credit card company?

Russert Ah ha! I knew it!

Russert I wonder if they're padding Russert's "talk clock" based on his intro/outro's before and after each commercial break?