Post Debate Snap Judgment

The first Democratic debate was all I could have hoped for. Not a lot of surprises, but more substantial discussions than I've seen in the Republican debates thus far. Plus overall stronger moderation from Anderson Cooper tonight than we got from either Megyn Kelly or Jake Tapper in the first two GOP debates,

Hilary killed it. She did exactly what she needed to do. She effectively rebranded herself as the progressive who's unwilling to let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Or, as she put it, she's, "a progressive who likes to get things done." She was unflustered by questions about Benghazi, her email, or the problems of political dynasties. Most importantly, she was by far the most charming and charismatic person on that stage. I say most importantly not because it matters so much to me, but because for the last 50 years or so, Americans have consistently voted for the cadidate who's best on tv. As of tonight, that's Hilary, no question. She is far and away the best candidate for the general election,

Bernie Sanders had one great moment. He responded to a question about Hilary's email scandal, such as it is, by declaring, "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails!" I'm pretty sure most people couldn't agree with him more. Otherwise, as expected, he did his level best to bring his answers to questions about all manner of things back around to his single topic, income inequality. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't work at all, not even a little bit. Also, his voice and hand/arm gestures were just kind of annoying to me I'm not sure why.

Jim Webb was very upset about not getting as much time to speak as other candidates, like, you know, the two who are actually polling in double digits.  That seemed to be the point he found most worthy of endless iteration, at any rate.

Martin O'Malley seemed a little dazed at first, but became more animated and impressive as the evening progressed. He might be a good candidate for Hilary's VP, if he brought anything more than the electorally irrelevant state of Maryland to the campaign table.

Lincoln Chafee cares a lot about the environment. He also wants you to know he'd just been appointed to his Senate seat in the aftermath of his father's death when he voted to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act, without which 2008's financial crisis probably couldn't have happened.