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Finally, I just left the spin room. There is a lot of standing around but not much happening. I think the jury was split on who won. I heard people saying that Edwards didn’t do too much to help himself and others were split between Obama and Hillary coming out on top but I think the consensus goes to Hilary as she appeared to have allies on stage in attacking Obama for missteps in foreign policy.

Although there was a lot of enthusiasm I really expected more. It was very organized and quite professional from a logistics point of view.

Funny moment, I was in the press room and everyone was writing their articles after the debate. The TV was on MSNBC and Chris Matthews came on to give post debate analysis. That is when everyone asked to have the volume turned off. The girl running the room turned it down and asked if that was fine when a chorus of people spoke up, “off”. Favorite moment from the debate.

Update 7:36: Kucinich should lay off the caffeine.

Update 7:34: Edwards is using that canned cleft pallet story again. He is so full of crap.

Bummer, I just received my first spam mail from Dodd, an obvious result of registering for this event. Ouch, just got a mailer from Biden. I didn’t expect this but get it, everyone is spinning before the spin room.

Update 7:15: Clinton was avoiding No Child Left Behind but she moved into the lie about it being an unfunded mandate. There is no such thing as an unfunded mandate, what crap.

Update 7:14: Senator Dodd is the first to bring up CO₂, 45 minutes in, must be a record.

Update 7:06: Oh yeah, Hillary beat Obama to the punch on the AFL-CIO endorsed THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT. This act is the one that makes it easier for people to unionize. Just for once I’d like to see someone ask how they would approach unions have been instrumental in keeping our education system failing with protectionist bargaining for failing teachers.

Update 7:05 p.m.: Illegal Immigrant from Argentina. This is a regular victims festival, of course only victims of specially designated Democratic special interest groups need apply. This is shameful.

Update 6:53 p.m.: The ALF-CIO is reporting 17,000 in attendance; just about 20,000 tickets dispersed.

Update 6:52 p.m.: Should have heard the press room when Hillary slammed Obama on his warmongering comments against Pakistan. “You can think big, but you shouldn’t always say what you think when you are running as President.” Lots of oooh’s and aw’s. That was a big swipe. Obama tried to recover but was clearly damaged in my opinion.

Update 6:46 p.m.: It looks like Hillary is reading the tea leaves on Iraq, getting ready to hedge her bets somewhere between success and failure. She is calling for keeping up the pressure if indeed al-Qaeda is staying there. She references the al Anbar province, which is showing signs of success as noted in National Review Online.

Evidence of a deep break between Qaeda-affiliated forces in Iraq and the various other Sunni insurgent groups is mounting. . . . The divisions are changing the battlefield. In Anbar, which has been the heartland of the Sunni insurgency since 2004, many Sunni tribes recently united into the Anbar Salvation Front, which claims to have deployed 20,000 militiamen against Al Qaeda. U.S. military officials, trying to deepen the splits through economic aid and deals with Sunni tribes, say they have recruited more than 4,500 locals — including former insurgents — in recent months to serve in the Anbar police force. Together, the U.S. military and the Iraqi security forces, according to numerous recent media reports, have largely pacified Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, which one Army intelligence report last year wrote off as lost.

I also walked around the stadium and it is interesting to note that not very many of union members in attendance are enthusiastic surrounding rhetoric to withdrawal from Iraq. It probably makes them just as sick as it does me to decide to pull out even before September’s report. Obama is conjuring up calling the Joint Chiefs of Staff to force withdrawal.

Update 6:30 p.m.:Obama attacks tax codes that allow companies to use foreign nations for loopholes. The only problem is that Mr. Obama is courting some of the biggest money managers that take advantage of these loopholes. He recently spoke in Chicago where Citadel Investment Group employees received a discount to attend (I think $100 off or something like that). This is no surprise considering that Citadel Employees alone have donated $147,550 to Obama this quarter.

Update 6:23 p.m.: Attacks on NAFTA. Clinton sidestepped a bit, Obama would redo it, Edwards slams NAFTA but doesn’t really answer.

Clinton using the standing against the “Right Wing Machine” answer, a bit early IMHO.

Update 6:17 p.m.: The meme is in full bloom. The candidates are taking advantage of tragedy to play the “infrastructure is failing card”. No problem with that in my mind but don’t play this like it is a Republican problem, how asinine. Olbermann, true to form doesn’t follow up with the obvious, aren’t Democrats and Republicans responsible for taking care of the infrastructure of the country.

I just arrived about 30 minutes ago and it’s packed. First the bad, 87 degrees with unbelievably high humidity making any journey outside a sopping wet mess.

MSNBC is providing all feeds to the press center and I appear to be a standout for conservatives in the room. We’ll keep searching.

The crowd is very enthusiastic. When the AFL-CIO puts together a working families forum that is exactly what you get. It is very professionally organized and quite well attended. I am not sure how many people will be in attendance but it looks to be a sizeable crowd; big enough to move it from McCormick Center to Soldier Field. If rain holds off it could appear to be a rock concert of Presidential Debates.

All the candidates are taking advantage of the crowd. Barrack Obama is holding a rally in the east side parking lot to lots of cheers and tons of applause. This is his backyard and he knows how to work his followers. But it has been noted by NPR that Obama has yet to connect with blue collar workers. Expect him to talk about a bill to that would make it easier to form a union as this is what he discussed in New Jersey in March. We’ll have to see if he backs off earlier admiration for Wal-Mart.

Of course Obama’s quest to court the unions is in the way of a major roadblock, Hillary Clinton. She lobbied the AFL-CIO in Detroit on June 9th where she focused on health care; specifically the costs that are a drag on the Big Three automakers. No mention on how unions exacerbated that problem but then again….

Some union members blame the shift of auto industry jobs to Canada on health care, a claim that I find pretty hard to believe.

Another item on Clinton’s union agenda is universal pre-kindergarten care for children. I swear, we will all be broke if she gets her hands on our money.

Labor Unions spent over $100 million dollars in get out the vote efforts last year for labor backed candidates.

See Also: Michelle Malkin, Hot Air

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, CommonSenseAmerica, DeMediacratic Nation, Adam’s Blog, Right Truth, and The World According to Carl, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Democratic Presidential Debate, Soldier Field, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama

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