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I am still undecided, and Monday night's debates kept me swinging back and forth on everyone, really.

Lee, to your point about HRC's game-minded, pinpoint-and-sully by obfuscation approach, I'd like to add a highlight of her romantic rhapsody at the beginning of chair time. This is where I really felt her skill in playing the game, because after spending so much ugly time nit-picking and squabbling with Obama, she created a neutral moment of stepping back, singing the hymn of the Democratic mission -- it's one of those magical things that happens when someone is a bitch most of the time. It works much like the "revealing moments" in every thread of that movie Crash. "Oh my god, the white racist cop helps his sick father go to the bathroom!"

"We have differences, but it would be unbecoming of any of us to not share those differences and to make the points we're making because we are competing for the most important job in the world at a time when our country has been disgraced abroad, when we have denied and ignored the problems that are afflicting people in South Carolina and across America, when we know we will inherit a huge amount of damage from President Bush upon taking office on January 20th, 2009, whoever the next president is.

So we are passionate about our cause, our candidacy, what we believe, what we want to do for America. And it is a great privilege for me to be part of this. And I think it's important that we stay focused on the future, what we are going to do together to make our country once again what it should be, to deal with this myriad of problems that await, because we can bring our country together and we can set big goals again.

We can start acting like Americans and solve those problems together, and that's what I want to do."

Hillary has never made me feel inspired, and because these three candidates hold similar positions on key issues, the feeling I get from each of them is really important to me. It was a big deal for her to sound sincere -- that whole tear in the eye business didn't work for me, but this did. Maybe I'm just being my sentimental self? Did the rhetoric work on any of you, just a little bit? Or did you roll your eyes?

Anyway, I was annoyed with her for putting Obama on the defense for the first hour, even if it is appropriate strategy.

Aw, and look at all those running-mate-courting jokes between Obama and Edwards! What an adorable election process! Seriously, though -- after Iowa, Michele Norris interviewed Edwards and he asserted clearly that he will NOT run as VP again. It's not looking that way to me.

"EDWARDS: Maybe I can read it when I can't go to sleep at night.

OBAMA: Well, there you go.

(LAUGHTER)

That's when I usually read my stuff, actually. But I think it's important."

I'll wrap up my little puff piece on that note. Writing this at work turns out to be completely impossible.

Two things before I go, though. First, I think today's story in the WSJ speaks to the most obvious differences between Clinton and Obama's campaign (that being, apparently, that Obama's supporters " are often more attuned to hip-hop culture than civil-rights history").

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120105705756408791.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Diana