This is a really telling discussion captured by TPM at this afternoon's Yearly Kos meeting with 7 of the 8 Democratic Candidates. Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post's The Fix calls this exchange a situation where
Clinton got caught between a rock (Edwards) and a hard place (Obama) on accepting campaign donations from lobbyists. Under fire from her main opponents -- one of whom was sitting on each side of her -- Clinton said: "A lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans." (She went on to names nurses and social workers as examples of "real Americans" who employ lobbyists.) Expect that line to be featured in some of her opponents' direct mail or even television commercials down the line.Cillizza has the high and low points of the performances of all the candidates. Notice the argument Chris Dodd makes for public campaign financing, and the shot Dennis Kucinich takes at John Edwards.
No wonder things have been slow around here all day. All the action has been in Chicago.
