Well the big event is here... the Presidential Dispatch.  

I'm going to live blog it... and after that I'll give some more great swag & trend updates, like I did in yesterday's blog (you can find it here).   

Follow me after the flip... and if you're live blogging it too & on your laptop, or watching from home, just drop a note in the commentz. 

Update 1:   From left to right:

Gravel, Richardson, Dodd, Edwards, Clinton, Obama, Kucinich.  Or as I'll be calling them in the rest of this post: 

 Gravelie, Richie, Doddie, Johnny, Hill, 0bamarama & Dennis. 

The crowd here is rowdy and ready to go.  We're wooping, hollaring, hissing, and stomping our feat.  This is Candidates Gone Wild:  Blogger Style.  

Update 2:  Go 08'AMA - It's UR Birthday!
Today is Barack's birthday, so they're letting him get a little extra time on the questions. We'll see how that goes.   

Update 3:  Richardson gets pssssd
 "it's great that you're making these speeches" he says... then calls for a constitutional amendment to balance the budget.  The crowd, not surprisingly, didn't take too well to the idea.  They psssd, shhhhd, and hssssed at him.  But hey, at least he called it how he saw it.  As a gov'ner of a pretty big state, he's got some serious budget cred.  Only about 20 seconds later he got a big applause. 

Update 4:   Edwards Throws it Down... Bloggers Stand Up!

Edwards calls out and thanks Obama for, like him, not taking $$$ from washington lobbyist.  Then he lays down a challenge, how about we all agree right now not to take their $$$??!  

The crowd goes wild.  Cheering, full standing ovation. Biggest applause line yet.  

PART I of the debate (domestic issues) comes to a close.  

PART I time summary:  

-1 minute each to:  Gravel, Dodd, Kucinich, Obama.  2 minutes each: Edwards, Hillary, Richardson.  5 minutes each:  moderators asking questions, bloggers applauding, standing, cheering, and whooping.  

-----------------------------

PART II:   

• Dennis throws Dick under the bus.  He gives us the red meat & the crowd and we takes it.  "As for Cheney, he should be impeached for lying to the American people"  Not as big as the Edwards applause, but pretty big.  I guess nobody like Dick.  

• Nobody likes Bush either  "there is a lot of anti-bush feeling in world... but it's more anti bush than anti american" - Hillary. 
  

well, as you may have noticed, the updates stop about half way through.  Many apologies.  My laptop decided it did not want to be awake any longer.  Something about battery power, I don't know. 

 Thanks for reading anyway, and as you could probably tell, the forum was one-of-a-kind, candid, amazing, and totally worthwhile.  YouTube it if possible, you won't be disappointed.