Who won the debate? The Statesman

CNN's Wolf Blitzer last night "moderated" the Democratic Presidential debate, or so he was suppose to. He apparently lost control in the first 12 minutes as it appeared to be a free for all between the Presidential hopefuls. Much of the focus of attention was on Hillary Clinton and whether she would do better this time over her last performance. She did. Was Barack Obama more present and engaged? He was. Was John Edwards making his case to voters on the difference between the candidates (Hillary) and himself? No, he did himself a disservice last night and if anything, was one of the losers in the debate. He got booed, as they didn't like him attacking Hillary.

But there was more to summarize in this debate than in previous debates. For example, Senator Joe Biden, the Statesman, seemed to have the best answers to solve most of the issues brought up in the debate. He was down to earth, used plain language and was not trying to slam any of the other candidates. He was definitely the most stately candidate and was at his best in this debate.

Also a surprise was Congressman Dennis Kucinich. He was direct, made the differences more apparent between himself and most of the other candidates and in one particular exchange, he noted that most of the candidates had voted for NAFTA, War in Iraq, passed China's admittance into the WTO without restrictions and were responsible for most of the problems facing us today, including passing funding for the War in Iraq and not pursuing Impeachment for Cheney and Bush.

I was surprised how well this debate went and the questions were good. Most candidates were at their best and one thing for sure, any could make a good President, but only one will be. The media seems to influence voters by just speaking of the front 3 candidates and I think the others are short changed. Senator Biden for one and Senator Dodd and Congressman Kucinich as well.