Tonight, from Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Democratic candidates for President Debate will be moderated by NBC's Brian Williams who will be joined by Tim Russert. It will be broadcast live on MSNBC from 9 – 11 pm and streamed live on MSNBC.com.
It is now only 60 days until the Iowa caucuses, a very important (and some feel crucial) beginning of the Democratic Primary schedule. Senator Hillary Clinton (NY) has widened her lead in the polls with a 2-1 advantage over her closest competitor Senator Barrack Obama (Illinois).
For those candidates running against her is it heartening to know that Governor Howard Dean (Vt.) was considered a shoo-in for the Democratic Party nomination all the way up to the day of the Iowa caucuses. Governor Dean lost the Iowa caucuses, his campaign imploded – Senator John Kerry (Mass.) became the nominee and the rest is history.
If Senator Clinton wins Iowa it will be hard to stop her with such a front loaded Primary schedule. However, if she does not win Iowa the following six weeks will be very interesting to watch with a possibility that Maryland's primary will play an important part of the nomination process.
Interestingly, NBC did not invite Democratic candidate former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel to appear in the Debate.
I continue to feel Governor Bill Richardson (New Mexico) is extremely well qualified and would be an excellent President. I, along with others, have felt that should Senator Clinton win the Democratic nomination - her polarizing nature would rally the Republican voters and split the Democratic voters and lead to a win by the Republican nominee for President in 2008.
After watching the Democrat Debates to date I have to say that Senator Clinton has performed the best of all the candidates. She has maintained her composure and stayed on message. Her biggest problem among voters continues to be like-ability with half of the most likely voters still saying they won't vote for her – see the Zogby poll posted October 24, 2007 on the Blog.
Although these debates continue to be important and they are a great way for voters to see them in action, it still boils down to campaign organization and available money.
The caucuses in Iowa are unique with some of the voting happening with people voting in front of each other in the living room of one of the caucus goers. It has been explained to me that literally, votes are made and changed by voters walking from one corner supporting one candidate to another corner supporting another candidate until they feel a candidate has enough votes to be eligible for delegates.
With the votes occurring in the manner that they do it takes an extensive on-ground operation. The on the ground organization is what won Iowa for John Kerry four years ago. The three candidates with the largest number of workers in Iowa are Clinton, Obama, and Edwards.
The availability of money continues to play a critical part as campaigns pay for staff on the ground and for television, radio and direct mail. The Dean campaign spent approximately 50 million leading up to the Iowa vote. It appears likely three Democratic candidates will exceed that figure in this election.
Seems like it is time for publicly financed campaigns.
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