Oh my lord....weren't 20 debates good enough? What are we going to find out now that we can't just find out by googling the Candidate's name. I was irritated by the 19th and 20th debate. This is overkill.

It's the political equivalent of "Groundhog Day". God. How can we get out of this cycle of debatery?

I predict the moderator will fall asleep.

You saw it here first.

Is there a release from the Clinton campaign that doesn't make it on this site?

Am I mistakenly on Hillary's campaign site?

Has Obama's campaign released nothing today?

I'm as sick of debates as the next guy, but I think this might be good for Obama.

It’ll give him a chance to directly challenge her on her “endorsement” of McCain, the secrecy over her tax records, library donors, etc.., and, especially, on her false claims of foreign policy experience and influence.

lincoln-douglas only had seven.

this would be the 21st.

yes, we really need three times as many as lincoln and douglas had.

Now, that said, Obama should not be afraid to debate. He's got the moral highground on hillary after the disgusting tactics and rhetoric thats been coming out of her campaign, and i'm sure Obama would love to highlight those things for the voters of Pennsylvania.

I expect Obama will accept, its just bad politics not to.

I, for one, am eagerly awaiting Hillary's next hip 'n' happening "zinger" line in this 21st debate. I hear that Sinbad is at work right now on her jokes.

Damn, are they running out of money again?

Okay, if we must-- but can health care not be mentioned in either debate? I don't think I can stand to hear them go around and around on this issue one more time.

All the candidates like Lincoln, right? They should do broadswords in a pit, like he did.

How about a feats of strengths contest? It'd be more interesting and we could pick a winner without having to have reality SPUN to us.

I sure hope this debate is about issues and not just attempts by the moderators to rehash ongoing trivial conflicts. The amount of actual useful information generated by these debates is surprisingly small.

(ok you can stop laughing at me now for my optimism)

If she doesn't release her tax returns by the April 16 debate, she'll be in bad shape. Same for the earmarks.

Read closer, Greg--Couric will only host, Shieffer will moderate.

Can the ground rules please, please outlaw the words

HEALTH
and
CARE?

Any word from Mike Gravel?

I sure as hell hope Katie Couric does a better job than we've seen in the last few debates. The moderators have SUCKED! Where do they get these people? Is this how low our news media have fallen?

I'm glad to her about these debates, myself. There are lots of residents of PA and NC who are nowhere near as politically involved as TPM readers. Some of them will finally be starting to think about who they want to vote for in mid-April, since political TV ads will finally have come to their airwaves (I'm understating; they'll actually have taken over completely).

It's those people, who have watched zero or maybe one of the previous debates, who will benefit from these new ones. And they're the people who most need it.

Just so long as one of the questions to Hillary can be "How do you justify the Michigan vote as fair and needing to be honored when your name was the only one of the major candidates on the ballot?"

I love that the Obama camp is pressing the issue on states after PA.

Debates give Hillary a chance to try out her new material...."when you were hanging out with slumlord Tony Rezko"......(silence, some booing)....."I always get the 1st question".....(silence)...."That's change you can xerox".....(silence, some booing).

Meanwhile, "I am honored to be here with Barack Obama"...(Thunderous applause).

Maybe she can try and mix the negative message with the positive...."I am honored to be here with that lucky son of a bitch black man, Barack Obama."

Nooooooo!! =(

And why the hell do we need a debate 3 days after the previous debate?? This is stupid as hell.

The only reason why Clinton wants that debate in Pennsylvania is to use it as a stage to appear congenial to the voters of Pennsylvania with her hands clean while Clinton surrogates surreptitiously smear Obama under the radar.

She'll use the debate to project that same faux sincerity she used at the end of that last debate where she said she was "proud" to "share the stage with Senator Obama" -- and with her head held high, she'll close with some brand new soundbite meant to leave the viewers (and the media) with the false impression of parity and fairplay, that will then get replayed and recyled on the cable nets the next day and onward.

The thing is, will the media buy it this time?

i agree with a previous poster. having another debate wont hurt BO. It will give the people of PA a chance to feel the OBAMA SPIRIT...
The Obama camp is already downplaying a win in PA, but i think that that is just a ploy.
If the race tightens (like we all expect it will) within 6-9 points within the next 2-3 weeks, he will continue to downplay the possibility of a win, while pouring everything into PA...
From what i have heard, most think that if BO takes the big cities and the suburbs, he can eek out a close win. But hey, anything but a blow out in PA is a victory for BO!

KATIE COURIC?

oh no...

We political junkies may be wanting to gouge our eyes out at this being the 20th and 21st Democratic debate this cycle, but most voters have not watched more than a handful at best.

Nothing wrong with more televised exposure of Democratic candidates getting free national television time to discuss issues like UHC, getting out of Iraq, etc. which are a non-starters form the McSame /GOP camp.

They should only debate the damage that has been done by Bu$h and what they will do to correct this. Including how they will bring Bu$h and his gang to justice (or bring justice to them ) .That I would PAY to see and hear . Not going to happen- I know. Oh, well.I guess Jefferson was right about that revolution stuff !Then maybe,just maybe THEY will listen to us "little" people !

uh, folks, unlike us, here, most folks are gonna start thinking about their vote in PA about a week or two before primary election day... and lots of them probably don't know how they are gonna vote yet.

