From NBC's Mark Murray
Gravel: that he wouldn't hold his opponents' youth and inexperience against them
Kucinich: fired his police chief, while mayor of Cleveland, on the 6 o'clock news
Clinton: health-care reform and believing Bush's claims that Iraq had WMD
Obama: not fighting hard enough against the congressional effort to keep Terri Schiavo's feeding tube in
Biden: overestimating the competence of the Bush administration
Edwards: voting for the Iraq war authorization.
Dodd: voting for the Iraq war authorization
Richardson: his impatience

An update in response to reader comments: Just to clarify, Obama said his biggest mistake was not trying to stop the GOP-led effort to keep Terri Schiavo alive. He added that such decisions should be left up to the families.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
Edwards, Dodd, Biden and Clinton using the word "mistake" to talk about Iraq shows just how afraid they may be of this issue. Caution during the Iraq section and now the term "mistake" say it all.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
Was Obama not ready for the Confederate Flag question? It seemed that way to this observer.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
That's the theme of this debate so far. This was a group of candidates afraid to make news tonight and afraid to engage. They took the "first impression" factor to heart.

From NBC's Chuck Todd & Mark Murray
A surprising amount of the Democratic candidates claimed to have had guns in their household. Look for reporters to follow-up with them and find out what kind and when.

Gravel, Biden, Dodd, Richardson, and Kucinich raised their hands. Clinton, Obama, and Edwards didn't.

From NBC's Mark Murray
Richardson was asked who his model Supreme Court judge is, and he replied with Byron "Whizzer" White, who was appointed by John Kennedy -- but who dissented in Roe v. Wade.

From NBC's Mark Murray
Sen. Biden was asked about five minutes ago if, with the multiple verbal gaffes he's committed over the years (ex: calling Obama "clean" and "articulate"), he has the discipline to be president.

His response? "Yes" -- that was it, and it drew laughter from the crowd.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
In all seriousness, these questions are important if only to see how quick they are on their feet. Edwards and Richardson seemed to be the most uncomfortable but overall, they all probably are grateful for the opportunity to respond to these "elephants."

From NBC's Mark Murray
Richardson recently called for AG Alberto Gonzales' resignation, but it wasn't before he told a Capitol Hill newspaper that he was on the fence because Gonzales -- like him -- is Hispanic. Richardson was just asked about that, and he replied, "That's how I felt... Maybe I was last [to call for his resignation], but I wanted to give him a chance."

From our Hardblogging colleagues
Bob Shrum and Hilary Rosen both think Hillary Clinton started out strong. Rosen says "Senators Clinton and Biden gave good focused starting answers. Clinton gave the best and firm overview of the politics. Biden gave a great brief overview of the tactical military and political questions we face." Rosen also hopes that tonight's debate is a testament to Jack Valenti's kind of politics. Valenti, who passed away today, was her friend and mentor. "He loved politics. The civil kind," she writes.

Shrum says "It was crisp, almost without a whiff of nuance. Edwards definitely managed to draw the contrast with Clinton on the war without seeming to attack her. And Shrum tells the "second-tier" candidates what they have to do: "make a good impression that outlasts the night, get noticed, inch up, and begin raising some more money."   
 
Brooke Bower, Hardball producer, describes candidates' actions, the clicking of the cameras, and the hush in the room as the debate started.

From NBC's Mark Murray
The first round of questions -- on Iraq -- has just ended, and there weren't any real fireworks. Sen. Edwards was asked whether his past comment -- "We need a leader... who will tell the truth when they've made a mistake" -- was a shot against Clinton and her refusal to apologize for voting to authorize the Iraq war. He said it was a matter of her "conscience," and Clinton responded by saying she has taken responsibility for her Iraq war authorization vote. The bigger question, she said, is "what do we do now?"

From NBC's Chuck Todd
The most amazing thing about the Iraq section of this debate -- the fear apparently all of the candidates had with making news. Amazing caution on this issue; the Democratic activists may not be happy.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
BTW, kudos to the candidates, most of them are hitting their time cues. It's possible we'll cover more issues than we thought.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
Gov. Richardson saying he wouldn't fund the war seems to be a move farther to the left. Remember, though, for the non-voting viable candidates, saying you wouldn't fund the war is a lot easier than if they actually had to vote.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
So far, the candidates aren't answering the questions. Sen. Clinton in the rebuttal is at least answering the rebuttal directly.

