Tonight was the first Democratic presidential debate: Here are a few thoughts about the 8 participant’s performance:

Mike Gravel: He played the role of the crazy old guy. He called Joe Biden arrogant to his face and said some people including the front runners on the stage frighten him. He also went even to the left of Kucinich on war suggesting Congress should pass a law making it a felony to stay there.

John Edwards: Nothing to memorable. Stated he would raise taxes for people making over 200K to help pay for universal health care. He played the grew up poor card too much which was a rehash from his last run for president.

Joe Biden: Had a good laugh line when asked if he could be trusted not to make major gaffe’s and bloviate like he has in the past with the simple answer of yes. He did a good job being detailed about his Iraq plan but other then that he did not gain any traction.

Bill Richardson: He used his hand too much and gave too many bullet point styled answers. Put himself as a centrist by saying he would not raise taxes to pay for health care and kept high lighting his experience as governor. Still angling for vice job.

Chris Dodd: He was as dull as the other senator from Connecticut and thus I changed the channel to the Red Sox game whenever he started talking.

Dennis Kucinich:  More of the same from last election. Had a good line in can’t be against the war and still fund it.

Now for the heavy weights:

Barrack Obama: Was not as charismatic as when he gives a speech. He punted on the partial birth abortion question. He made sure to include an few references to African American issues such as the rise in infant mortality in the African American community.

Hillary Clinton: The winner of the debate. She said nothing that would hurt her in the standing of democratic voters, but gave a better answer to the question that will be replayed during the general election then anyone else: When asked what you would do first if you found out that 2 American cities where attacked and we knew it was Al Qaeda? Edwards started babbling about port security but Clinton quickly and forcibly stated she would retaliate against those who attacked us and destroyed them which would play well in the general election. She stayed completely out of the snipping between the candidates which made her look above the fray and more presidential In addition, she had the arrogant death stare working when needed but also emoted pretty well (someone is being coached by Bill) when talking about Virginia Tech and keeping Guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill via better background checks.