Lighten up and stop your bellyaching.... it'll be news worth watching to lots of people.

And Obama has a tougher task getting through to people, so debates are better news for him than Clinton.

No law says YOU have to watch.

Sweeeeeet. People are already camping out in line wearing their most bad-ass star wars costumes...and tickets don't go on sale until April 10th. Damn, if I hadn't already paid $2K to that scalper to get into debate #20 in OH, thinking that it was my last chance to see these two in action, I might be able to scrape together enough to get a place sitter to buy a tent and hang out in line for a couple weeks. Oh well, April 16th party at my pad...BYOB.

Well at this rate, I'm sure Puerto Rico will be wanting one too...

Prepare for fetal position rocking..... go!

What's left to debate about? Hillary Clinton's Bipolar disorder and how to get treatment?

Ok, maybe they can talk for a half hour. Then Bob Shieffer can bust out the Xbox, then Barack and Hillary can go a couple of rounds of Fight Night 3

Or better yet a Halo deathmatch!

And then afterwards -- since the pledged delegate count won't change by very much -- they can hold hands, skip off the stage -- all the way to Obama's inauguration ceremony.

This is very good! Seriously. I was so down about all the race-baiting I was about to make myself stop caring this morning ... when I realized that the best thing that could happen would be for Hillary to instigate and instigate over the next several weeks (a cinch) so that especially the more conservative, lower income PA voters are thinking he's the devil or something..... and THEN have a debate. There is NO WAY this fellow looks or acts or talks like they are going to be imagining ... and Hillary having to make nice (which she will have to) is going to make her look two-faced. I'm delighted .. even more delighted that he 'raised' her one by agreeing to the NC debate as well. Guess she'll have to trash those 'he's afraid to meet me' ads that she used in Ohio. Too bad.

Dumb move on Zellery's part.

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

Why offer him a debate when Pennsylvania's Archie Bunker Democrats have bought your race-baiting and are ready to put you over by double digits?

Obama's debating skills have gotten progressively better each time out. The last time out he looked smooth and presidential while she looked lost and slightly awed by the man sitting next to her. Moreover, after all the work she's done to smear him as an unqualified Affirmative Action hire, she's giving him a chance to humanize himself before the PA electorate.

He called your bluff and raised you, Monster. What now?

One-on-one hoops instead.

Oh goody. I hope I can learn more about their respective positions on health care. They haven't quite cleared it up for me. They should have accepted the science debate on April 18, 2008 in Philadelphia. http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=20
They could expand the conversation and voters could make decisions on different issues. Or not.

Actually, a debate could be useful if the moderators and the candidates could get off of the differences between Clinton and Obama's respective health care plans.

How about asking the candidates when it is appropriate for the president to use signing statements?

When should executive privilege be asserted and how far down the staff can it be extended?

What is their position on oversight by the legislative branch?

What are their positions on "enhanced interrogation techniques"?

What (if anything) are they going to do to reverse the damage Bush has done to the Constitution.

Will they reverse any of the executive orders given by Bush?

There are a lot of interesting topics and questions that as far as I know have never been addressed in the debates.

Argh! I think all of the people who voted for Clinton in Ohio & Texas instead of letting us end this damn thing should be forced to watch these debates with Clockwork Orange toothpicks propping their eyelids open.

The end result will still be the same and yet we are subjected to a couple more months of bickering and who knows how many more debates.

Of course I will still watch in spite of myself...

Amazing quotation:

Argh! I think all of the people who voted for Clinton in Ohio & Texas instead of letting us end this damn thing...

WOW! This is sick and wrong...The stupidest thing I have heard ALL DAY!

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY?????? WTF?

I don't really mind more debates, because it allows Hillary to serve the only meaningful role she has left in the party ... Obama's batting practice for McCain.

Obama wasn't a particularly strong debater at the first, but he's progressively gotten better over time and more than held his own in Austin. I'm looking forward to what happens when he stops being so polite and diplomatic and starts going on the offensive. Can't wait to hear how he challenges Hillary on how her supposed foreign policy experience and re frame the narrative, since the MSM doesn't appear to have the balls to do it.

Mrs Clinton it's time to answer, once and for all, what exactly was your role Mr. Sinbad in the Kosovo peace process? And who played the Good Cop/Bad Cop role in the negoations .. you or Sinbad?

Please. Please. Somebody just drop out, I don't even care who anymore.

I would enjoy a debate if they would find some new topics!

I suggest some issues with meaning to city dwellers like myself such as reducing crime without reducing civil liberties.

How the systematic divestment in older communities in favor of new ones has increased sprawl and concentrated poverty.

Any one have new ideas on how to reduce number of illegal guns without restricting the ownership of illegal ones?

New ideas on education? prison reform? drug laws?

I bet there are some other issues related to health care besides health insurance.

And what about things like food safety, preservation of local agriculture?

And seniors -- PA has the second highest percentage of senior citizen's in the country and unlike Florida, and they are much less affluent. Any new ideas on caring for the elderly?

As a Philadelphian, I'm not looking forward to six weeks of sniping and rehashing the minutue of policies.

We don't choose our family, but Obama chose this blatent Racist as his pastor for decades. It clearly reflects very poorly on Obama's judgement as much as his close friendship with Rezco.