Update: Check that, Rep. Kucinich answered the question directly. Out of five questions, candidates have answered two directly now.

From NBC's Mark Murray
NBC's Brian Williams led off the debate with two questions -- Sens. Clinton and Biden -- on whether they agreed or not with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's recent comment that the "war is lost." Both made critical remarks about the war, but both ducked the question.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
OK, I have to get this out of the way because it will be noted by everyone soon. But, thanks to my perch, I can give you the following debate preview. The only candidate not featuring a splash of color in their wardrobe (i.e. something not black, white or gray) is Sen. Hillary Clinton. Oh, how some bloggers and columnists will over-analyze that.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
I'll be blogging from the control room. My job: listen for news, listen for surprising answers and make sure we follow our planned script of questions as closely as possible. With 20 minutes to go before show time, I can report that all the candidates showed up on time for wiring. They are backstage, ready to be brought on stage very soon.

The cameras roll at 7 p.m. ET.  Here's the format:

• 90 minutes, no commercial breaks
• No opening or closing statements
• 1 minute for each answer + possible 30-second rebuttal
• "Lightning round" at end with 30-second responses

From NBC's Mark Murray
Sen. Barack Obama just walked into Sen. Hillary Clinton's holding room to chat.

Readers already know Chuck and Mark are in Orangeburg. I'm the lucky guy back in Washington helping them publish all their posts. Both expect to "live" blog during the debate itself, now less than 90 minutes away.

Our sister blog, Hardblogger, is also getting busy in the blogosphere. Here's what they've got cooking so far:

For Chris Matthews, just having candidates stand together on the same stage can change the direction of campaigns.   

Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin thinks it's unlikely that these early debates will make or break a candidacy. "Unless, of course, one of them makes an unfortunate slip of the tongue as Sen. Kerry and Gov. Allen did in recent months." 

Contributor Hilary Rosen wonders how moderator Brian Williams can make sure that the non-front runners -- Biden, Richardson, Dodd, Gravel and Kucinich -- also get equal time. 

Check Hardblogger often for more ... I'll excerpt the best-of again at some point during the first hour of the debate.

Also, check out this impressive live blogging effort from the The Times & Democrat, the Orangeburg, S.C., daily newspaper that has welcomed the media horde to their turf.

From NBC's Chuck Todd

Time magazine's Tumulty and Carney have the type of scoop that on any other day would be the talk of the presidential campaign trail. From the now-end-of-the-week newsweekly reporting on the state of Hillary Clinton's campaign:

"Clinton's campaign still professes publicly to be unperturbed, maintaining that it never believed the race would be a cakewalk. "The game plan that we began this campaign with is the game plan we are using today," insists spokesman Phil Singer. But Clinton's advisers privately acknowledge that she is retooling her strategy on four fronts: intensifying her fund-raising, emphasizing her experience and policy depth (she's counting on the upcoming debates to put those on display), pondering when and how to go on the offensive against Obama and dusting off the "two for the price of one" theme of her husband's 1992 campaign. But this time it's Bill you would get in the bargain."

Read the whole story for more detail, including some acknowledgment by Terry McAuliffe that Barack Obama works the phones better than they anticipated.

 

From NBC's Ken Strickland
By a 51-46 vote, the Senate today passed the Iraq supplemental that calls for US troops to being withdrawing from Iraq by no later than Oct.1 of this year. It will go to the president for his expected veto early next week.

Republicans voting yes were Gordon Smith and Chuck Hagel, no Democrat voted no, and the independent Joe Lieberman voted no. Not voting were Tim Johnson (D), John McCain (R), and Lindsey Graham (R).

From NBC's Carrie Dann
A week after receiving criticism for his "Bomb, bomb Iran" joke, guess what song was playing as the exit music at McCain's rally this morning? The Beach Boys' 1965 single, "Barbara Ann" -- the song he was parodying in that joke.

In a press conference afterwards, McCain laughed with a reporter who joked that the tune could become an official campaign song (and added that he "didn't anticipate" hearing it at the rally today).

