From NBC's Chuck Todd
Some quick thoughts before the morning (it's going to be a LOOONNNGGG night).

Clinton seemed a bit testy tonight, particularly on Social Security... She allowed her "laughter" tick to kick in for a few questions, particularly on the various criticisms other candidates made in press releases that those same candidates didn't have the, well, you know, to verbalize those attacks. 

Overall, though, no one landed a blow on her and at this point in the game, that's how these debates have to be judged. As my colleague Mark Murray put it in the control room tonight, she reminds him of Dean Smith in that she's always playing "four corners" or "stall ball." This is what a frontrunner gets to do, protect a lead and Clinton appears to be protecting her lead. BTW, she continues to show command on the stage; it's subtle things but there's no doubting who's in charge of this campaign right now, it's Hillary Clinton. 

Perhaps the surprising thing to me was Obama's decision to not overtly go after Clinton. He didn't seem to change his tone or game even as it appears he's stalled both in the national polls and in this state of New Hampshire. Of the candidates chasing Clinton, Edwards stood out to me. He seemed to realize he needed to prove contrast with Clinton on just about every answer he gave. It was one of his better performances. The guy is getting his William Jennings Bryan schtick down pat. How will he get past Obama, that's the problem for him.

As for the second half of the field, Biden, once again, did well. The guy just needs resources and he just might get some traction. Then again, maybe it's just us Beltway types who think he's shooting straighter from the hip than any of the other candidates. Of course, when you've got nothing left in the bank, you got nothing left to lose. At a minimum, I think he's earned a spot on the VP short list, forget Sec./State.

Dodd seemed a bit better tonight but just can't seem to stop from speaking like a senator and that hurts him at these debates.

Then there's Richardson. What is there to say; I think he's getting smaller and smaller at these debates. He's trying too hard on some questions and it shows.  I'll have more thoughts tomorrow.  

From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
As we predicted,
many of the candidates attacked Hillary Clinton tonight. Edwards was
first, attacking her on her Iraq policy and then on voting today to
"authorize the first step of war with Iran." On this bill, Gravel told
Clinton, "I am ashamed at you for voting for it."

Richardson also
went after Clinton on her Iraq policy. He later attacked Obama,
Edwards, and Clinton for not saying they will remove all troops from
Iraq by the end of their first term.

Obama knocked Clinton on
her failed health care policy during her husband's administration,
telling her the reason it was lonely is because she "closed the door to
Republicans," who did want to reform health care. When he was later
asked if "turning the page" is directed at Bush or Clinton or both,
Obama resisted the chance to attack Clinton and simply said he wants to
end "divisive politics in the country."

Dodd attacked
Clinton only when provoked -- and then just barely. Tim Russert asked
Dodd what he meant when he issued a press release saying he understood
why Bush would want her to be the Democratic nominee. Tonight, Dodd
qualified it, saying Bush had a bad record. "He was the same guy who
said way to go Brownie ... and mission accomplished." Then he
backtracked on the line, saying he was being "facetious."

Biden
then took his turn and accused Clinton of being too polarizing a
candidate. Kucinich was the only candidate who did not directly attack
Clinton.

Clinton, for her part, told the audience she agrees
with her opponents on several occasions, saying she agreed with Obama
three times, Biden twice, and Edwards once. Giuliani also
suffered some attacks, from Obama and Biden. Biden called Giuliani "the
most uniformed person in American foreign policy, and now running for
president."

From NBC's Lauren Appelbaum
Many
of the Democratic candidates have been using the words "experience" and
"change" to show their strengths. Tonight, the words were not used as
much as we may have thought. For the most part, the candidates only
used the words when Tim Russert asked Clinton, Obama, Richardson, and
Dodd about their experience.

Clinton addressed the issue but
used the word experience just once. At other times during the debate,
she did use the word "change" twice. Obama talked about bringing the
country together, using the word experience three times and never using
the word change. Richardson used the line "with Bill Richardson, you
get both, change and experience," saying the word change once and
experience twice. Dodd talked about his number of years in the Senate
as testament to his experience but never used either word.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Clinton sounded her best tonight, a night when she hasn't sounded her best, when talking about the torture question and about the presidency. Is this why people give her credit for her time as First Lady as experience? Most people have never been "on the inside of the White House," and her talking about a president's role sounded presidential.

From NBC's Athena Jones at the Clinton party...
Huge applause and screams of "I love you" re: Clinton's "her decision" comment.

Also, after some initial thinning out, the crowd is now strong again -- as Clinton is expected to show here later.

Overheard: "She better show up here."

From NBC's Chuck Todd

Check out how Clinton got in a Yucca Mountain pander for the Nevada Democrats.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Obama said he had a responsibility to be in Washington for votes on Iraq rather than be in Jena. "This is not an issue of black or white," Obama said of the Jena situation. He said it's an American issue of justice. It highlights the fine line Obama walks on race as he tries to be a viable, broader candidate, as the Columbia State front-paged this week.

