Democratic Debate: Edwards Makes Favorable Impression

Eric Lipsitt is a 41 year old salesman of specialty business software. He's one of the few Democrats he knows who supported going to war with Iraq, although now he feels, he and many other Americans were duped. In the middle of a divisive war, Eric went into last night's debate looking for one main quality in a candidate, the ability to bring the country together.

CUT “Somebody who is willing to reach out to others. Is willing to say, this is how I believe but I’m willing to accept that there are other people out there who have good ideas as well. And if we work together, we can come up with some solutions. It seems there’s too much partisanship going on in Washington and not enough work is getting done.”

Another debate watcher in Exeter was Karen Prior. Karen works part time for a publishing company. Before the debate began, she described her candidate preferences as cooling on Barack Obama and warming up towards Hillary Clinton. Karen was hoping to hear a clear and powerful voice for the kind of tone in America that she thinks is lacking.

CUT “Someone who can put the compassion and the passion back into democracy again. And we haven’t had that, I don’t know, I think back to my own youth with JFK. I mean when was the last time someone was able to stand up and give those kinds of profound speeches.”

Herb Moyer, a public school teacher and long-time Democratic activist, rounded out the group. Herb has seen just about every candidate in person. After two hours of questions and answers on topics ranging from Iraq to immigration to the price of gas, the debate solidified his interest in Ohio Congressman, Dennis Kucinich, but also left him troubled.

CUT “My heart’s with Dennis Kucinich and I wish the rest of the nation would take him more seriously because he’s on target with most of the things I believe in. It’s just a question of whether or not he can beat the Republican candidate or even get the nomination. But of course, if I say he can’t and I’m not voting for him, then a lot of people come to that conclusion. It’s a self fulfilling defeatist prophecy.”

For Eric Lipsitt, this was the first opportunity he had taken to focus on all the candidates at the same time. He was left considerably under-whelmed with the dark horse contender, former Alaska senator Mike Gravell. As for the candidate doing best in the polls, New York Senator Hillary Clinton , Eric was left with a strong sense of caution.

CUT “The way she answered this last question is the way she’s answered a number of her questions which is I guess in one word – safe. She’s the frontrunner and she’ very afraid of a negative sound bite on You Tube.”

Senator Clinton made the same impression on Karen Prior. That stood in sharp contrast with the positive feelings she gained for former North Carolina senator, John Edwards. All three of these voters liked his insistence that congressional Democrats should have stood up to the threat of a presidential veto on the recent war funding bill. For Karen, the biggest surprise of the debate was her new found respect for Edwards.

CUT “I think he’s matured. I think he’s not afraid to be a leader now, to really speak what he thinks. And I think that’s really good. I think that’s what the Democrats need. The willingness to take some risk.”

These voters also had a favorable sense of Barack Obama. They liked his calm and confident demeanor. They felt it would bode well for building alliances-with governments around the world and across party lines at home. But these three voters ultimately felt they have plenty of time to continue to take the measure of all of the candidates.

For NHPR News, I’m Jon Greenberg.