Nevada debate (semi-live)

Race / Drugs


Clinton: no card playing; lauds MLK ties all 3 together under dream umbrella, reiterates the squash of the beef between her and Obama

Obama: leads in with stump speech; can't solve race issue unless we come together as a people

Edwards: we made progress, but we're not done, gives anecdotal story about past; we should move forward


Accountability for race explosion?

Obama: expresses contrition, states that campaign staff can be overzealous; segues into economic issues; states that Clinton simply out worked him in N.H., not race

Clinton: says she's willing to believe Bob Johnson's retraction, states that campaign is too important to have the real issues cloud the issues; segues into economy


E-mail question -no real candidate difference; why should she have to choose between 1st black and 1st woman

Edwards: leads in with stump speech, states that you should decide based on what the candidate will do for you;


What do you do against them (Clinton/Obama)?

Edwards: reiterates that you should choose based on actions/agenda


Regret the N.H. debat 'likable' comment?

Obama: yes, it was taken the wrong way; we should focus on real issues; segues into 'we should bring people together to effect change', meme; choose based on what candidate can accomplish


Were you 'piling' on?

Edwards: No. My job is to speak the truth, speaks to the entrenched corporate intrests (which implies that his attack on Clinton, was based on his perception that she is allied with them)


Your husband said he could win, could your comments damage Obama in the fall?

Clinton: We're in hard fought contest. Has higest respect for her opponents, falls back on the 'ready on day one' meme, dogs Bush for going to the middle east with his hat in hand begging for good oil prices; will not back off of her unique 'readiness' stance.


You said you weren't an operating officer...

Obama: I was describing how I view the presidency; thinks that it is about vision and bringing together the best people and getting ideas, and then getting the populace mobilized to back them

Greatest strength / weakness?

Obama: bringing other disparate people together / slight absentmindedness

Edwards: fighting spirit / strong emotional response to the plight of others

Clinton: starts off off topic, mini-stump experience/change/blah,blah,blah... impatient & frustrated (attacks Obama for not being a manager|compares him to Bush) /

Obama: you do have to ba a good manager; you get the BEST people for your team and hold them accountable; to look at Bush, says he couldn't get past his ideological perspectives and the Bush couldn't manage costs and ask questions and had no vision


Lots of false information about you, alleges that you are a Muslim... how do you respond?

Obama: States all the correct information (Christian/Bible/Pledge); states that the people are smart enough to not be taken in by misinformation; brings up climate change, taxes,
other platform issues;


Economy... Citigroup and Merrill Lynch asking for money to stay afloat from 'essentially bad people'. Is that wrong?

Clinton: I'm very concerned, displays technical economic jargon, wants transparancy and control; we got here because business bet wrong, brings up her economic plan

Edwards: states all economic growth is only in the largest/richest sector, middle class is financially insecure, appeals to Nevada specifically, then to everyone;

Obama: Ties lack of energy policy into financial crisis; talks about all the sun in Nevada -- subprime problem happened because there is no oversight,


You voted for bankruptcy bill, do you regret it?

Edwards: I regret it, ties bankruptcy problems to medical debt, launches into populist spiel... agrees with Obama about energy, talks about student loans

Clinton: She regrets her vote also; happy that it never became law; wants bankruptcy reform, references her economic plan, talks about the head of Countrywide's golden parachute; naked courting of minorities; states that we can't wait

Obama: I opposed them both, I thought they were bad ideas; agrees with Clinton for reform, references bill he submitted; cites lobbyists as problem... uses anecdotal story to reference his economic stimulace package


Middle class retiree how can you protect our income?

Obama: Middle class exemption for capital gains and dividends; speaks to his fairer tax plans, gives examples, cites uneven tax burden


Mentioned freezing interest rates; what are long term effects?

Clinton: wants to do it to match the ability to pay mortgage, references more of her economic plan


Two questions for each from everyone else...

Edwards - Campaign finance, asks to Med donations

Obama: States that small med donors are registered as med no matter what, cites his wide finance pattern and his law that gives some transparancy

Clinton - War in Iraq, private agreement from Bush to Iraq gov't, introduced a bill to congress to force Bush to come to congress-- Will Obama co-sponsor?

