Liveblogging the VP Debate

6:59pm: Ok, here goes. I'm at the Pete Coors campaign office in Colorado Springs. There are maybe 30 other people here watching the debate so I'll do the best I can to hear everything and take notes.

7:01pm: I hate Peter Jennings. I don't even watch TV so I don't know all the real reasons I should hate him but the sound of his voice is just unbearable.

7:02pm: Edwards is taking notes while Gwen Ifill lays out the rules. That's odd.

7:03pm: The first question, quoting Paul Bremer and Donald Rumsfeld's recent comments, is actually a softball to Cheney. If there is anything he has been practicing in the last few days, it's that.

7:04pm: Cheney needs to unclench his hands. It gives him that evil 'muhahaha' look to him.

7:05pm: Cheney on Iraq: 'Most likely nexus between terrorists and the weapons of mass destruction'.

7:06pm: There is something about Edwards that makes him look much more trustworthy than Kerry. Edwards just named the months, just like John Kerry did in his debate : 'we had more losses in June than we had in July, more in August than in September' etc.

7:07pm: 'No connection between the attacks of 9/11 and Iraq'.-Edwards.

7:08pm: Edwards is a lot better at speaking than Kerry and Cheney is a much better speaker than Bush.

7:11pm: That's right, Cheney, you quote that 'global test' line.

7:13pm: Cheney just quoted Edwards from 2 years ago saying Afghanistan was doing badly. Draws a nice parallel to what Edwards is saying about Iraq today.

7:14pm: 'Freedom is the best antidote to terror'.-Cheney

7:14pm: Edwards just said 'global test?' as if he'd never heard of it before.

7:15pm: Edwards seems to be standing by his comments that Afghanistan is a disaster.

7:16pm: Back to 'global test'. What is a 'global test' if it's not a global veto? Edwards is dodging the question saying that we will never give anyone a global veto. He's sounding muddled for the first time tonight. It's hard to defend John Kerry, I feel for him (/sarcasm).

7:19pm: Edwards just talked about how much the first Iraq war cost. Cheney 'well, the 90% figure is just dead wrong'. I hope Cheney reminds him that the first Iraq war might've been cheap but it left Saddam in power.

7:20pm: Oooooh Cheney: 'you probably weren't there to vote for that' on the amount of money spent on Iraq.

7:22pm: WOW. Go Cheney, total red meat, room is going nuts: 'your rhetoric would be more convincing if it had a record to back it up.'

7:22pm: 'We've never criticized John Kerry's patriotism, just his judgement'-Cheney.

7:24pm: Cheney brings up Howard Dean to explain Kerry and Edwards votes against funding the war. Out of the park.

7:25pm: If I go run to the other room to grab a slice of pizza while Edwards rebuts, will I be accused of purposely missing it? Eh, who cares, be right back. Edwards is talking about Kerry in Vietnam, I can definitely take a quick break.

7:29pm: Edwards is blinking a mile a minute. I wonder if that will make Dawn Summers like him any less?

7:30pm: Edwards=Lunch. That could all change but that's what he's looking at right now. Cheney brings up Kerry's 'bribed and coerced' comments and also
smacks Edwards on Kerry's Allawi comments.

7:32pm: Edwards interrupts Cheney. Looks like a little kid yelling at his dad.

7:33pm: Edwards is extremely flustered. Blinking and blushing.

7:36pm: Cheney is unshakeable. Gwen just asked about Halliburton and Cheney being against sanctions for Iran when he worked at Halliburton and he's for them now. Cheney said he remains against unilateral sanctions.

7:39pm: Edwards gets his first clear shot of the night: Cheney says there are Al Qaeda in Iraq, and that there are Al Qaeda in many other countries. Should we invade them all?

7:40pm: Edwards is talking about Halliburton's no bid contract. I wish Cheney would mention Clinton also giving Halliburton a no-bid contract but it doesn't look like he will.

7:41: I don't know how all this Halliburton stuff plays with the America people. I don't think people will care, but what do I know. Maybe it will the story on Main Street, USA tomorrow.

7:42pm: Edwards is going into a personal story. Here we go. His 'I've been to Israel' sounds a lot like Kerry's 'I've been to Russia'. I like what Edwards is saying about Israel defending itself. I just don't believe he really feels that way.

7:44pm: Did Cheney just say 'the first time I met you was when you walked on stage tonight'? Could that be right? I get the implication, that Edwards never shows up to work.

7:46pm: Edwards is running down a litany of domestic bills that Cheney voted against. IN THE FOREIGN POLICY PART OF THE DEBATE.

7:47pm: Domestic part of the debate begins.

7:47pm: Cheney is a product of public schools? Interesting.

