For somewhat less flippant coverage of the debate than Wonkette's, check out Walter Shapiro's note at Salon.
John Edwards seems to have found exactly the right way to respond to questions about his hair. Go, John Edwards!
[quote begins on Democrats Strike Up the Show by Walter Shapiro]
The top three candidates all played to type. Clinton was solid, unflappable and at times engagingly rueful... Edwards artfully brought almost every question back to his campaign themes, twisting a query about his $400 haircuts into the earnest declaration: "I live a privileged and blessed lifestyle now ... But it's not where I come from. And I've not forgotten where I come from."
As for Obama, he seemed at times constrained by the rigid one-minute response times, as if the rhetorical magic that has elevated him into the presidential pantheon would not work in the rat-a-tat framework of an eight-candidate debate. Only in the last 10 minutes did Obama come alive as he, bizarrely enough, found himself hectored on Iran... When Gravel, a long-ago Alaska senator, began over-emoting, "Tell me, Barack, who do you want to nuke?" Obama replied to laughter, "I'm not planning to nuke anybody right now, Mike, I promise."
[quote ends]
My favorite quote from the Shapiro article relates to Joe Biden who---as noted---I quite like:
[quote begins on Democrats Strike Up the Show by Walter Shapiro]
Referring to Biden's penchant for gaffe-filled logorrhea, moderator Brian Williams bluntly asked the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "Can you reassure voters in this country that you would have the discipline you would need on the world stage, Senator?"
Biden immediately responded, "Yes," and then with a puckish smile silently stood behind his lectern as the seconds ticked off and the hilarity grew. Biden's mastery of the sounds of silence brought to mind the old Jack Benny radio routine when the legendarily cheap comedian was asked by an armed robber, "Your money or your life." After 30 seconds of dead air, Benny finally said, "I'm thinking, I'm thinking."
[quote ends]
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