tonite makes it 2-0

Whew... it started fast and furious tonight!

It was quite evident the the old dragon wasn't used to getting poked with a lance... Cheney looked ready to pop a few f-bombs early on, and then grew oddly quiet... like a dog with his tails between his legs.

Edwards shot out of the gate so fast he had Cheney tumbling trying to stay on his feet. Edwards was sooooo good early on (especially when asked about the "global test") it may have hurt him with a few viewers, as it was almost impossible to keep up that pace. He was correcting the facts, connecting back to the big picture and tossing in tasteful zingers for good measure -- masterful.

The second half of the debate lost its edge, with Gwen Ifill trying to prove how smart she was with cutesie questions and on a few occassions essentially asking the same question twice... all of which which left Cheney with nothing to say -- literally -- a couple times, and even Edwards at some points was forced by the inept direction of the questioning to either reiterate or extemporize on topics not touched on.

Since Cheney was essentially playing defense for most of the debate, the slowing of the tempo aided him, but he had clearly lost his zest. Edwards comes out with a clear win -- forcefully rebutting Cheney's attempts at distortion and intidimdation and setting the record straight on the difference between having a resume and being right.

Two down and two to go.