Do you want more Democratic debates?
Televised CNN/LA Times/Politico Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate, January 2008 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. (PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
In the off chance you haven't had your fill of political debates this primary season, you're in luck.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama – who have already faced off against each other 20 times – could meet up for at least one and maybe two more debates.
Both candidates have agreed to debate in Philadelphia next month, ahead of the April 22nd Pennsylvania primary. Also, Obama has agreed to a match-up on April 19th in North Carolina. No word yet on whether Clinton is in for that one.
It's not clear how much effect these debates have on voters. Throughout this primary season, we've pretty much seen it all during these face-offs: Clinton and Obama have been nice to each other, they've been nasty to each other, they've been honored to share the stage with each other, and then they've gone on the attack.
The single most memorable moment in all these meetings may have been when Senator Clinton was asked about giving drivers' licenses to illegal aliens – an idea put forth by her good friend and supporter Client Number 9, also known as New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.
So what's yet to come in Pennsylvania and perhaps North Carolina is anyone's guess.
Here’s my question to you: How interested are you in more debates between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Clinton in the crosshairs in Austin, Texas?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Hillary Clinton has debated Barack Obama 18 times so far but arguably none is as important as tonight.
Obama's on a roll, beating Clinton the last 11 contests in a row. She has to win the upcoming races in Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania – and she has to win them big – if she wants to stay in this thing. Tonight's debate could help her do that.
As one expert tells the Wall Street Journal, "Clinton doesn't have any extra opportunities. If Obama skates by and everyone says they both did well, it's over. That means he's won."
Some early indication of what we may hear from Clinton tonight comes from her spokesman who predicts a "civil" debate, while also calling Obama "a candidate who 36 short months ago was in the state legislature." Clinton also points to Obama as a risky choice, untested by international crises and the GOP attack machine. On the other hand, Obama could say to Clinton, "Yeah, but I'm ahead."
Analysts say the challenge will be to create a sound bite that will spread like wildfire across the Internet and negatively define the other candidate's campaign... kind of like 1984 when Walter Mondale took out his opponent Gary Hart by asking "Where's the beef?" Or when Lloyd Bensten slammed Dan Quayle's image with this zinger: " I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine, and Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
Meanwhile, tonight's debate is one hot ticket: 43,000 Texans entered a lottery to try and get one of the 100 available tickets.
Here’s my question to you: What does Hillary Clinton have to do at tonight's debate to try to turn the tide?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
The Obama-Clinton debate?
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Barack Obama at the Palace Theater in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. (PHOTO CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The stakes in tonight's debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are huge. They'll meet face-to-face and have the stage to themselves. Think Ali-Frazier. It's the last debate before Super Tuesday. The race is close, and the pressure will definitely be on.
Make one big mistake and you could stay home and bake cookies. Plus they don't like each other much. Remember how heated last week's debate in South Carolina got? Well, tonight could make that seem like a garden party. I'm actually hoping for a knife fight.
During the South Carolina debate, Barack Obama said he sometimes wondered who he was running against, Hillary or her husband. The former president has taken a high-profile role in his wife's campaign.
The New York Times reports today on a uranium mining deal that Former President Bill Clinton may have played a role in, and later apparently benefited from to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. Clinton went to a meeting in Kazakhstan in 2005 with a Canadian mining financier. Days later, this guy struck a huge deal with the former Soviet republic. He then later made a $31 million donation to Clinton's charitable foundation.
Probably just coincidence, right? There was also a meeting that took place in 2007 at Clinton's Chappaqua, New York, home between the former president, the mining financier and the head of Kazakhstan's state-owned uranium agency. When the Times asked President Clinton about that meeting, he at first said it never happened. But when pressed by the Times, he finally admitted it did.
Wonder if Barack Obama will bring any of this up tonight?
Here’s my question to you: What do you want to hear at tonight's debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama?
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
@jackcafferty on Twitter
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