I Watched the Debate Tonight,

and it is clear to me the candidates who did the best were Edwards, Biden, and Clinton. Those are the three who should be left standing after tonight.

As I said before, Kucinich, Gravel, and probably Dodd should step down. I like Dodd, but he just can't seem to distinguish himself. Kucinich and Gravel come across as crackpots and should get out and quit wasting airtime. I seriously doubt Richardson is going to make it, regardless of his expertise. I think he has similar troubles as Dodd.

Obama, well, forget it. He batted 0-2 tonight. He appeared nervous, ill-prepared, and certainly outclassed by the likes of Edwards. Edwards came out swinging during the first half of the debate, and he held his own the rest of the debate. The second half seemed to lose a bit of steam, in my opinion. The first half reminded me of the Fox Republican debate of a couple of weeks ago. The candidates really went after each other. Edwards was the clear winner in the part of the debate.

Hillary Clinton always does well in these formats, and tonight wasn't an except. She probably belongs in the "top tier." Biden I thought won the second part of the debate. The guy knows his stuff, and if he can get enough money to stay in the game, Clinton and Edwards have their work cut out for them. A generation ago, a man like Biden would have been a shoo-in for the nomination. But in this day and age of American Idol politics, he is considered old hat, even irrelevant. It's disgusting.

I was working on the apartment getting this place ready for the relatives to spend the night on Thursday (before I take off for the next week), so I wasn't going to give the blow-by-blow account of what was said during the debate.