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Marc Ambinder

Marc Ambinder - Marc Ambinder is the White House correspondent for National Journal and a contributing editor at The Atlantic. More

Marc Ambinder is the White House correspondent for National Journal. He previously served as the politics editor, and is now a contributing editor, for The Atlantic, where he curated the influential Politics channel on TheAtlantic.com and contributed to the magazine. He was also a chief political consultant to CBS News. Earlier, at NJ's Hotline, Ambinder was the founding editor of "Hotline On Call," a pathbreaking political news blog. He also worked as a producer and reporter for the ABC News Political Unit and was one of the founders of ABC's "The Note." Born in New York City, raised in Central Florida, Ambinder is a 2001 graduate of Harvard and lives in Washington, D.C.

The Dem Debate: Part I

By Marc Ambinder
Feb 21 2008, 8:06 PM ET Comment

Campbell Brown says Obama's position today is different from a few years ago. Obama says it's not.

Obama: "The starting point for our policy in Cuba should be the liberty for the Cuban people." (Sounds the same as what HRC thinks.) But he says "it's important for the United States to talk to its friends...[as well as] its enemy."

Clinton: "would be ready to reach out and work with a new Cuban government so long as it demonstrated that it truly was ready to change that direction" (she means democracy.) "There has to be evidence" that "the changes are real." She "would not meet with" Raul Castro "until there was evidence that change was happening."

We're 15 minutes into a 90 minute debate and there's only been one question.

Obama: Ok, a segue into his campaign message: good ideas go to die in DC.

Obama: A much broader intro, but light on the whiffy-piffy stuff and heavy on the "I feel your pain" stuff. Mentions his "detailed proposals" for dealing with problems.

HRC: the campaign is about "you" -- and about your material concerns.

HRC's voice seems hoarse; Obama has a cold. Campaigning is hard.

Hillary Clinton opens with her ties to Texas; she lived there; she learned from Barbara Jordan and Ann Richards. Lots of crowd applause. Serves to remind Texans that HRC has some roots in the state.

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Marc Ambinder
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