Saturday, August 04, 2007

So Did You Watch the Debate?

The presidential debate? The one they had in Chicago at Yearly Kos? I did. I was one of the over 2300 viewers on Burnt Orange Report who suffered through the herky jerky webcam and the sound that cut out from time to time.

But beggars can’t be choosers.

Imagine a roomful of bloggers, a roomful of lefy political bloggers with very few grey hairs. Yep, it was pretty raucous. Not something you would see normally. But the thing I liked about it the most was the casual attention paid to the rules of the moderator, rules which were casual themselves. It caused the moderator to comment toward the end that he was losing control of the debate.

It was clear to me that the ones running the debate were in awe of the star power that surrounded them, and unused to the attention of mainstream media and the candidates themselves. Nearly everyone showed. I counted only Joe Biden as missing on the panel.

The candidates were effusive in their praise of bloggers, and more than one made uncomplimentary mention of Bill O’Reilly who has a vendetta against Daily Kos, and Markos himself.

Who won? How the H-E-double hockey sticks do I know? It was a melee. At one point my guy Edwards scored again on leading the conversation vis-à-vis taking money from lobbyists, but you have to hand it to Senator Clinton, she was ready this time. She dished it right back. Some of the lobbyists represent social workers. People who work in big corporations. Bill Richardson, I think, drew the most boos when he revealed some actions that he would take that seemed pretty centrist and conventional. This crowd was unique in that it was lefty and mostly lefty activists so his message didn’t always play well.

Who do I think the bloggers supported? My guy. John Edwards. How do I know this? The candidates were introduced one at a time as they came on the stage. Edwards came on 3rd to last and by my read of the Half Empty Applause-O-Meter, Edwards’ entrance got the loudest ovation.

Or maybe it could have just been my imagination.

Naaahhh.

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