Debate, you say? What debate? Earlier I did a blog entry on the early political season. I admitted then, or think I did, and admit now that I am a political junkie. Part of that is work – I do contract work for a company that deals with political campaigns; part of it is information – I truly believe it is the voter’s responsibility to be informed; part of it is just plain interest.

So to feed my political habit, I sat down in the last of our non-rain weather last evening and watched two-thirds of the Democratic presidential candidates’ debate. It was set on the campus of South Carolina State University – a beautiful campus from what I can tell – and involved eight candidates – even more than my junkie habit knew about. See, right there I learned something! I had heard about the big names – Clinton, Edwards, Kucinich, Obama, Richardson. I knew Biden was thinking about it. I didn’t realize Dodd was thinking of it. I didn’t even know who Mike Gravel was.

Of course, the entire debate had to start with questions about Iraq. It seems to be the biggest issue going. I would have thought that homeland security would have topped the list but not at this debate. There were big surprises here.

Clinton said this is not America’s war to win or lose. It is up to the Iraqi people.

Biden said the President’s philosophy is fundamentally flawed but can we leave Iraq and not leave it in chaos? He briefly outlined a decentralized Iraq with a limited centralized government to divide the oil wealth equitably.

Obama reiterated that he has opposed the war from the start and that he presented a plan in January that mirrors recent resolutions passed in Congress.

Edwards continued with his apology for his vote, when he was in the Senate, to approve the war. He took a shot at Clinton as she hasn’t apologized. He went on to say that the next president needs to restore the trust between the office of the president and the US people and then between the US and the world. Clinton’s rebuttal simply was a statement that she voted with the best information available at that time.

Kucinich was the only sitting lawmaker that had voted no on the war from the start. He stated taht voting to continue funding the war is seen as voting to re-authorize it. He also mentioned HR 1234 which deals with peacekeepers in the region.

Richardson said he would NOT, if he were in Congress, vote to continue funding. He said if he were president he would withdraw all troops by the end of this calendar year but with a three prong diplomatic policy – a political framework, security conference including Iran and Syria as the Middle East needs to take care of itself, and a donor conference so the cost of rebuilding is born by many, not just a few.

Dodd talked about sponsorship of the Feingold-Reid bill in the Senate. He stated that the US is more isolated in the world due to the current policy in Iraq. He also stated that the Iraqi people need to assume the responsibiltiy of their own future.

Gravel – the pronunciation of his name is with the emphasis on the second syllable and reminds me of the British comedy Keeping Up Appearances and the Buckets – said the war was lost when we invaded based on a fradulent basis. He stated he was embarrassed by the Congress and suggested we get out by passing a law making the war illegal, not by passing resolutions with timelines.

Obama was asked about what mission complete status would look like. He sort of side-stepped the question. He used it as a basis to say we need to increase the size of our armed forces – though presented no plan as to how to do this.

When Richardson was questioned as to why he was the last candidate to call for the resignation of Alberto Gonzalez and that he said one reason was because Gonzalez was Hispanic, he did not deny saying the Hispanic part. He did say he was waiting for Gonzalez to have a chance to explain himself. When Gonzalez did not answer or explain in his testimony to Congress, Richardson did call for his resignation.

When Kucinich was questioned about being anti-war before it was popular, he simply stated that war as a matter of policy doesn’t reflect America’s greatness. That is a powerful sound bite that may not make it far as it was not said by a frontrunner.

Biden drew what I heard as the only audience response. The audience had been asked not to applaud so as to move the debate along. Biden was asked about his long-windedness. He simply answered with one word, illiciting laughs from the crowd.

Gravel actually said, after complaining he felt like a potted plant as he had not been asked as many items as the others, that some of the candidates on the stage frightened him.

I truly believe the Clinton sound bite of the night was when she said she would create alliances as president, instead of alienations.

On the issue of abortion – always a hot topic but even more so due to last week’s Supreme Court ruling against partial birth abortion, those given the chance to reply – Edwards, Obama, Biden, Kucinich, and Dodd – all discussed how a Supreme Court nominee would reflect their values. Also they discussed the difficulty of the decision on the woman and her family. Edwards stated that abortion is an extraordinarily difficult issue for the US people and that we need to respect the opinions of those who do not agree with us on this issue. Obama thinks we should look to preventing the need for these types of decision – areas we can all agree on such as lowering teenage pregnancy rates. Biden said that the recent Supreme Court decision was intellectually dishonest and the danger is the rationale offered which is setting up the steps for the Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. Kucinich said the issue calls for compassion. Dodd pointed to his disappointment in Chief Justice Roberts, whom he voted to confirm, as Roberts had said he would uphold precendent and this opinion did not.

Clinton did state that the federal government had failed those shot at Virginia Tech, that the federal government needs to do more to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and those who are mentally unstable.

Richardson, who is the NRA’s favorite candidate of all those announced – Republican and Democrat, toed the line. He stated that the vast majority of gun owners are law abiding. The Virginia Tech issue deals more with mental illness and instant background checks.

Biden feels the federal government should not have let the assault weapons ban lapse. It should close the gun show loophole and look more closely at mental illness, including the ability for a college to remove students when grave concern is expressed by professors.

There was more but this is already really long. I think that the moderator, NBC’s Brian Williams, played favorites to Clinton. She had more rebuttal time than anyone. I think Gravel was right. He was largely ignored. I think that the moderator, when doing quick fire questions that all were to answer, should not have always started in the same place. Everyone knows that no politician is going to be quick when length will take time away from the opponent. Unlike most national news people, I do not believe that Clinton gained the most. I do think that all were fairly polite and took more shots at the current administration than each other – a good things since it is months before anyone votes and the mud can’t start yet.