Debate in progress, #4

Edwards was smart to bring up 2-cent-screw victim Valerie Lakey. (That sounds like an absolutely gruesome incident, by the way.) Fortunately, he did not say he was going to love her as best he could.

The entire healthcare question was essentially stolen by both candidates' digression, forcing Edwards to return to it during the AIDS discussion. He seemed to know almost nothing about AIDS. Cheney somehow managed to win AIDS; wish we'd heard more about healthcare.

Cheney's bit on tort reform was unwise, although I'm not sure people will feel that the high cost to factory operators of liability insurance is more troubling than the potentially dire situation of the workers who would lose that insurance. I'm afraid he may have lost some votes there.

Cheney not-so-subtly accused Edwards of political opportunism when he said that he (Cheney) would make decisions without worrying about their effect on his career. Edwards didn't really even address specific differences between him and Cheney when the question was posed, merely opting for a broad-brush reiteration of the same old stuff. Cheney punted the clock for the third time.