Before I watch or listen to any of the pundants and get “spun” here are my initial thoughts on all nine candidates in the debate. This is NOT about how much I agree or disagree with any of them, or who I might consider voting for if I were to vote in the Democratic primary (which I will not, I am a vehement independant). These are just my short summary thoughts on the impressions they left after the debate:

Here are my overall thoughts of all nine:

Mosely-Brown: Came off as a nice lady, but too mushy to be president. Not of any substance or weight.

Kucinich: What a joker. Get him off the stage. He has no grip on reality at all.

Kerry & Gephardt: Almost like twins. Both came off as pompus blowhard assholes.

Sharpton: Was fun to watch. Not a serious candidate in the end, but came off like he thought he was, not like a joke. Made some good points where others were afraid to go. Not having watched the last debate yet, he came off a lot better than I expected.

Clark: Took a couple hits, did not rebutt them well, did not bring anything new to the table, or show anything of his own. He didn’t do anything horribly bad, but gave absolutely nothing on the positive side to speak for him. He didn’t seem really comfortable with himself either.

Leiberman: Personable and serious. Knew what he was talking about. Seemed to have weight behind him. Was a little whiny and annoying, but not too bad. Did not quite pull off the “presidential” vibe, but I’d say he came in 3rd.

Dean: Came off second best behind Edwards. Came off serious and presidential for the most part. Knew what he was talking about. Was sure of himself. But he came off a little, um, I dunno… twitchy… So I don’t think he did quite as well as Edwards, but between them it was close.

Edwards: Best of the bunch I think in terms of performance. Was sure of himself. Knew what his message was. Serious and presidential. And also likable. I’m surprised actually. Hadn’t spent much time looking at Edwards before. I’ll pay a little more attention to him now.

Anyway, the only two of them that left me with a really solid and positive impression where Dean and Edwards. I got very negative impressions from Kucinich, Gephardt and Kerry. The rest were just neutral.

Now, again, this is soley based on how they came off in the debate to me. An evaluation of the actual issues and their positions on them is a completely seperate exercise which I have not looked at in the slightest yet.

[Edited to fix problem pointed out by mithras in the comments.]