NPR: Did the Democrats Destruct in the Debate?

Did the Democrats Destruct in the Debate?

“It was a bad night for the Democratic Party. ...They sat around in a circle and opened fire on each other.”

It was "beat up on Hilary" night for the Democrats, at least according to our political contributor Mary Frances Berry. Those were her words of analysis about Tuesday's Democratic debate, which was anticipated to be gloves-off ... and was.

"Edwards was like a little terrier yipping at everybody's heels -- yip, yip, yip, yip, yip," said Berry, a history professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

And our contributor Ron Christie, a former special assistant to President George W. Bush said, "It was a bad night for the Democratic Party. ... They sat around in a circle and opened fire on each other."

You can hear all of their discussion here.

You can find a transcript of their debate here.

What do you think? In the race for the top spot, are the Democratic presidential candidates undermining their party's chances at the White House? Or is it inevitable that they'll have to slug it out now?

Farai Chideya

Tags: Barack Obama | Democratic presidential debate | Hillary Clinton | John Edwards

6:39 PM ET | 10-31-2007 | permalink

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