40 minutes. Clinton takes a risk and appears to compliment President Bush on the current military effort in western Iraq. "If it is a possibility that al-Qaida would stay in Iraq, I think we need to stay focused on trying to keep them on the run as we currently are doing in Al Anbar province," she says. Nobody seems to notice.
46 minutes. Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd is feeling left out, so he unleashes a right-cross, left-jab combination on Obama, boring down on the Pakistan comments. "I think it is highly irresponsible of people who are running for the presidency and seek that office to suggest we may be willing unilaterally to invade a nation," he says. The MSNBC producers love it, and cut to a split screen so we can see Obama take the hits. He is stoic, with absolutely no facial expression, like a stone carving.
47 minutes. Obama ducks, returns with quick jabs, right, left, right. "I find it amusing that those who helped to authorize and engineer the biggest foreign policy disaster in our generation are now criticizing me," he says. "You obviously didn't read my speech." He explains that he would only attack Pakistan as a last resort to go after high-value al-Qaida targets that couldn't be reached otherwise.
48 minutes. Olbermann tries to bring Clinton into the fight. She obliges, effectively throwing Obama against the ropes. "I think it is a very big mistake to telegraph that," she says of bombing Pakistan. "You can think big, but remember you shouldn't always say everything you think if you're running for president, because it has consequences across the world." The Chicago crowd starts booing Clinton. They won't let her knock out their home-state senator.
49 minutes. This is getting exhausting. Dodd says that Obama is acting "dangerous." Obama says the American people have a right to debate foreign policy and politicians should not keep their thoughts secret. Olbermann hammers the bell. The round is over. Cut to commercial.
54 minutes. We're back. Olbermann starts talking about the victims of mine disasters, but it is hard to focus on him. Some guy in a bright green shirt, with a big gut and thinning hair, is standing up in the crowd, pointing at his chest, as if to say, "Hey! Look! I'm on TV. Yeah! I'm on TV. Look at me! Woo hoo!" No beer cups are visible in the audience, but a flask would be easy to hide.
61 minutes. There is a heartbreaking question from the audience. A man who walks with crutches talks about losing his pension and his family's health coverage because of a disability. His chin vibrates as he fights back the tears. "Every day of my life I sit at the kitchen table across from the woman who devoted 36 years of her life to my family and I can't afford to pay for her healthcare," he says. "What's wrong with America and what will you do to change it?" Nearly the whole stadium comes to its feet to cheer.
62 minutes. Edwards is clapping onstage, with his hands above his head. "Bless you, first of all, for what you've been through," he says. "You've a perfect example of exactly what's wrong with America, both on pension protection and on health care." Edwards goes on, talking about how workers should be treated like CEOs, about how America needs universal healthcare, and about all the picket lines he has walked. He goes way over time, and when Olbermann tries to cut him off, Edwards snaps, "Let me finish this." That air-conditioning thing appears to have been an empty threat.
68 minutes. Biden isn't done fighting. He accuses Edwards of coming late to the union cause. "For 34 years, I've walked with you in picket lines," he says to the crowd before turning to Edwards. "And the fact of the matter is, it's not where you've been the last two years. Where were you the six years you were in the Senate? ... The question is, did you walk when it cost? Did you walk when you were from a state that is not a labor state?"
71 minutes. Edwards responds, without directly addressing how much he supported unions when he served as a North Carolina senator. He points to the fact that he was on a picket line last Saturday and Sunday. "Every president of a union who is here today and their members here knows exactly where I have been," he says.
75 minutes. Clinton is trying to answer a question about education, but someone in the crowd is shouting something at her. She powers through. Olbermann wisely tries to go to break, but that guy with the green shirt is still behind him, doing his best impression of Homer Simpson, pointing now at his belly. The whole event is careening out of control.
80 minutes. We're back. Olbermann is speaking but all that matters is the guy in the green shirt. He's been making the touchdown sign. Then he turns around and points to his back. Something is written there, probably a union seal, but it's hard to see.
87 minutes. Obama punches himself in the nose. He is asked if he would honor Giants slugger Barry Bonds at the White House for beating Hank Aaron's lifetime home run record. Obama describes the question as an unanswerable hypothetical and then talks about cynicism in sports that comes from steroid use. "Was that a no, sir, or a yes?" Olbermann asks.
88 minutes. Obama looks confused. "He hasn't done it yet, so we will answer the question when it comes," the Illinois senator says. There is a safe, legalistic, "right" answer to the question, the one the commissioner of baseball, Bud Selig, is already hiding behind: You say everyone in America, including Bonds, is innocent until proven guilty, and then you stand but do not applaud. Obama, instead, drops the ball.
88 minutes. Another shot of Olbermann, another shot of the man in the green T-shirt, who has totally lost it.
95 minutes. Perhaps fearful that he has been making too much sense, Kucinich starts talking crazy. He says once he wins the presidency, Republicans will be so impressed that they will cede the 2012 elections. "I'm kind of the Seabiscuit of this campaign," he says. Whatever that means.
96 minutes. Finally, it's over. Olbermann gives the stats: "One stage, seven candidates and only 96 minutes." Then MSNBC's Chris Matthews sums up the whole thing quite well: "It wasn't an NFL football game, but it was pretty close."
About the writer
Michael Scherer is Salon's Washington correspondent. Read his other articles here.
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