Same as last time, I missed the debate, but I'm reading the transcript and will post my belated play-by-play as I read it. However, I'm really pressed for time right now with school and work, so this will be my only post of the day. Tune in tomorrow for more.

Since you know I'm a Dean supporter, I'm sure you've surmised that I'm as pleased as a pig in poop that Al Gore has endorsed Dean. Is Al making a play for 2008? I doubt it -- why would he get in Hillary Clinton's way? What the endorement does say is that Al Gore knows he screwed up -- he screwed up with his platform, he screwed up by distancing himself from Clinton, he screwed up by picking Joe Lieberman as his running mate. Even if he did get 500,000 more votes than George Bush*, we have the electoral college for a reason. Gore could have -- and should have -- won handily by a good margin.

With this endoresement, it's now like a high school love triangle. Picture a young, small, awkward Joe Lieberman leaning against his locker, loosely clutching is backpack and sobbing because smart, popular Al Gore dumped him for a more popular, better looking bad boy who lets Al call him "Howie." (Joe will still probably get all of his homework done.)

It's all so trite, so for Heaven's sake (and for our country's sake), can't the Democrats leave it in the locker room? Debates are about political issues and giving Americans an opportunity to compare candidates. Ted Koppel baits everybody and starts the debate with discussion about the endorsement. No one raised their hand saying that Howard Dean could beat Bush, which was the wrong thing to do. Every one of them should have raised their hands, and the first person whose mouth opened should have said, "Anyone on this stage can beat George Bush because George Bush is an asshole." It's not true, but it would have helped show America that the Democrats are still united in unseating the misleader of the free world.

Most people used the opportunity to go into a stump speech, Al Sharpton said something about bossism that made no sense, and Carol Moseley Braun avoided the whole issue by eulogizing the late, great Paul Simon.

Only Dennis Kucinich had the balls to really stick it to Ted Koppel:

To begin this kind of a forum with a question about an endorsement, no matter by who, I think actually trivializes the issues that are before us.

(APPLAUSE)

For example, at this moment there are 130,000 troops in Iraq. I mean, I would like to hear you ask during this event what's the plan for getting out. This war is not over. I have a plan, which is on my Web site at kucinich.us, to get the United States out of Iraq.

I want to talk about that tonight, and I hope we have a substantive discussion tonight and that we're not going to spend the night talking about endorsements.

Kucinich may be a small guy, but he's got a huge pair. Of course, Ted Koppel ignored Kucinich's plea, turned to Dean, and continued to discuss the endorsement. (In fact, as Atrios points out, it took 19 questions before they ever discussed issues.)

Dean wrapped a logically sound low blow in an I'm-taking-the-high-road veneer:

First of all, I think John Edwards is right, the people will decide, not Al Gore or anybody else.

Sorry to interject, but Dean does that a lot in the debates -- agreeing with someone else on the stage. It's a good play because (1) it's true that he does agree with the statement, and (2) it makes the other guys look petty. Then he went into his stump speech -- you know he had one prepared for this very issue, and it's a doozy:

Secondly, I'm going to give an invitation which I have not yet given, but I am going to do it now. If you guys are upset that Al Gore is endorsing me, attack me, don't attack Al Gore.

Al Gore worked too hard in 2000 to lose that election, when he really didn't lose the election. He got 500,000 votes more than George Bush. And I don't think he deserves to be attacked by anybody up here. He doesn't -- he's not a boss.

(APPLAUSE)

He's a fundamentally decent human being. We share a lot of values. We both believe that this earth is in environmental crisis because of what George Bush is doing.

We both believe that middle-class people in America ought to be able to send their kids to college and get some help.

We both believe that 3 millions jobs lost is 3 million too many. And under the Clinton-Gore record, we had a whole lot better economy than we do right now.

We both believe that the Bush tax cuts are grossly irresponsible and they ought to be reversed.

We both believe the war in Iraq was put forward on the American people unjustly because we were not told the truth about why we're there.

And I think Al Gore deserves credit for being the kind of moral leader in this country that we have lost since the last election.

Touché. See what Dean did there? Mathematically, he deflected everything:

G = Former Vice President Al Gore
D = Former Vermont Governor and Presidential Candidate Howard Dean
A = The rate at which a political figure should receive attacks

Given: GA = 0
Assertion: G = D
Conclusion: GD = 0

He may not have all of the sappy charisma that Clinton has, but Howard Dean and his team are deft logicians.

*As for the Florida issue, which Dean did mention, too, the Democrats need to drop it. Stop talking about Florida. Yes, it sucked ass, and much of what happened in Florida was absolutely wrong. The issue of Florida should be legitimately discussed, and when Dean is president (yeah, I said it) it should be investigated by an independent council. Until then, however, any discussion will be easily spun by Republicans as whining. Please, Democrats, for the time being, drop it.