And Obama was the first to release a statement on Jena.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Hillary handled the Bush-Cheney-Bush-Cheney question pretty well with her, "I think Bill was a pretty good president line." Sounded like it got pretty good applause. Bill Clinton is very popular with the base. It's an asset for her in trying to get the nomination.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Obama did not answer the question on what does turning the page mean. Is it about Bush or Clinton or both? He had a chance to really draw a line in the sand and he chose not to.

NBC's Aswini Anburajan, with the Obama supporters...
Strong responses here: Woahs to Tim's question to obama and some clapping.

Big "no's" to Tim's question re: is dynasty good for democracy.

(But Obama didn't answer it that explicitly.)

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Kucinich wants the drinking age to be 18 and the voting age to be 16. Hmm. This has been a revealing debate for Kucinich and Gravel.

From NBC/NJ's Tricia Miller
Dodd went over so much better at the AARP forum. How is he going after
the youth vote? He had a pretty sizable group of mostly middle aged
supporters following a man playing bagpipes before the debate.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
So here's what we learned on Social Security: Clinton would not put anything on the table, totally ducked the answer; Biden and Edwards want to raise the payroll tax on everyone; Dodd and Obama want to raise it some (maybe not on everybody); while Richardson believes the country will simply grow her way out of it. Meanwile, the final Clinton insert on this question seemed to be a rare debate moment when she realized her answer wasn't very good the first time.

Update: The Edwards campaign reminds me that I missed the fact that Edwards is with Dodd and Obama on having some rise in the payroll tax but with an exception.

From NBC's Aswini Anburajan
Some of the older voters here (there are a few) grumbling about candidates responses to the same-sex question.

Also
one sense I am getting here is don't hate the other guys (gal) too much
b/c as a few people have mentioned "four months from now we are all going
to be on the same team."

From NBC's Chuck Todd
Clinton doesn't like to get into specifics on many issues. The "fiscal" answer regarding Social Security sounds like a "specific" answer but it's anything but... It's good campaign politics but it could open herself up to some criticisms down the road.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
Joe Biden is starting to embrace this idea that he's this year's "straight talker," so he had no problem pledging to raise the payroll tax.

NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
Scattered applause here for Clinton's comment about differences being
used for divisive purposes and the need to pass the Hate Crimes
legislation.

From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan
Applause here for Obama's response but nothing too strong.

From NBC's Andy Merten
The first laugh-line and major applause of the debate went to Biden, for his slam on Giuliani's foreign policy credentials.  "Rudy Giuliani doesn't know what the heck he's talking about; he's the most uniformed person in American foreign policy, and now running for president," he said while answering the question on sanctuary cities.  It seems like he formulated this quip during the Iran question regarding Giuliani's past comments on Tehran's nuclear capabilities, and couldn't wait to get a chance to use it when called on.

NBC's Athena Jones points out that at the Clinton party, People here are not paying much attention to the responses of other candidates, but they laughed at the crack Biden made about Giuliani's foreign policy experience.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Kucinich and Gravel were hit on their bankruptcies and did not answer well. Richardson on his gaffes: he at first, he looked a bit off kilter. Sayinig he's not the "blow-dried" candidate and his prepared answers on his experience were stronger. But is saying I'm going to continue to making mistakes going to resonate with people?

From NBC's Chuck Todd
Obama just got the "Roger Mudd" question; The why. "The why" is he running now when he said it would be an absurd notion three years ago. How did he do? He seemed to me to get stuck a bit in his windup. One wonders why he doesn't have the "experience" answer down in a crisper manner.

From NBC's Athena Jones
A whoop here for Edwards' promise to cut off health insurance coverage for members of Congress if they don't pass health care by July 2009.

From NBC/NJ's Tricia Miller
Dodd went over like a lead balloon in Leads. Gravel got a better response - laughter at fantasy land line, lots of applause at southern border line.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
Biden did a better job going after Clinton on the electability issue than Dodd and Biden wasn't even directly asked the question. He addressed the polarizing argument on Clinton in an apologetic way. Pretty clever of the Delaware senator.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
Fascinating decision by Clinton that she simply ignored the Iraq part of the question regarding judgment on her Iraq vote. She made it all about health care. That's called message discipline folks.

From NBC's Chuck Todd
Wow, it's interesting that Dodd didn't take the opportunity to take an electability shot at Clinton. Sounds like a candidate who's got cold feet going after the frontrunner. He had some clever lines, but this is New Hampshire, the voters expect a little fight.

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Clinton laughed again... twice when Dodd's criticism was brought up about saying he understands why Bush would pick Hillary Clinton.

Dodd did have a funny line... people are asking him, "Anderson Cooper, what's happened to you."

When pressed, Dodd backtracked on his line about Clinton, saying he was being "facetious."