This is a repeat from something I wrote in the War Room...

I think the debate was about even. Hillary Clinton came out strong in terms of overall energy, though she was all over the map tone-wise. One minute she's attacking, the next minute she's smoochy again. Barack Obama, by contrast, played it typically cool and smooth, not ever getting rattled but also missing some opportunities to counter-punch good and hard.

When Hillary Clinton said "That's not change you can believe in, that's change you can Xerox," the audience almost did Obama's job for him, letting out audible boos and hardly any laughter. But Obama should have zinged her back good with something like, "Your jokes are almost as funny as John McCain's." That would have done the trick.

Before Tuesday's debate I hope Obama trains with some improv comedians. Or he can just keep playing it cool and hope Hillary's joke writers continue in their current direction: "Your immigration policy is not 'Yes We Mexi-Can' ... it's 'No We Mexi-Can't'!" Then Obama can just wait for the boos to pour in and he'll wrap up the nomination.

I don't think Hillary lifted the "we are going to be fine" sentiment from Edwards. It is common vernacular and absolutely hair splitting to say it is. I am going to vote tomorrow and it will be Hillary who gets it because I know that she is more experienced than Obama. He just hasn't been around long enough to establish his credentials for the office of president!

It was certainly rousing, especially in the room where the audience got to it's feet. Only time will tell if this turns things around for her. There will be a certain irony if after weeks of aggressively marginalizing Obama's moving emtional rhetoric (which he seems able to produce fairly consistantly), Hilary's campagign is saved by a stirring emotional moment. I thought Hillary managed to look gracious and big (in a presidential way) for the first time in her campaign, though it's worth noting that Obama tends to project those qualities more frequently.

The country is trillions in debt, stuck in an unpopular, expensive occupation of a foreign country which, I might add, never did anything to us. Our banking system threatens to implode under the weight of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of obviously fraudulent loans. Our manufacturing sector has withered. Our currency is increasingly worthless. The flow of oil on a global basis clearly isn't keeping up with growing demand, both here and especially in Asia. A large and increasing percentage of our population has no health insurance at all. I could go on, but you get the point - we face some serious issues in need of serious solutions.

So where does Hillary decide to go during the debate? Oh yeah, she decides to dredge up some manufactured, irrelevant, made up controversy over a couple of lines Obama uttered in a speech, as if it matters in any way, shape or form. It's like the house is on fire and Hillary is standing there critiquing a speck of dirt under the fireman's left thumbnail. Does this woman have a clue? There are other priorities, sweetheart. I've been thinking about donating to Obama's campaign for a couple of weeks, but tonight's STUPIDITY finally pushed me over the edge. That's $500 for Obama, and if she's dumb enough to open her yapping trap again over some equally vapid non-issue, he's getting another $500, and then another and so on until I reach the contribution limit.

Beyond that, am I the only one who's completely amazed that Hillary, of all people, would be wielding charges of plagiarism against anyone? I mean, first of all Patrick gave the line to Obama and encouraged him to use it - it's not like it was stolen. Hard to see how that's "plagiarism", especially since politicians use speechwriters, um, every single freaking day. I mean, do you think Reagan came up with that shining city on the hill crap? No, that was Peggy Noonan, and she was nicely paid for her efforts.

Beyond that though, Hillary hired a ghost writer to produce her book "It Takes A Village", then took credit for the finished work herself. The woman who wrote it even got paid over $100,000, but Hillary refused to share any credit. So Hillary puts her name on an entire freaking BOOK that was ghostwritten, then turns around and has the nerve to jump on Obama's case for using a couple of phrases GIVEN to him by his friend Patrick?

This woman and her circle of sleezebag corporate advisers represents everything that is wrong with politics in America today, as much as Bill O'Reilly, Karl Rove, Ann Coulter and all the other nutbag noisebags.

As a writer, he knows perfectly well that Hillary's closing comes nowhere near Obama's plagiarism. She is using a general concept, speaking in general terms, and using down-to-earth language. She is not lifting an entire unusualtheme and language -- including cadences -- from someone else's speech. The hypocrite here is not Clinton or even Obama. It's Shapiro.

The Obama campaign's language-shot at Clinton only looks lame. I wonder why they bothered.

they gave a standing ovation because the debate was over, applauding for both.

If Barack Obama wins he will pull off 2 firsts in American politics.

First, and most obvious, is that he will be the first Black presidential nominee.

Second, and perhaps even more astounding, is that we will be the first person in U.S. history to be chosen as nominee solely based on his potential! For all his woeful lack of qualifications, GWB was at least a Governor and thus held an executive position. However, Mr. Obama, who has never had the chance to demonstrate that he could successfully manage an ice cream truck, has a real shot at the brass ring!

After all the talk of 'competence' (and its lack in the Bush Administration)how did we come to this?

Hillary Clinton was truly inspiring, and that's the reason why the crowd rose in a standing ovation at the end of her closing remarks at this evening's debate.