A couple of moments stood out in the Democratic debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama at the Kodak Theater. Overall, I was impressed with both candidates’ performance.

At one point, CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer began asking a question about Hillary’s experience, but reduced it her time as First Lady as though being the wife of President Clinton was the only part of her 35 year career that mattered. Watch Hillary’s response as she frames her record for the Super Tuesday (February 5th) voters.

Clearly the longest applause from the audience tonight was in reaction to Hillary’s answer as to why she believed she represented change. Take a look at this video and watch as Blitzer is forced to go to a quick break. CNN later said the Obama camp was not happy that Obama wasn’t given a chance to respond.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is the projected winner tonight in the Florida Democratic primary. No Democratic presidential candidate campaigned in the state under an agreement between the campaigns and the National Democratic Party, leaving Florida Democratic voters to look at each candidate through the lens of national politics to decide who would make the best President. All things being equal, a majority of the voters in the Florida Democratic primary chose Hillary Clinton. The same thing happened in Michigan.

Tonight, Clinton reiterated her pledge to work with Florida Democrats to seat their delegates (watch the video). Hillary Clinton is the only Democratic candidate to pledge her support in making the votes and the voices of Florida and Michigan count.

President Bill Clinton’s last State of the Union address to Congress on January 27, 2000 was the best report card to the American people in U.S. history. It was a record of historic successes that marked a decade of unprecedented economic prosperity under the first two-term Democratic president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They won campaigns. They drove the national agenda through fierce opposition, and they got results.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, honored guests, my fellow Americans: We are fortunate to be alive at this moment in history. Never before has our Nation enjoyed, at once, so much prosperity and social progress with so little internal crisis and so few external threats. Never before have we had such a blessed opportunity and, therefore, such a profound obligation to build the more perfect Union of our Founders’ dreams.

We begin the new century with over 20 million new jobs; the fastest economic growth in more than 30 years; the lowest unemployment rates in 30 years; the lowest poverty rates in 20 years; the lowest African- American and Hispanic unemployment rates on record; the first back-to- back surpluses in 42 years; and next month, America will achieve the longest period of economic growth in our entire history. We have built a new economy.

And our economic revolution has been matched by a revival of the American spirit: crime down by 20 percent, to its lowest level in 25 years; teen births down 7 years in a row; adoptions up by 30 percent; welfare rolls cut in half to their lowest levels in 30 years. My fellow Americans, the state of our Union is the strongest it has ever been.

Vince cleaned the dogs’ area in the kitchen, and we later gave them a bath. Here’s some video. Not sure if it’s just me, but the video looks a little jumpy. The girls were starting to smell like their litter box. Mimi and Trudy have grown so much since one of their first baths. This time we filled the bath tub and washed them there.

A very excited Katheryn Warner met Hillary Clinton tonight in Columbia, SC. Check out this video.

Congratulations, Obama!

“Did you notice he didn’t specify?” Clinton said when asked about the comment. “They never do. They hurl these charges, but nothing gets specified. I’m not taking the bait today. I did what I could to help Senator Kerry every time he needed me, and every time he asked me. He can support whomever he wants for whatever reason he wants. But there’s nothing for me to respond to.”

Another reporter asked what it said about Obama that it “took two people to beat him.” Clinton again passed. “That’s’ just bait, too. Jesse Jackson won South Carolina twice, in ‘84 and ‘88. And he ran a good campaign. Senator Obama’s run a good campaign here, he’s run a good campaign everywhere.”

The reference to Jackson seemed a way to downplay today’s result in a state where a majority of voters are African American. Clinton was also asked today about charges of race baiting, and defended himself by citing testimony from John Lewis and Andrew Young, who marched with Martin Luther King. “I don’t have to defend myself on civil rights,” he said.
[BILL: ‘MY MESSAGE’ 99.9% POSITIVE - MSNBC - 01-26-08]

Kudos to WSMV (NBC-Nashville) for finally producing a state-wide poll on the candidates for President. Don’t even get me started on how disappointing it is that local media in Tennessee don’t do much polling. This poll was taken January 19-21.

Here are the results (click here for the PDF).

Hillary Clinton 34%
Don’t know yet 28%
Barack Obama 20%
John Edwards 16%
Other 2%
 
Don’t know yet 26%
Fred Thompson 25%
Mike Huckabee 24%
John McCain 12%
Mitt Romney 7%
Ron Paul 2%
Rudy Giuliani 2%
Other 2%