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Watch the New York City Democratic Presidential Debate online.

Now that the field has been winnowed down to four candidates, the format is not as strictly regulated. The four candidates are sitting together at a large table opposite Dan Rather and two other moderators.

The fact that pressure is building on Edwards to differentiate himself from Kerry and make a good showing on Tuesday made this one of the most contentious debates of the season. Adding to the contention is the fact that the moderators, especially the woman (from the NY Times?), keep interrupting. Sharpton added fuel to the fire by stating implicitly and explicitly that the debate was being conducted unfairly.

The debate started off with a weird question about the candidates' religious beliefs. Later came a question about whether God was on the side of the United States. Wtf?!

Edwards was pretty effective at grabbing time, and Kucinich was particularly ineffective. Sharpton tried to shout his way into getting more time, which really rubbed me the wrong way.

Edwards did too much recycling of his stump speech.

The bitch moderator tried to bait Kerry by asking, "Are you a liberal?" I'm surprised she didn't ask, "Are you now or have you ever been a liberal?" Kerry dodged the question, called labels silly, brought up examples from his record to show he wasn't liberal. Kucinich proudly proclaimed himself as a liberal. Asked whether Kerry was a liberal, Kucinich said "no." Sharpton said Bush's extremism made everyone look liberal, but that Kerry wasn't really a liberal. Edwards chimed in (more effectively than Kerry) that labels from insider publications were meaningless and that issues were most important to people. Kerry then effectively questioned Bush's conservative bona fides and called the administration for being radical.

Another moderator questioned Edwards' credibility on the poverty debate because he's wealthy, listing his assets in DC and NC. Kucinich defended him against this line of questioning. Sharpton keeps trying to make some silly point about there not being just two Americas, but many. Edwards did a good job of wrapping it up by talking about the two Americas in education, health care, government, etc.

I don't know. I'm going to vote for Edwards because I think it will be good for the country to have an extended Democratic race. If it were closer between Edwards and Kerry, I would vote for Dean and send delegates to the convention.

Update 2004-03-02 12:04

I'm voting for Dean.