2008: Edwards wins the NPR debate

Too bad the National Public Radio listener makes up such a small percentage of the electorate.

For the first time in this election cycle, the Democratic presidential candidates held a real debate: there was no studio audience, no television cameras, no Lightning Round -- only three topics: Iran, China and immigration, and no dumbing down. No sound bytes, either. The candidates actually had a thoughtful discussion about serious issues facing the country, and you actually had to listen to get it.

In his coverage on Salon, Walter Shapiro said there "is a wonderful Al Smith-era retro quality to staring at a radio dial for two hours and -- an even bigger bonus -- Anderson Cooper and CNN will not be in charge of the questions."

John Edwards was the clear winner, and not only because Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama spent so much of their time taking potshots at each other -- this might have been a profitable moment for the very junior senator from Illinois to have adopted a Reaganesque there-she-goes-again stance. Edwards stayed above the fray and came off as the more, well, presidential. The Fix at the Washington Post picked Edwards as the winner by "demonstrating that he does indeed have some heft on foreign policy."

CQ Politics has the "mosts and bests" and Examiner.com has quoted highlights, so there are quick ways to find out what happened. The entire debate is available as an NPR download, and a transcript of the exchange is available from the New York Times. NPR's coverage is here.

If as many people were paying attention to the issues as are following the horse race, we'd be headed for a far different outcome. There remains one candidate among the leaders who sounds like a Democrat. Let's hope enough voters get to hear exchanges like tonight's before they pull the lever (or push the button or swiss the chard or whatever it is they're going be required to do) on primary day.

See also, Latest Iowa Power Ranking: Edwards On Top Again (Huffington Post, 2007-12-03), Edwards Takes Step Back as Two Others Slug It Out (New York Times, 2007-12-05) and
Edwards sees opportunity in Clinton-Obama spat (CNN, 2007-12-05).