Ganging Up

That, in a nutshell, was the Philadelphia debate (except for the part about Dennis Kucinich saying we should impeach Bush and Vice President Cheney and acknowledging that he saw a UFO). Her two main opponents were more aggressive--Obama warning against "another eight years of bickering" and Edwards ticking off her financial haul from lobbyists-- Hillary calmly defended herself but basically refused to engage. At times, it seemed like 4 against 1, with Brian and Tim repeatedly pressing Hillary as well.

Her worst moment: Kinda sorta defending Eliot Spitzer's plan to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants in New York but refusing to take a position. But if her goal was to appear unruffled, she pulled it off.

Hmm . . . Was Williams running out of material when he closed the debate by asking Barack how he'd dress up for Halloween?

Boston Globe: "Hillary Clinton came under relentless fire last night from fellow Democrats, who slammed her on issues ranging from Iran to Social Security, and all but called their rival a liar as they sought to slow down the New York senator's campaign momentum."

L.A. Times: "Clinton basically ignored the slings and arrows, coolly and calmly touting her record and promoting various plans she laid out. She also studiously avoided attacking Obama or Edwards -- which would have given them greater stature than she wished to bestow.

"Still, for perhaps the first time during this year's plethora of debates, Clinton hit some rough spots. When the discussion turned to two topics -- the release of records of her activities as first lady and driver licenses for illegal immigrants -- she gave answers that, at the least, allowed her rivals to effectively challenge her candor and consistency."

N.Y. Times: "Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York came under withering attack from the rest of the Democratic presidential field last night in a pitched two-hour debate that her opponents used to challenge her candor and electability and to portray her as enabling President Bush to prepare for an invasion of Iran . . .

"For all the attention Mr. Obama drew to himself coming into the debate, he was frequently overshadowed by former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, who -- speaking more intensely -- repeatedly challenged Mrs. Clinton's credentials and credibility, and frequently seemed to make the case against Mrs. Clinton that Mr. Obama had promised to make."

Roger Simon: "We now know something that we did not know before: When Hillary Clinton has a bad night, she really has a bad night.

"In a debate against six Democratic opponents at Drexel University here Tuesday, Clinton gave the worst performance of her entire campaign. It was not just that her answer about whether illegal immigrants should be issued drivers' licenses was at best incomprehensible and at worst misleading. It was that for two hours she dodged and weaved, parsed and stonewalled."

All right, as promised, let's dig through the avalanche of here's-what-Obama-should-do, starting with the New Republic's Noam Scheiber:

"I think Obama's changing politics theme is too ambitious, since there's nothing in his resume that obviously suggests he'd be able to pull it off. (That's not to say he couldn't; just that it's not obvious that he could.) The more I think about it, the more I think the way to run would have been to spend a lot of time taking on Bush and the Republican Party--i.e., just worrying about 'changing political parties in the White House.'