AddieStan

This is the cloying question that Wolf Blitzer asked each of the candidates to answer. John Edwards took the bait, mentioning his meeting yesterday with "Martin the Third," offering a laundry list of Edwards' own efforts that King would hypothetically endorse. Barack Obama , on the other hand, gave the exact right answer: that Dr. King "would not endorse any of us." He would hold the candidates to accountability, Obama said. After that, whatever Hillary Clinton said just didn't register.

Thank goodness that Hillary Clinton called out John Edwards , at last, in his b.s. about how he's never taken money from Washington lobbyists. Yeah, Hill essentially said, but you've taken money from the spouses of lobbyists, the children of lobbyists and people who work for lobbyists. Well said. This has always struck your blogstress as a bit of subterfuge.

Barack Obama just made a fascinating point about going after evangelicals for votes by asserting his own bona fides as a committed Christian. "If you don't show up" to church he said, you cede the ground to the right wing. Then he said he strongly embraced the "precepts of Jesus Christ ," including making caring for the "least among us." Yeah, but is Jesus your personal savior, Barack? Are ya born again? If not, you're not really one of them. Which doesn't mean you shouldn't reach out to them. Just be clear about who you are.

Suzanne Malveaux just asked Hillary about whether Bill shouldn't "tone it down" a bit, as suggested by Rep. James Clyburne , the African-American head of the progressive caucus. Hillary gave a very boring response about her appreciation of Bill's support. Barack took the opportunity to remind the viewers that Bill has been saying untrue things about him, not that he wants to go over that turf again. Somehow Edwards has turned it into how he can compete with John McCain "everywhere in America," not that that has anything to do with him being a white guy.

Now everybody's in agreement about the challenges faced by blacks, women and poor people. After Barack made his speech about the disproportionate levels of incarceration between blacks and whites, Hillary chimed in with a reminder about "equal pay is not yet equal." Noted that women still make only 77 cents to each dollar made by men -- then pointedly said that for "women of color", the rate is 67 cents to the dollar.

Joe Johns just reiterated the famous Toni Morrison quote, and asked Obama to respond. That he did deftly, giving Bill perhaps more props than he deserves at the moment. Then the joke, the twist on the stereotype, "I would have to investigate Bill 's dancing abilities in order to know whether or not he is actually a brother."

Obama raised the R war [telling typo, non ?] word; intially blamed the media for making the primary contest about race, then said it's understandable, given how important race is in our society. However, he sounded great when he said that the more he went around South Carolina, he sensed a hunger among all people to rise above divisions.

Gotta say, having the candidates sit down seems to help the tone of the debate. Opening question in this segment went to Barack Obama , who was asked to respond to remarks by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), one of Hillary Clinton 's big supporters, who said that African-Americans shouldn't vote for a African-American because he's African-American; they should vote for whomever is best for the country. Obama retorted: "I agree with his principle; I just think he's miscalculated in his equation."

Wolf Blitzer just announced that for the second segment of the CBC/CNN Democratic debate, there will be a "set change," and that everybody will sit down to have "an important conversation." Hope they're not serving food or drink. Already enough of a food fight.

John Edwards , who in the last umpteen Democratic debates often aligned himself with Barack Obama in going after Hillary Clinton , just threw his first real punches at Obama when he joined Clinton's criticism of Obama's many noncommittal "present" votes in the Illinois legislature. Out of some 4,000 votes Obama says he cast during his nine years in the state legislature, he voted "present" -- not "yea" or "nay" -- 130 times. The "present" vote, Obama says, exists in the Illinois legislature in order for a legislator to indicate that he or she has problems with aspects of legislation that she or he might otherwise vote for. Thing is, what's Edwards' game here? Oh yeah -- in South Carolina, Obama is the frontrunner .

Your blogstress now regrets the batch of chocolate-chip cookies, laced with cinnamon and crystalized ginger, that she made just before the debate commenced. So stressful is the watching of the churlishness on display, that your écrivaine stands ready to go to bed several pounds heavier than she was when she got up this morning. If the liberal coalition survives in good health the sniping and low-down tactics being employed in this primary race, it will show itself to be, thankfully, stronger than your cybertrix believes.

Comes out swinging at both Bill and Hillary Clinton for mischaracterizing his positions. [UPDATE] Then Hillary goes on to mischaracterize Obama 's quote about Ronald Reagan , wherein he assessed the way in which Reagan changed politics. [UPDATE] Goes back and forth -- Barack reminds Hillary of her service on the Wal-Mart board when she was "a corporate lawyer;" Hillary comes back at Barack to mention his service as a lawyer with a client who was "a slumlord." [UPDATE] John Edwards see his opening, steps in the middle, and asks how many children will be fed by this "squabble." Brilliant.