Obama: We can work on this issue, doesn't want next president's hands tied; talks about his opposition to the war and his plan to leave Iraq

Clinton & Edwards agrees with Obama's troop re-deployment

Obama: Corrects record on Iraq deployment question

Clinton: Continues states wild difference between Dems and Repubs

Edwards: Clairifies his position about all combat troops in the 1st year

Obama: asks for clairification

Edwards: says he would keep a force in Kuwait


Domestic issues

Too many poor and minority, statute that colleges need to have ROTC and room for recruiting stations, will you enforce that?


Clinton: Absolutely, lauds any national service; dengrates the Bush admins treatment of soldiers

Obama: Yes, states that rural communities are part of the uneven burden; thinks we need more troops to cut down fatigue; also speaks to need for non combat service

Edwards: Yes. speaks about homeless vets; and wants to take care of all vets and their retraining

Obama: speaks to failures of Bush admin, uses Walter Reed as an example

Clinton: agrees with others, brings up traumatic brain injury, refers to some of her legislation


Yucca mt Nuke storage

Obama: Vows to end it, doesn't want a situation that harms the people of Nevada

Clinton: I voted against it, held hearings about it... brings up one of Obama's benefactor as being pro-Yucca and Edwards' vote for it

Obama: His home state has many plants, but he's always been against it

Edwards: reiterates that he is against Nuke plants

Clinton: brings up his votes again

Edwards: repeats his access to the new information


New Nuke plants...

Obama: voted for it because of the large amount of clean fuel investment; if we can safely do Nuke pwr, we should, goes into carbon cap spiel

Clinton: attacks the bill, calls Cheney to attention said it was special intrest pork, references her economic plan, once again bashes Obama via 'hope' comment

Edwards: states Nuke is not the answer talks about other energy sources; references Clinton's largets share of money from those energy interests; wants to make the polluters pay; wants to stop the building of coal fired power plants

Clinton: references her energy plan, uses Apollo as example

Obama: says we should cut down our energy usage; we need to be more efficient, states that it is the easiest change


Immigration...

Edwards: We need to make a path to citizenship for the undocs, wants fines, wants them to learn to speak english with our help and that language should be a requirement

Clinton: Hispanic voters don't vote for Black people, says that it was a historical statement; feels there hasn't been enough minority discussion

Obama: is there a non-voting problem?; no, they voted for me (gets laugh), references his stand w/ McCain and Kennedy


e-mail question... What is the cause of Black male drop out rates


Obama: equates it with latino drop out rate; wants more early childhood education so that minorities don't start behind, segues into teacher stump speech; wants to have parents do their part in the process (calls out fathers specifically)

Clinton: wants to continue discussion, states that the family needs their tools, highlights her connections to the 100 Black Men

Edwards: wants universal pre-K


Gun deaths...

Clinton: says she is against illegal guns, she is a political realist; she cops out at the fed level, does want a 'working' registry (unclear at which institutional level) references VT killings, attacks illegal gun dealers

Obama: Doesn't think he can accomplish that, what he thinks he can do is crack down on gun dealers

Edwards: picks up Clinton's mention of assault weapons ban and also wants to reinstatement...


Playing the fear card...


Clinton: refuses to "characterize" her statement, stands by her opinion; says we don't talk enough about homeland security obliquely references 9/11 by stating she represents NY, says president needs to protect the US

Obama: states we have been dominated by a politics of fear; congratulates Clinton's work in NY; states that Clinton's statement was part of the politics of fear; talks about the drain on resources that Iraq has been and that it has diverted funds from our security says he will focus on the real dangers

Clinton: defends her statement again; attempts to conflate the fact that the PM was tested with the "fact" that the new president MAY be tested


You called Pakistan when Bhutto was killed, was that appropriate?

Edwards: what I said was tough: you have to continue the march to democracy, you must allow international investigators, the elections have to take place

Given the decision to run for president is important, when did you make it?


Clinton: New years, wants to be the problem solver

Edwards: December, the cause of his life middle class and low income families

Obama: December, he thinks that there is something he could provide that no one else can, the bringing together of divided peoples...

END
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Quick thoughts

Clinton continued to attempt to press Obama on issues, but widened her scope to include Edwards, courted the Hispanic vote
Edwards attacked Clinton back and illuminated some of the truths behind statements
Obama put more of his substance on the table, courted the Hispanic vote