"My take on the Democratic presidential debate last night "

John Aravosis (AMERICAblog):

Bill Richardson is the governor of New Mexico, in case you didn't know.

Dennis Kucinich and Gravel are just annoying. Yeah, I get it, some of you like Kucinich. And that's nice. Joe likes his dog Boomer too. It doesn't mean he should be on stage with the real candidates. Kucinich has zero chance of winning, as does Gravel - they shouldn't be on the stage taking time from the serious candidates. Though, oddly, and disturbingly, a number of us at our debate party last night found ourselves agreeing with Gravel repeatedly. It was creepy.

Hillary. Did quite well, I thought. And I say that as someone who has increasing worries about Mrs. Clinton as president. She was out there, in a good way, on the gay question (as I wrote last night), and overall came across as smart, poised, and presidential. Again, I still have growing concerns about who we're really electing as president, Hillary or Mark Penn. But she did well last night.

Obama. He was good. I thought he was better than last time. He seemed awfully young in the last debate. In this one, I thought he was smart, mature, and very "vice presidential" if not presidential. I'm hearing from more and more people that they'd like to see a Gore-Obama ticket in 2008.

Edwards. I don't think Edwards did very well. I don't think he got much air time compared to Hillary and Obama, and was just kind of missing during the debate - though the few times he did talk, I thought he looked and sounded good. Still, it was Hillary's evening, not Edwards. I actually just checked MyDD and they've got the number of minutes each candidate got:

* Tier One: Obama (16:00), Clinton (14:26)
* Tier Two: Edwards (11:42), Richardson (10:48)
* Tier Three: Kucinich (9:02), Biden (7:58), Dodd (7:28)
* Tier Four: Gravel (5:37)

Biden. He actually did really well, and we don't even like Biden. I thought his passion, especially about Darfur, whether real or concocted, came across as true and compassionate. You got the sense he believes in something.

Dodd. I still really like him. He's never gonna be president, but I like him. As for Richardson, he just doesn't come across as though he's really there - it's like watching a hologram of Bill Richardson.

Howie P.S.: As one who has been called the "the Abe Linkin' of progressive Seattle" (scroll down on the left), it is fitting that this is not really MY take, but the that of John Aravosis, (see above). Nonetheless, you are welcome to infer that I share some affinity with it.