Ho-hum

So I hear there was a Democratic debate last night. Actually, I heard the Democratic debate last night, or what NBC regards as a debate. It's interesting that NBC, along with the rest of the media, is still regarding Rudy Giuliani as a front-runner after two sixth-place finishes worthy of reporting at the same time that NBC felt it was worth spending the money to go to court to block Dennis Kucinich from participating in last night's debate. Bill Richardson finished fourth twice and dropped out, but the so-called "journalists" of the news media, who are about the only people in the world for whom NOT to know Rudy is to love him does not apply, are still in love with Rudy.

For Rudy, Florida has become his own personal "surge", and his acolytes in the media are willing to play the "Rudy wins Florida and then the rest of it doesn't matter" game.

Newsday:

An embattled but comfortable Rudy Giuliani turned up the anti-terror rhetoric yesterday to receptive crowds across the state in a last fierce dash to lock in votes before Republican rivals converge on Florida next week

MSNBC's First Read:

Giuliani has been telling voters throughout his statewide bus tour to vote early. But his comments Tuesday highlighted an added benefit of the strategy. By getting voters to the polls through the two weeks of early voting, he can secure their support before they see him likely lose in Michigan, Nevada and South Carolina, and before other Republicans start campaigning and advertising in the Sunshine State.

Campaign aides acknowledged its part of the plan, but they said the early and absentee ballot push is more focused on ensuring his supporters actually go to the polls.

Faux Noise portrays Rudy as the heir apparent staying above the fray until the New York expatriates in Florida crown him their king:

After weeks of staying “above the fray,” Rudy Giuliani drew a line in the Florida sand Tuesday, signaling that his rivals’ fiscal records will be in his sights when they arrive in the Sunshine State next week.

The L.A. Times, at least, is skeptical:

For an hour Monday, Rudolph W. Giuliani passionately made his case to voters seated in the Shell Point retirement community chapel.

He talked of tax cuts and terrorist attacks, of building up the military and cracking down on illegal immigration.

Dozens of the more than 1,000 who attended the town hall event took off before Giuliani finished his speech, leaving rows of seats empty.

"I didn't hear anything I hadn't heard before," said Barbara Vitello, 71. "It's the first time ever I'm going into the [presidential] election not knowing who I'll vote for," she said.

But with only Mike Gravel as the other Democrat besides Kucinich still in this race, that Kucinich is now the default fourth place finisher makes him unworthy to participate, while I'm sure that Rudy will continue to receive his place of honor when the Republicans go at each other.

But back to the Democrats...

I can't believe I actually stayed up to watch all of that. I've rarely seen anything as disingenuous as the Hillary/Obama love feast, particularly when Hillary Clinton is still coming right out and saying that she's taking Bob Johnson at his word when he says, days after alluding to Barack Obama being practically a drug dealer, that he was referring to Obama's "community organizing". This is into serious "peeing on my head and telling me it's raining" territory. Did anyone actually buy this?

Meanwhile, Obama, as he is in so many of these debates, was tentative and unsure, stammering over his words and answering the "biggest fault" job interview question with saying that he's disorganized and tends to lose things: "I need to have good people in place to make sure that systems run". I'm sure he thought this was an unimportant thing, but all I could think of was President Obama losing a Presidential Daily Briefing with the headline "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." and wondering about who the people in place are who are going to make sure the systems run and how much we're going to know about what they're doing. Obama may have drawn a contrast with George W. Bush, who may be efficient but doesn't listen to anyone, but it was hardly a confidence-inspiring moment. That the question was ridiculous, as were most of the questions asked by Brian Williams and Tim Russert, is beside the point. This question is the "gotcha" moment of any job interview, and Obama blew it.

Hillary was somewhat less testy and arrogant than usual, but I don't think she changed any minds last night. At least she didn't change mine. My eyes glazed over about a half-hour into the so-called debate at the utter lack of substance being blathered by the two supposed front-runners. Only John Edwards tried to turn the debate back to substantive issues, and once again, he was fiercely and stubbornly on-message. Like the continued credibility of Rudy Giuliani's campaign because the media continue to cover him, that same media's ignoring of John Edwards is causing Americans to ignore the most focused candidate in the race; the candidate who is letting Americans know exactly what he stands for whenever he gets the opportunity -- which is more than the other two are doing.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama may have wanted to put the politics of race and gender behind them last night, but with the media focused on them to the exclusion of John Edwards ONLY because, as Bill Maher said a year ago, he has "the unfair baggage" of being the white guy in the race, the politics of race and gender are here to stay.