Final tally

I'll probably revisit this tomorrow; but here's my impressions using the mechanism of the stock ticker.

John Edwards ↑0.05 - Edwards did good but suffers from the fact that I already am impressed by him. Unfair I know. But since I am already impressed by him, it's hard for him to go up too far. And his actual plan for Iraq lacked some of the details other candidates gave.

Joe Biden ↑0.10 - Biden went up a bit for his answer on what we need to do in Iraq; but he lost points for lack of enthusiasm and for laying it on a bit thick at the end.

Dennis Kucinich ↓0.05 - Again Kucinich lost points for laying it on thick. I know it's his big selling point that he's the only guy who was right in Iraq, but you need more than that. And I still find some of his plans a bit difficult to swallow.

Bill Richardson ↑0.20 - I'm going to admit that Richardson benefited from me not having a lot of background information on him. I've read a few profiles, but didn't have a strong feel for the guy; now I do. And my feel is generally positive.

Hillary Clinton ↑0.05 - This is actually a bigger deal for Clinton - I expected a polished performance, but I have a generally negative view of her. So she did good in my opinion. However, that's not to say that she convinced me; just that she made a good, if not convincing, case for her point of view.

Chris Dodd ↓0.05 - Dodd might have benefited from the same bounce Richardson got, but unfortunately he failed to leave an impression. I didn't know much about Dodd before his presentation and i don't have much incentive to learn more.

Barack Obama ↑0.20 - He did very well, and for my money did the best of the lot. He ties with Richardson because, again, I expect a lot out of him. But he delivered.

None of these numbers should be mistaken for my total opinion of these candidates incidentally.