Thoughts on last night's debate:

• Who the hell lit this thing? Dennis Kucinich looked like he was made entirely of pudding skin. There was so much glare on Brit Hume at one point I thought maybe he was actually Peter Jennings.
  
• The New Hampshire reporters were not ready for prime time, to say the least. The whole debate had a certain amateurish, let's-put-on-a-debate-in-the-barn sort of feel to it.
  
• Wesley Clark really whiffed the question about Michael Moore's description of President Bush as a "deserter." Clark could have said something along the lines of, there are many questions about the president's National Guard service that remain unanswered, and until we get straight answers about them there will be people who assume the worst and use strong language about it.
  But instead Clark came off as incredibly detached and disinterested in his own campaign and the facts of the matter, almost like an SNL parody of Ronald Reagan. This guy was the great white-haired hope for the Democrats? (And on a related note, why has Moore so eagerly embraced the commander of the Kosovo mission he linked to the Columbine shootings in his movie?)
  
• John Kerry won by not losing or drooling or shrieking. But I don't think I've ever seen a candidate look so damn tired during a debate.
  
• What was up with the rounds and the bells and the whatnot?