lowercase thought.

Look, I'm an Obama guy. Have been pretty much since I became disillusioned with John Edwards at the beginning of the year (and for a few days in Boston back in '04).

But let's be real about something here--Barack still can't take Hillary in a political debate yet. At least not in a sound-bite fest like these debates. In fact, nobody can take her right now. I've watched the last three debates, and while Obama seems to be getting a bit more polished, he still seems to be somewhat unprepared for tougher questions. He doesn't deflect to well-rehearsed sound-bite applause lines when hit with one like, "are soldiers dying in vain" as well as Hillary.

Sure, this is a bit troubling. But it's not the end of the world. Christ, it's only July. If Hillary still owns everyone in November like she owns them now, I'll start chewing my fingernails off. Putting it in perspective, Barack Obama's still in his first 6 months as a bona-fide presidential candidate. And hell, it's not like he had difficult, high-profile debates against Alan Keyes.

Also working for Obama: virtually nobody under the age of 40 watches the debates besides political wonks like me. That's his wheelhouse, and where he's going to get the lion's share of his support. And nobody else has ObamaGirl. Mmmm. ObamaGirl.

Finally though, I was throughly unimpressed with the CNN/YouTube format. It was overly "cutesy" and gimmicky. Here's a suggestion for CNN in the future if they're going to do this again: Keep the questions to 15 seconds or less. I don't need to see some dude feeding his invalid mother to get the picture that Alzheimer's research is important. I don't need to hear a nutjob go on about his "baby" AR15 assault weapon to pose the issue of gun control to the candidates. And for God's sake, no more candidate videos.

When there are 8 candidates vying for a slice of time on a 1-hour debate including commercial breaks, I'd like to hear more of their words and less from a Snowman in Wash state. I suppose I shouldn't expect more from our dumbed-down political process though. What's the next effort to make politics "sexy" to American youth? The Rave Party debate, complete with glow-sticks? No doubt Biden would rule that format with his Bhakti Yoga-inspired "Sleven Shake."