Legal Commentary

Make Or Break Debate?

By Big Tent Democrat

Bumped. Jeralyn will be live blogging tonights's debate.

Update: (TL): I'm just getting online and in front of a tv for the first time all day. I'll be catching up and then starting a live blog. Hope you'll join me. I'll start thread one at about 7:45 ET.

By Big Tent Democrat

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will face off tonight in a CNN Debate to be telecast starting at 8 EST. This is the most highly anticipated debate and is likely to attract the largest viewership of any event in this campaign. Is it make or break for Clinton and Obama? Perhaps.

Obama has not been impressive in debates, but he has not yet had a one on one format. Perhaps he will shine tonight. Clinton has performed well in most debates.

My big question is how negative will the debate be. Do not get me wrong, I think the candidates SHOULD mix it up, to explain why they are the better choice than the opponent. That is what debates are about. I am not a big fan of speechifying debates. But it is clear that being too negative poses a risk, at least it does for Clinton. With the Obama Rules in place, it is not clear that Obama runs much risk in going negative.

I think Obama WILL try to go on the attack and I think Clinton has little choice but to fire back. But there will be a fundamental test for Obama throughout the debate - can he sound convincing on the issues? His debate style has lacked both inspiration and sharpness. As I say, he has not shined. Clinton has simply been better.

There is no doubt that Clinton needs to shine tonight, to get the better of Obama on the issues. If she does, that can reinforce her seeming advantage going into 2/5. If Obama demonstrates command of the issues tonight, he can go a long way to upending Clinton and starting his climb to take control of the nomination contest.

Is tonight make or break? Maybe not, but it is undoubtedly the most important night of the campaign to date.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on January 31, 2008 (boomark / email).