Debate day was a great day for Hillary. Not only did she demonstrate during the debate why she deserves to be the Democratic Party nominee and the 44th President of the United States but earlier in the day she received more good polling news. The Pew Research Center national poll showed she had a 10 point lead over Barack Obama. The Quinnipiac poll showed her with more than 20 point leads over Barack Obama in big states — Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania.
Republicans like Patrick Buchanan praised her performance as well. Buchanan warned Republicans that Hillary would do well against any candidate the Republican Party nominates.
According to CNN, the former Bush/Cheney press spokesman Terry Holt said
“I think tonight she demonstrated that she’s the real deal. A lot of people said that she’s too rigid, that she’s too bound by the discipline of her campaign. But that came through tonight with authority, with conviction. She hit is out of the park when whe talked about how she would respond to a two city attack by terrorists. She was the most definitive and the strongest in that regard. I think that she did all that she could do tonight in this field to distinguish herself as the frontrunner.”
Another Republican, this one a prominent businessman, outright endorsed Hillary.
The good news for Hillary also came from Democrats. In California, “Governor Gray Davis was among 25 current and former elected officials and other prominent figures to endorse Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president Friday. Treasurer Bill Lockyer, Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, former Los Angeles City Councilwoman Rosalind Wyman and music industry figures Quincy Jones, Berry Gordy and Clarence Avant were among those endorsing Clinton, D-N.Y.”
“In a 28-minute address to the 2,600 teachers, professors and other school personnel, Clinton earned several standing ovations as the audience waved “New York (heart) Hillary” signs supplied by her campaign.”
New York Governor Eliot Spitzer addressed the convention and said “What an amazing president she will be for every person in this country,“.
It can be argued that the best post debate remarks were delivered not by Governor Spitzer but by South Carolina Representative James Clyburn. Clyburn is the No. 3 Democrat in the U.S. House leadership and a legend and political power with great influence over voters, especially African-American voters in South Carolina.
Clyburn who hosts an annual fish fry that attracts Democratic candidates every election cycle assessed the debate and the debaters.
Clyburn said Obama “did not do as well as he could have” in the debate. Clyburn said he sensed discomfort in Obama at one point. “When he was asked about the three best allies, he seemed to get unnerved that he left out “Israel,” Clyburn said.
