Feb. 21 Democratic debate in Austin, TX **live commentary thread**

[Mr. Morden]

Clinton & Obama face off in their second one-on-one debate tonight in Austin, TX:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/21/texas.debate/index.html

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[exopolitician]

50 bucks says she going to use everything in the playbook tonight to try and smash Obama and put him on the defense all night. I wanna see how she acts under pressure and the thought that she isnt the frontrunner anymore.

[Sam Spade]

Dollar for every time Obama says the word "change".

[Aizen]

I'll miss this debate. Obama will probably lose though. He always does poorly. All he has to do is not make any big gaffes though.

[© tweed]

Dollar for every time Obama says the word "change".

Hillary likely will rival him in this regard.

[Bacon King]

Dollar for every time Obama says the word "change".

Also, a dollar for every time he says "uh".

[opebo]

I'll miss this debate. Obama will probably lose though. He always does poorly. All he has to do is not make any big gaffes though.

Well, candidates this appealing can't really 'lose' debates against candidates as uneappealing as Hillary.. they just have to be there.  Kennedy/Nixon, etc.

[perdedor]

I can't believe my state is politically relevant! It feels nice. Hopefully, Obama will perform well. I have the feeling that Clinton is going to make some of us feel very ill tonight as she desperately tries to derail Obama. "Yes, we will!".

[Sam Spade]

Dollar for every time Obama says the word "change".

Hillary likely will rival him in this regard.

You're quite right.  Touche! 

[exopolitician]

I'll miss this debate. Obama will probably lose though. He always does poorly. All he has to do is not make any big gaffes though.

Oh well...if he does that bad he has 2 more weeks to make up for it.

[Angel of Death]

Did CNN mess up with the clock? Isn't the debate in half an hour?

Anyway, Hillary's best bet is to provoke Obama in making a huge mistake and my guess is that that is what she'll try to do without coming across as overly negative, if at all.

[Reluctant Republican]

Interesting that this one is only 90 minutes. I believe CNN’s debates were all 2 hours, so I wonder if CNN just decided to shorten it because there’s only two candidates, or if Obama’s team negotiated to shorten the length. [as some of the Republicans did at a few prior debates.]

[Alcon]

I like how Lou Dobbs always does polls that always end up going >90% for one option.

[Reluctant Republican]

Hillary's looking good tonight.

[7,052,770]

great opening statement by Hillary

[Alcon]

Great opening for Hillary.

And the "uh"s from Obama begin.

[exopolitician]

Wow a 10 minute opening statement....indeed.

[Eraserhead]

I'll miss this debate. Obama will probably lose though. He always does poorly. All he has to do is not make any big gaffes though.

Pretty harsh. He has his good and his bad nights.

[Wakie]

Obama's opening is all an attack.

[exopolitician]

Obama's opening is all an attack.

Oh? Are you watching the same program as me...?

[Eraserhead]

This debate will be totally boring unless Clinton decides to make it interesting. Obama can just run the clock out.

[Wakie]

I counted 30 uh's

[Duke 🇺🇸]

I hope Obama can tell me tonight how he's going to bring about this huge revolutionary change in Washington.

Hillary had a nice opening.

Why did Obama end his statement with "God Bless You?"

[Saxwsylvania]

Why did Obama end his statement with "God Bless You?"

Did he phrase it as a question?  God bless you?  Yes, that's a little odd.

[exopolitician]

How very Bush like of her regarding Cuba.