From NBC's Chuck Todd and Mark Murray
Hours before tonight's debate, the Clinton campaign has issued a press release trumpeting a new Quinnipiac poll showing her leading the Democratic field in the key general-election battlegrounds: Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

We presume her campaign wants Clinton to be seen as the front-runner going into the debate.

From Chuck Todd and Mark Murray in Orangeburg, SC
*** Let's Get Ready to Rumble: Tonight, all eight Democratic presidential candidates -- Biden, Clinton, Dodd, Edwards, Gravel, Kucinich, Obama, and Richardson -- assemble on the stage of the Martin Luther King Jr. auditorium at South Carolina State University to participate in the first debate of the 2008 campaign. Moderated by NBC's Brian Williams, the debate airs live on MSNBC and South Carolina NBC affiliates at 7:00 pm ET. Who will throw the first punch? How will Clinton and Obama fare? Which non-frontrunner will impress the most? Or the least? Tune in for the answers. We already know who's winning the sign war… We saw Obama's folks outside at 6:45 am placing Obama signs on the road outside the auditorium.

*** Gaining Ground: Just in time for the debate, a new NBC/WSJ poll shows that Obama has cut into Clinton's lead -- from 12 points in March (40%-28%) to 5 points now (36%-31%). Edwards is in third at 20% (up 5 points since March), while no other Democrat gets more than 3%. Democrats also appear to be in good shape for the general election. In head-to-head match ups, Clinton beats Fred Thompson (46%-40%), while Obama tops McCain (45%-39%). What's more, a generic Democratic candidate bests the generic GOP one, 49%-31%. And more than three-quarters of Democrats say they are satisfied with their presidential candidates, while just more than half of Republicans say this about their field.

*** The More You Know...: Going inside the numbers of our poll, there's even more bad news for Clinton and McCain. Among those who are "very closely" watching the presidential campaign (about a quarter of each primary sample), Obama actually leads Clinton, 38%-31%, with Edwards at 20%. Among those "very closely" following the GOP primary (again, a quarter of the sample), Giuliani's lead shrinks to almost nothing, but the second place candidate is Thompson. In fact, among these voters, Giuliani nabs 30%, Thompson gets 28%, Romney gets 20% and -- here's the shocker -- McCain is in single digits at 9%. Does this mean that the more voters learn about the candidates, the more Clinton and McCain see their support erode? Are all their poll numbers artificially high because of name I.D. from campaigns past?

*** Harry Reid's America? Last night, the House narrowly passed the Iraq supplemental that would begin to bring home US troops in Iraq beginning in October; it goes to the Senate today. And in the NBC/WSJ poll, a majority agrees with the Democrats -- 56% say they agree with the Democrats in Congress who want to set a deadline for troop withdrawal from Iraq, compared with just 37% who agree with Bush that there shouldn't be a deadline. In addition, 67% are less confident the war will come to a successful conclusion, 57% believe stabilizing Iraq isn't even possible, and only 12% believe the situation there has gotten better in the past three months. But are Democrats going far enough? Just 31% say they are concerned that Congress will go too far on Iraq -- versus 61% who are more worried that Bush will not make enough changes. And a paltry 20% think the new Congress has brought the right kind of change.

*** Like Father, Like Son? Perhaps the most striking finding in the NBC/WSJ poll is that only 22% believe the country is on the right track. It's the lowest number on that poll since October 1992 when -- you guessed it -- Bush's father was running for re-election (and later lost). Elsewhere in the poll, Bush's job approval remains at 35% for the third consecutive poll, just 27% approve of his handling of Iraq, and only 31% approve of Congress' job.

*** Back to the Center? McCain begins the second leg of his announcement tour in South Carolina, joining the Democrats in the state. As we mentioned yesterday, the NBC/WSJ poll has McCain on top (although within the margin of error) when GOP voters are asked which candidate would follow Bush's policies closely. So maybe it isn't surprising that he used his announcement speech yesterday to criticize the Bush Administration -- implicitly -- on Iraq, Katrina, and Walter Reed.

*** On the Trail: Elsewhere, Gilmore announces he's running for president via a live webcast from the Iowa Republican Party's headquarters, and Romney is in New Hampshire for some smaller-scaled meetings with local residents.