The opening question from CNN's Joe Johns was about the economy, straight to Hillary Clinton about her stimulus plan. This gave her the opportunity for a detailed, facts-and-figs answer, the kind of thing at what she excels. Barack Obama seems ill-at-ease, which, at first blush, seems odd, given the extraordinary speech he gave this morning at Ebenezer Baptist Church. A few seconds in, though, we find why he feels uncomfortable. He's here to go on the attack -- not something that Mr. Above-the-Fray likes to do.

It's got to be a sweet moment for John McCain , who eight years ago lost the South Carolina presidential primary to George W. Bush in one of the dirtiest campaigns in recent memory. Engaging in that dirty campaign was David Beasley , then the governor of South Carolina, who this year played a significant role in the campaign of Gov. Mike Huckabee . Gotta say, McCain's 90-something-year-old mother -- whom he just called ma-MAH -- looks fabulous. McCain just made the point, much trumpeted in recent days, that the winner of the South Carolina primary for the last 29 years has gone on to be the party's nominee. "I'm running to keep America safe, prosperous and proud," McCain is telling his supporters. His speech is going all Reaganesque; it's all about making America a man again. Making people feel "proud" again. Your blogstress would argue for humility.

In his concession speech, Mike Huckabee congratulated South Carolina primary winner John McCain -- and himself -- for running "a civil campaign." Said Huck: "I would rather be where I am and to have done it with honor, than to have won by attacking somebody else." Interesting that former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley will be joining Huck elsewhere on the trail, according to the 2nd-place finisher. Beasley was the South Carolina Christian Coalition ally who worked with Ralph Reed , late of the Abramoff scandal, to get George W. Bush elected. More importantly for Huckabee, he helped get John McCain defeated .

Looks like about a four-point spread; spin is that Fred Thompson pulled votes from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee . Chris Matthews suggested that Thompson is sticking around in the race in order to help his friend, Arizona Sen. John McCain . That sounds about right.

On MSNBC, Tim Russert just mistakenly referred to South Carolina as "South Africa" in his discussion with co-hosts Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann of next week's Democratic presidential primary -- in which most of the voters are expected to be black. Oops...

Republican soon-to-be-also-ran Fred Thompson totally scammed MSNBC tonight, apparently teasing the guys -- and it really is THE GUYS -- with the allure of a possible withdrawal. So, Thompson, who appears to have barely registered was, at last look, battling Mitt Romney for third place in today's South Carolina Republican presidential primary, managed to get at least 10 minutes of free media, when MSNBC broke away from its anchor desk to (video) broadcast his speech , which was neither a withdrawal nor a concession. Once Thompson lowered his pants leg by way of his inconclusive conclusion, laughter from the MSNBC studio was audible. "What was that?" asked anchor Keith Olbermann . To be clear about THE GUYS, your blogstress must, in fairness, say that the excellent Rachel Maddow was brought into the broadcast to take on Pat Buchanan 's boosterism of Mitt Romney , who won the Republican Nevada caucuses, and reporter Andrea Mitchell was featured in the segment on ...

So, Hillary Clinton has won the vote in the Nevada caucuses, though the jury is still out as to who won the greater number of delegates -- Barack Obama or she. Your blogstress does not pretend to understand why this is; just remember you heard it here next. But the Nevada vote wasn't all good for the former first lady, who apparently lost the African-American vote in a big way. And so, tomorrow in earnest begins the fight for black voters. MSNBC reports that Hillary will travel to her home state of New York to pick up the endorsement of Rev. Calvin Butts , pastor of the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church , and big man in the the real-estate politics of Harlem, the land called home these days by one former president. And what will he be doing tomorrow? According to Clinton adviser Ann Lewis , Bill will be going door-to-door in African-American neighborhoods in South Carolina, whose pivotal Democratic presidential primary takes place a week from today.

Ever since Hillary Clinton asked us to imagine each of the candidates in the Oval Office, I keep seeing her at the desk. Tonight, seated between two younger men, and in full command of the facts and her emotions, she really did look like the boss. Not that your blogstress liked all of her answers, especially the one about Bob Johnson , the BET founder, who took a rhetorical slap at Barack Obama yesterday with cryptic comments that seemed to refer to Obama's admitted use of drugs while in high school. On that issue, Mrs. Clinton clearly spoke from both sides of her mouth, claiming to accept Johnson's explanation that he was not referring to drug use when he mentioned what Obama "was doing in the neighborhood" while Hillary was making change, while saying that Johnson's remarks were "out of bounds." On the other hand, your écrivaine was relieved to see the candidates tone it down, especially the tension between Clinton and Obama with regard to Clinton...