Clinton, Romney Attacked in Debates

Last night, the leading candidates of both parties met in Manchester New Hampshire at an ABC/WMUR/Facebook debate.

The Republicans took the stage first. Mitt Romney and John McCain, the two front-runners, have been sparring with ads and harsh criticisms of each other in New Hampshire.

So all eyes were on these two and Mike Huckabee, the Iowa victor, during last night's debate.

Right off the bat, pretty much every single candidate pounced on Mitt Romney. They not only attacked his stances on issues, but his character and opportunism.

McCain had some good one-liners against Romney last night such as, "We disagree on a lot of issues. But I agree, you are the candidate of change," referring to his change on issues and on message.

When Romney told Huckabee to stop characterizing his positions, Huckabee retorted, "Which one?"

These candidates all saw a chance to knock the rich and powerful Romney out of the race last night. If I had to declare a winner last night, I would say it was Huckabee or McCain. They both made their positions clear and looked strong against a wounded Romney.

Next came the Democrats.

The big question before the night was, "Who will John Edwards attack?" Some thought that he would attack Obama as the front-runner and others thought that he would try to form a "change" coalition with Obama and knock Clinton out of the race.

Well, last night, Edwards pounced on Clinton and made nice with Obama. They double-teamed her, if you will, saying that she was the status-quo candidate and a Washington insider.

I thought she did a terrific job defending herself last night. She repelled the constant barrage of attacks upon her, as she has done since she was the first lady.

Her one mistake was getting very very angry and negative after Edwards said, "You know, I didn't hear these kinds of attacks from Senator Clinton when she was ahead." I think she may have lost her head a little after that, but overall, she handled it pretty well.

She even found time to be humorous when she was asked to explain why voters found her less likable than her opponents. "Well, that hurts my feelings, but I'll try to go on."

To me, Edwards sounded like a broken record. All I kept hearing from him is "middle class" and "special interests" and "my father was a mill worker" and "take down big corporations." He did support his position on these issues well, but he seems to be lacking in variety as a candidate.

And finally, Obama did what he intended to do last night: not make any big mistakes. Out of all of the candidates, he seemed the most fatigued. His voice was hoarse and he looked exhausted when he wasn't speaking.

He may not have won the debate--I think Clinton did--but he did enough last night to remain the front-runner.