Likability Contest Winner:

Barack Obama, by miles.
I do not watch debates. They make me feel embarrassed for all of us. But I did watch the golden nuggets that CNN showed this morning (as I was happily sauntering on the treadmill). And boy, let me tell you, Obama may or may not have enough experience, but he seems more mature and so much more cool than Hills.
She chose to go for low blows and got booed by the audience in response. That Xerox comment comes from a sore loser, not a person who should be poised to be a dignified head of state. Meanwhile, he knew exactly what to say and how to say it. Her comment about the Iraq wounded may have come from the heart, but it did not sound so. It sounded like a sound bite that her staff told her to say. And that is the problem. She really cannot communicate in a sincere manner, at least to me.
When asked about Cuba, again, as far as I'm concerned, wrong answer. Pandering to the Cubans in Miami, answering the musty politics-as-usual bullshit, she said she would not speak with the new Cuban leader until there was evidence of change. Meanwhile, Obama, smartly, as far as I'm concerned, said, I would speak to them because not speaking is that classic thing in which we always appear to be imposing our standards on other nations, always the superior attitude (I'm wildly paraphrasing, but something to that effect). I think he trounced her. He seemed to sound like he is above petty politics (silly season, he called it) and she sounded petty and desperate.
Please do not give me that "if she wasn't a woman you wouldn't be saying that" routine.
Yesterday she did not help her own cause. Period.
I have never understood the strategy of personal attacks in American politics. They are in general, petty, embarrassing and childish and I would suggest, as Obama did, they concentrate on the issues. Nobody wants a pissing contest at this point. For that we can watch Jerry Springer reruns.
She may win Texas, I doubt she will win Ohio, and again, given the choice between her and McCain, I will vote for her. But my choice is Obama.