9:52PM Debate over. Final impressions? A quite civil, policy-oriented debate that left both of them looking like presidential material. It was a good night for both, I think.
9:34PM Wolf Blitzer: "So what you're saying is that you were naive in trusting President Bush?"
9:32PM Clinton provides the Kerry-esque rebuttal that will destroy her in a debate with McCain: "If I had been president, we would never have done this." Right, you only supported the war when you were a measly senator. President, no way.
9:30PM Obama on the War: "We will have a much stronger argument if we have a candidate who can say 'this was always a bad idea, this was always going to turn out badly'."
9:21PM Long "2-shot" of both candidates in the frame sparks sentimental amazement in this blogger: the visual of how this campaign has closed, down to two candidates—an African-American and a woman. We have never seen this before, and it will likely be a long time before we ever see it again. We are making history, and it is a wonderful thing.
9:10Pm A woman from South Carolina asks how Clinton can call herself an "agent of change" when the last 28 years have had either a Clinton or a Bush on the ballot. Hillary says she wants to be judged on her own merits, then proceeds to pontificate on how great her husband's administration was. Really.
9:02PM Idiot named Howard Meyerson from California states that the U.S. is really just a "giant corporation". Bigger idiot from Politico asks then how are either of the candidates qualified to be "CEO of the United States". Hillary pats the idiot on the head and reminds them that our country isn't a fucking corporation. All but the patting is true.
8:51PM Clinton gives a weird defense of her position against driver's licenses for illegal immigrants: "It would be clear evidence that they were breaking the law if they were pulled over". I think it may be the first time I've ever heard a politician actually advocate the prevention of evidence in a criminal investigation. I know it's a complicated issue, but isn't there a better way to put that?
8:38PM A question posed from an audience member: "Can you address the obvious negative economic impact on African-Americans from illegal immigration?" Translation: "Barack, can you conceivably win California with all of this 'hate' we're hearing about between the black and Hispanic communities?" Naturally, he calls the bluff.
8:35PM Hill's poring over electronic medical records and how they can save us $77 billion, which could then be put towards preventative medicine. I have to say, she's really good at this policy minutiae stuff.
8:27PM Health care policy debate is serious, but cordial. So far, encouraging from both of them.
8:21 PM Oh, they're sitting right next to each other! THIS will be interesting.
8:20 PM First thoughts: my MSNBC addiction is really becoming a problem. I listened to Keith Olbermann for the first 20 minutes of the debate, because I was sure MSNBC must be hosting it. Turns out it's CNN. So I have no idea how this thing started.
