KICK ASS!

I don't want to upstage John - I'm sure we'll get his take soon -- but we have a lot to celebrate tonight.

Edwards won a slugfest. One of the reasons I can tell is the panic spin going on right now in the gop rooms. They really needed cheney to win big to try to regain momentum, but it's clear he couldn't do it. So now they're desperately trying to win the spin, 'cause they couldn't win the day. Mary Matlin has to yell, "we're happy!" as they're moving to the next interview. Sad.

Edwards landed the first haymaker -- "Mr. Vice President, you're still not being straight with the American people" -- and kept it up. After about 30-40 minutes the veep looked like he wanted to go home. Cheney cheaply tries to call Edwards an absentee Senator, so Edwards breaks out a couple of Cheney's voting gems. Against Meals on Wheels. Against MLK Holiday.

A bee-yootiful post script -- almost immediately after the debate, NBC news' "fact check" plays the clip of cheney in the debate denying he'd ever insinuated a connection between Iraq and 9-11, and then shows the clip of cheney on Meet the Press last year doing exactly that.

Priceless.