My AFL-CIO Debate Review

I think that the AFL-CIO debate went pretty well, actually it was my favorite debate yet. The crowd was rowdy and really into it, they would cheer and boo freely, and asked some good, tough questions. I wrote in my previous post about a few things going into the debate. Could Hillary sway the union people on her side? How would she handle the questions about lobbyists and NAFTA? I also said that this was a big chance for Barack Obama to make a move. He's falling behind in the latest Gallup poll (whatever you want to put into that, he's still showing good in Iowa) and needs to make his move. By that I meant that I thought he would have to move further to the left and distinguish himself further from Hillary. A person I didn't mention was John Edwards. I, personally, have mixed feelings on Edwards. I don't know how real he actually is, to me it seems like for the last few years he has been working so hard to get the workers votes, like that would be his niche in the election. While I respect him for this, it never seemed real sincere to me. This very well could of been the night that Edwards made his move. In my eyes, another candidate killed his campaign tonight. Now, onto the debate and how these things played out.

Big Winners: Barack Obama and Dennis Kucinich

I think Obama did exactly what he needed to do tonight. He moved further to the left and distinguished himself from Hillary further. He played the 'Washington Insiders' card very well, working from his previous debate. He answered a seemingly tough question about building stadiums with the fact that it provided jobs and economic growth. He came down tough on how the President has handled globalization but did not say he would get rid of NAFTA. He also continued to talk about re-focusing on the war on terror and I think his best moment of the night was in the debate over Pakistan. He has a point that no other candidate is trying to make, and he came across very well in my book. Of course, having the home field advantage didn't hurt Obama either.

More on Dennis Kucinich later.

Mixed Feelings: While I don't agree with some of Hillary's politics, she's way too moderate for my liking, she certainly didn't lose any points in the polls. She avoided the lobbyist question well, stating that Washington needed to be reformed. Her answers, as always, remained vague. She wants NAFTA to maximize benfits and minimize risks, whatever that means. While this really upsets me, the way she plays the game, she certainly looked very 'Presidential' and didn't make any mistakes. Don't look for her to slip any in the Gallup polls and to continue being the #1 candidate. I think this race is going to come down to how moderate Hillary can go and still win the primary. She seems to be priming herself for the general election, but this could backfire in the primaries if Obama continues to scoot further to the left and takes Iowa.

Kucinich Kills The Edwards Campaign: For a while now, Edwards has been portraying himself as the candidate for the working man. Tonight, Edwards failed in his bid to secure his spot as the real candidate for the working man and move up in the polls. This could of been his night, and I don't think he came through. He got a few big applauses, but as a whole he failed to take the stadium. He didn't seem very engaging, he didn't distinguish himself as a candidate who's #1 concern is the working class. He didn't have any real strong words for NAFTA or the WTO, he was called out by Joe Biden and didn't give a great response back. The best point he did bring up was the safety of the products coming in from other countries. But, as a whole, Edwards failed in my eyes.

Dennis Kucinich, on the other hand, really captivated the crowd. Will he become a darkhorse candidate? I hope so, but probably not without the AFL-CIO's big time backing. But he came off as the true candidate for the working man. While all the other candidates simply stated that NAFTA needed to be 'fixed' Kucinich said that it needed to be killed off, and he would do that. While all the other candidates tip-toed around China, Kucinich said we are already there. He talked about re-industralizing America. He stood firmly for universal, single-payer health care. He talked about his bills he has introduced to make a real change in America. He got huge applause after huge applause. While the entire time Edwards looked like a watered down version of Kucinich. He stance was very vanilla compared to Kucinich's and I think that that will effectively end his campaign for the working man. I'm not saying that Kucinich is going to skyrocket to #3 in the polls now, but I think after tonight Edwards has lost his niche.

I really hope that Obama continues to go farther to the left, because Hillary sure isn't going to.
His hawkish stance on Pakistan could hurt him but he didn't really look all that different then Edwards when it came to workers rights.

Random Thoughts: I think Keith Olbermann did a good job hosting the debate. He gave most of the candidates equal time and only a few times did they go over...I really hope this debate will give the Kucinich campaign more t.v. time, maybe he can get a Ron Paul-esque backing and start making some real noise...I'm writing this barely keeping my eyes open, so if there's some spelling errors then I apologize in advance...To be clear I think Barack and Kucinich won the debate tonight, with Hillary doing nothing to hurt her campaign and Edwards as the big loser...the other candidates did nothing to distinguish himself from the rest of the field...

Since Mike Gravel couldn't push himself onto the debate tonight, here's a link to Direct Democracy: http://ni4d.us/ Please check it out, and let him get his voice and policies heard more!

Tomorrow I'm going to do an in-depth look at Dennis Kucinich, try to introduce him to some more people...

Just my 2 cents, thanks for reading