The Hiller Instinct: Democratic Debate

The Democrats had two targets. One -- front runner Howard Dean -- was right there on the stage. The other -- President Bush -- was where they all want to be--in the White House.

The President's flip-flop in Iraq, his decision to now seek help from the U.N. there, made him an easy target of opportunity and the Democrats took it:

Sen. John Edwards, (D) Presidential Candidate
"We have young men and women in a shooting gallery right now, and the primary reason for that is this president had no plan."

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, (D) Presidential Candidate
"No planning was done by this administration."

Howard Dean, (D) Presidential Candidate
"This president is going to have to go back to the very people he humiliated, our allies, on the way into Iraq and hope they will now agree with us."

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, (D) Presidential Candidate
"Under those conditions can move away from Bush's blunder...which Iraq will be known as."

The line of the night:

Rep. Richard Gephardt, (D) Presidential Candidate
"This president is a miserable failure. He is a miserable failure."

John Kerry answer was a line from his announcement speech:

Sen. John Kerry, (D) Presidential Candidate
"The swagger of a president who says "bring ‘em on" does not bring our troops peace or safety."

Kerry never mentioned Dean, but Lieberman tried to take him down as he listened, surprised, accusing him of wanting to break trade agreements:

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, (D) Presidential Candidate
"If that ever happened, I'd say that the Bush recession would be followed by the Dean depression."

Dean was ready:

Howard Dean, (D) Presidential Candidate
"We cannot continue to ship our jobs to countries where they get paid 50 cents an hour, with no safety and health, no overtime, no labor protections and no right to organize. We're going to move every job out of this country."

Howard Dean was pointed and presidential, while John Kerry was virtually invisible. That makes Dean the only winner, but give Gephardt a silver medal. Kerry is lucky pro football kicked off on TV Thursday night, so many voters never saw him fumble a chance to score.