Tonight's debate: Fight night in Vegas
Posted: Thursday, November 15, 2007 9:18 AM by Domenico Montanaro
The Las Vegas Journal-Review previews tonight’s Democratic debate: “It's fight night in Las Vegas. The jabs will fly. The contenders will duck and weave. They hope they land their punches and don't leave with too many bruises.”
The Washington Post says the debate “will provide a rare moment in the spotlight for Nevada, a state that entered the election cycle expecting to enjoy a boost in stature but has struggled to draw attention from both presidential candidates and potential caucus-goers.”
The New York Times: “Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton heads into tonight’s Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas with an opportunity: to try to erase the unflattering image that her chief rivals, and her own mistakes, have helped create. Yesterday, in an attempt to neutralize one possible threat at the debate, her campaign announced that Mrs. Clinton would not support driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants as president. It is the latest formulation of her position, which has shifted since it became a tripping point in the last televised debate on Oct. 30.”
“Her advisers say they hope the matter will now be off the table, but Mrs. Clinton’s top rivals made clear that they would continue to press the argument they have been making in recent weeks, that she is inconsistent \and overly political." The Time adds that Edwards has also given "somewhat conflicting statements," something Clinton spokesperson Jay Carson enjoyed pointing out now that his candidate finally had a clear position: "The differences on this are clear: Senator Clinton is opposed to giving driver’s licenses to undocumented people, Senator Obama is for it, and no one knows where Edwards is."
The Las Vegas Sun looks at the pool of undecided Democrats who will get to ask questions in the second half of the debate. “About 100 Nevadans will be sitting in the audience at Cox Pavilion, primed to inject state and Western issues during the second hour of the debate. They will be selected by staff at CNN, which is carrying the debate. And whom the network will tap has been something of a mystery. Advocacy groups, including AARP, the ONE anti-poverty campaign and the Culinary Union, say CNN staff asked them to recommend members of their organizations.”
The LA Times uses tonight’s debate as a backdrop to check in on how seriously the candidates on both sides are taking the state's Jan. 19 caucuses. "No one has offered a threshold for the caucuses' success or failure, but both parties have recently been downplaying their expectations. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters this week that he still believed 100,000 Democrats would show up for the caucuses, holding to an estimate that most Democrats here have dropped.”
Speaking of debates, just about all of the candidates have accepted the Des Moines Register debate invites for December 12 and 13. The debates will be at 1:00 pm in the afternoon on both days.
