Democratic Debate Open Thread

9:40 PM: A philosophical question at the end from Campbell Brown. Ugh. Always some dorky question to finish up. Obama speaks of the trajectory of his life. Clinton reminds us that she has had rough times.

9:28 PM: Okay, Obama hit that McCain answer out of the park. And, another break.

9:18 PM Obama turned the "Ready on Day One" attack into a discussion about Iraq. That is truly Clinton's achilles heel. Whenever she wants to talk about being Commander in Chief, she needs to deal with her vote on Iraq.

9:08 PM Break time. I've written this before but it is actually sad that after all those 35 years of experience, Hillary Clinton is stuck attacking Obama because of his speeches. It's just sad.

9:04 PM: Obama responded to Hillary's personal attack by talking about his health care plan. Class act.

9:01 PM: Hillary goes negative, big time. Obama repeatedly refused to take the bait, refused to criticize Hillary. She responded by publicly accusing him of "lifting whole passages" from other people's speeches, which is an outright lie. She actually sneered when Obama said we shouldn't be tearing each other down, we should be lifting the country up. She clearly made the decision to go negative. And she looks desperate. And sounds nasty.

8:58 PM: Obama is asked about the Clinton campaign's charge of plagiarism. Again, he's handled it well. Suggests that when things like this come up it is "silly season." We shouldn't be spending time tearing each other down...we need to spend time building the country up.

More after the jump...

8:53 PM: Obama agrees actions speak louder than words...and lists his accomplishments over the past 20 years. Senator Clinton has a fine record....and he doesn't want to denigrate it. Clinton has said "let's get real" as if people who support Obama are delusional..goes on to list all those supporting him. He is handling this quite well. Bring the country together and stop the endless bickering or we won't get anything done in Washington. It's not just a matter of policy positions...we need to inspire the American people to get involved and get beyond divisions...very good response.

8:50 PM: Clinton gets asked about her criticism of Obama. Can she say he has no substance after the past 45 minutes, John King asks? There are differences, she says..."I do offer solutions"...part of my life over the past 35 years. She's been working "to make a difference." Nasty dig at a Texas State Senator..and actions speak louder than words.

8:46 PM: A break. So far, this debate has been fairly low key....very issue focused. And, Clinton and Obama agree on most of the issues. And, as I have said many times, our candidates are so much smarter and better than anything we've seen on the other side -- especially John McCain. Too much applause.

(Just a reminder that your host for the evening, CNN's Campbell Brown, is married to Dan Senor, who was Bush's spokesperson in Baghdad, a FOX News contributor and an adviser to Mitt Romney)

8:21 PM: Hillary's white fringe on her collar is a big mistake. It's distracting. You don't wear clothes on TV that distract from your face. Small point, but I'm not the only one who noticed - fashion savvy female friends have weighed in as well.

8:20 PM: Why not talk to Raul Castro? We met with Soviet dictators, and we meet with Chinese dictators. You're trying to tell me that Raul Castro is worse than the Chinese and Soviet communists? Come on.
8:12 PM: Questions start after the longest opening statements to date.

Clinton and Obama are debating tonight in Austin -- one of the coolest cities in the country.

John and I will be live blogging. But we probably won't dissect every question...

The Clinton campaign has really been looking forward to debating. They're hoping to throw Obama off. We'll see how it goes.