7:49pm: Edwards just criticized Cheney for talking about education instead of jobs. Aren't liberals always going on about how those two things are tied? What's wrong with Cheney talking about schools in connection with poverty and jobs?

7:50pm: Cheney's got numbers on who's benefitted from Bush/Cheney programs. Edwards is saying 'millions' to Cheney's specific numbers. Edwards just said 'I don't think the country can take another 4 years of you'. I hear Dawn all the way in NY saying 'ooooooh'.

7:53pm: Edwards is talking about taxes for people that make over $200,000 a year. Does the Kerry/Edwards campaign realize how many small businesses make around that sum and put it right back into their business? I'm not sure they do.

7:54pm: I agree with Vodkapundit. I find the domestic part kind of boring. I'm not a numbers person and it's all numbers 'this many people get this percentage of a tax cut that will give them this much money'.

7:56pm: Cheney just said 'yesterday the president signed (a whole bunch, I don't remember which exactly) tax bills. Senators Kerry and Edwards weren't even there to vote for it.'

7:57pm: Gay marriage. Cheney is muddled, he sounds like he's for it but said he 'supports the presidents policies on it'. Edwards is talking about something else entirely, probably trying to run his time out so he won't have to talk about it. OH. Edwards is definitely trying to make sure that everyone knows Cheney has a gay daughter. Not nice.

8:00pm: Edwards said that gay people have trouble setting up funerals for their partners. Has the lawyer never heard about a 'power of attorney'?

8:02pm: I've met Gwen Ifill before. I was sure she was a raging leftist. I think her questions are actually fair, much fairer than the ones I heard from the first debate.

8:03pm: Cheney didn't take the opportunity Gwen fed him to take a direct shot at Edwards in terms of trial lawyers, saying he's 'not familiar with his cases'. Sorry, but yeah right. I know about some of Edwards big cases. I'm sure Cheney does too. Edwards says he and Kerry have 'a plan' that holds lawyers responsible. Again, I don't believe him.

8:05pm: Edwards has calmed down a lot. He seems happier and more normal. Of course, Cheney hasn't hit him hard in a few questions. But, then he said that lawsuits don't have anything to do with the cost of malpractice. REALLY.

8:08pm: Bathroom break. And, to be fair, I'm taking it while Cheney speaks.

8:12pm: There's a really bored kid in the kitchen throwing a ball against the wall and counting. I said 'you're really bored huh'? That threw him off his counting at '87' and he dropped the ball. He glared at me, picked the ball up and started again '1, 2, 3'.

8:14pm: Gwen just asked Edwards why all the women that ran for VP that had more experience than him didn't make it. Edwards started talking about people wanting their VP to be able to protect them and keep them safe. Is he trying to say women can't protect the nation, huh Dawn?

8:17pm: Cheney is implying Kerry chose Edwards to try to carry North Carolina. Uh, no, Kerry chose Edwards because no one likes Kerry and there are people who actually like Edwards.

8:18pm: Someone needs to sit Kerry and Edwards down and make them never say the word 'Vietnam' again.

8:19pm: Cheney: 'There are more similarities between myself and Edwards than there are differences, in our personal stories. I don't like to talk about my story that much.' Son of a mill worker, anyone?

8:22pm: Edwards looks so silly breaking the rules twice by saying John Kerry's name in an answer in which he was specifically supposed to abstain from saying Kerry's name.

8:23pm: Edwards: 'John Kerry has been completely consistent' to an answer about 'what's wrong with a little flip-flopping?'

8:25pm: 'I could think of a lot of words to describe John Kerry' position on Iraq, consistent isn't one of them'- Cheney

8:26pm: Cheney is king of the zing. 'That's a lot of money, even by Massachusetts standards' in regards to how much of No Child Left Behind has been funded.

8:29pm: Cheney is disappointed at the lack of bi-partisanship. Not me, I like it. Bi-partisanship is overrated and produces nightmare laws like the Campaign Finance Law.

8:31pm: Great line by Edwards: 'Have you ever seen America more divided'? Then, he blows it by switching topics to healthcare. He was about to hammer Bush in the best, clearest way of any time tonight and he decided to ramble on about healthcare. Sorry, it might be important but it won't be memorable.

8:32pm: Cheney giggled when the questions came back to him. He knows he's the clear winner tonight. He could not be more comfortable.

8:33pm: Closing statements, 'when I was young and growing up....' If he mentions the mill, I'm going to be annoyed. Edwards loves his life story, just like Kerry does. But, the truth is, people don't vote for people based on biography. Oh there goes the mill mention.

8:35pm: Edwards closing statement is pretty good. He knows Cheney probably won't bite him in his closing statement, so he's not scared.

8:37pm: Cheney chose to focus on his career rather than his childhood. Just like Bush is focusing on the last four years and not four months during the Seventies.