Clinton falters, Obama confused

Hillary Clinton faltered in last night's debate, and her opponents pounced.

John Edwards accused Clinton of dishonesty, saying voters "deserve a president of the United States that they know will tell them the truth, and won't say one thing one time and something different at a different time." She gave him ammunition against her during the debate itself, when she first defended driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, then said, "I did not say that it should be done."

Even Barack Obama said he was "confused" by Clinton's answer. Pundits have been telling Barack Obama to toughen up, and it seems he listened. He questioned the fact that she locked up her private papers in her husband's presidential library, and he called her secrecy a "problem:" "We have just gone through one of the most secretive administrations in our history." He said Clinton is part of the political gridlock his campaign is trying to break: "Part of the job of the next president is to break the gridlock and to get Democrats and independents and Republicans to start working together to solve these big problems like health care or climate change or energy."

Republican candidates Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani then joined the bashing. Mitt Romney said Clinton was "tap dancing so much that I thought I turned it to Dancing with the Stars." Rudy Giuliani was almost impressed: "By the end of the night, she took different positions in front of the same audience. It was pretty amazing. I mean, in politics I've never quite seen that before."

One candidate came to Clinton's rescue, however: Bill Richardson, who said Democrats should stay positive.