There are 263 days still to go to the Iowa caucus, the traditional opening of the United States presidential race, and a further 281 days beyond that to the election itself. But there was no sense of that on the South Carolina University campus in the early hours of Friday morning.
Students were still milling around, rating the performances of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and the other six Democratic hopefuls after the first Democratic presidential debate. The event was taken as seriously as if the caucus had been only 24 hours away.
The university and Democratic organisers laid on all the traditional razzmatazz — brass band, cheerleaders, bunting and placards — and the candidates spent days preparing their soundbites. The students at this predominantly African-American campus watched the candidates in the 800-seater Martin Luther King Auditorium, or on screens nearby.
While it can be hard to judge such debates — the verdict of those present can be radically different from those watching at home — a straw poll of students was almost unanimous in awarding the night to Clinton. The fact that Obama is an African-American did not help him, and there were frequent expressions of disappointment.
More important than Clinton’s performance was the sight of all eight on stage together, demonstrating the array of talent available to the Democrats. One of them, Senator Joe Biden, was asked by a television presenter if there was a candidate capable of taking the White House. Biden said: ”I’m looking at a bunch of winners right here.”
On the stage with him were Clinton, Obama, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd, Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel. In truth, it was more an audition than a debate, with few opportunities for engaging one another. Candidates were given 60 seconds to reply to quickfire questions from television presenters. At one point, Kucinich had to remind the audience that there were serious issues at stake: ”This isn’t American Idol here.”
Serious issues
No one gets voted off, at least not yet. And the 90 minutes did deal with serious subjects: Iraq withdrawal, universal healthcare, gun laws in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, abortion, tax and immigration. Iraq dominated and all eight promised an early end to the war.
The killer question proved to be how the candidates would respond to another attack like that of September 11. Obama went off at a tangent and spoke about Hurricane Katrina. It showed that his strength, at present, remains rhetoric rather than debate.
Clinton gave a concise answer, advocating a speedy response against any country involved but promising not to be diverted, as Bush had been by Iraq.
There were few personal attacks, and Clinton and Obama even addressed each other by their first names. Edwards, who was relatively quiet, had a mild dig at Obama when he said ”high-falutin’ language is not enough”. Richardson spoke disparagingly about ”blow-dry” candidates — which could have been a reference to Clinton, or Edwards, who paid $400 for a haircut out of campaign funds.
With such a long time to go until even the primaries, the aim at this stage is to avoid gaffes. All eight succeeded.
‘Spin room’
In the ”spin room” — there were signs on campus naming it as such — campaign advisers, journalists and some of the candidates discussed winners and losers. It was crowded, chaotic and hot: one television reporter, interviewing Richardson, noted on air that the candidate had sweat pouring from his forehead.
The Clinton team, by contrast, was cool, apparently satisfied with its candidate’s performance and in no need of the frenetic spin that would have been required had she done badly. Robert Gibbs, Obama’s communications chief, gave his candidate ”a good B”.
Also in the spin room was John Podesta, Bill Clinton’s former White House chief of staff and a friend of Hillary. ”Obama had moments when he did what he does best, when he opened up,” he said. ”I think there were times when he got into specifics and stumbled a little. Whether it makes any difference at this stage, I don’t know.”
Many more such events are scheduled. When the field begins to thin out — Kucinich and Gravel are the likeliest to drop out — they will become more debate and less audition. — Guardian Unlimited Â