[Updated with links to everyone who was there]

About 400 600+ people filled the Roosevelt High School auditorium for tonight's Minnesota Senate Debate between Mike Ciresi, Jim Cohen, Al Franken and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. There was a bank of handheld movie cameras on tripods. The campaigns were filming, The Uptake (they two posts, here and here) was there and Al's Republican tracker. I sat next to blogger Eric Black (read his analysis here) and Star Tribune writer Patricia Lopez (article here). I'll link to everybody else's once they've posted it. Those two blonde guys from Norm Coleman's campaign I saw at the Vet's Rally were there, too. So were dozens of other DFLers I know.

Also, Mark Gisleson of Norwegianity was there and wrote about it. Furthermore, newcomer to the blogging scene DJ Danielson was there to and was the only one of us to liveblog.

The candidates didn't disappoint. They answered questions from the audience on all the major topics facing our state and nation: Iraq; healthcare; education; global warming; the economy; gay marriage; Iran; trade; choice.

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer is really fired up. Al Franken is droll, sardonic and talks slower, way slower than Jack. Mike Ciresi is the consumate, impassioned attorney. Jim Cohen is ever so slightly off in that he's wants to be an attorney like Mike but better, like Jack but better yet he can't attempt to be anything like Al.

Aside from Cohen at some moments, the candidates clearly made their points and displayed their strengths. While I must admit up front that I have endorsed Franken, I do not dislike Mike or Jack. If they beat Al, they'd be a good Senator.

Style

Al Franken has his killer lines which he delivers with aplomb. He allows them to settle before he moves on to the next point. When he's on his A-game, his points are incisive and illustrate that he'd make a great Senator. I thought he brought his A-game. Al frequently goes after Norm, but not his DFL opponents.

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer has a rapid deliver that barely leaves time for the audience to contemplate the previous point, because he's on to the next. While it makes it difficult for guys like me to keep up, his fierceness and clear understanding of the issues are commendable. He really riles up an audience, but he had a large group of vocal supporters there. I'd like to see him in front of a neutral audience. I think he'd be more in a teaching mode than rabble-rousing mode. Jack goes after Al on many issues: Iraq and nuclear power are foremost, but he's always looking to distinguish himself from Al. He took on Mike over several issues as well.

Mike Ciresi is Minnesota's most formidable attorney. His delivery is a notch below Jack for excitability, but he is still passionate. He is eloquent and I can visualize him destroying Norm Coleman in a debate. It was good for Mike that he wasn't sitting next to Jack tonight, but was sitting next to Jim. He sounded so reasonable when he followed Jim and candidates always sound good when they lead of a round of questions.

Jim Cohen wants to be just like the other candidates, but better. His style seems to me to be overly blustery. His attempts to claim that he's a better attorney than Mike Ciresi which just came off as goofy to me. Anyone can repeat Paul Wellstone quotes, but not sure what he offers that's either different or better than the other candidates. It's just odd.

Healthcare crisis

They all want universal healthcare. But they are different in what they want and how they view the problem. Jack wants a single payer system. Al wants a single payer system for kids and let each state determine how to provide universal care

to adults. He figures that once states begin seeing how well a single payer works, they'll begin switching to it. Mike wants a National Health Board that will oversee universal coverage. Jim wants single payer.

Al emphasized the negative effect healthcare has on our economy. 18% of our GNP goes to healthcare whereas no other country with universal care spends more than 11% and we still have 47 million uninsured.

Jack admonished Al that he's willing to give up the fight for a single payer system before the fight starts. He wants a progressive tax code. By eliminating a few tax breaks for the excessively wealthy, we can pay for it.

Mike plays up the fact that he understands the cost of healthcare because he sees how much it costs his firm. I don't see that he understands that the health insurance industry, HMOs and the pharmaceutical companies are the root of our problems. I feel that Jack and Al do.

Home foreclosure crisis

They all agree that the situation is horrible and I feel confident that they'd all do something about it. They all want to go after the predatory lenders.

Jack emphasizes that our country is unraveling. He thinks predatory lending is usuary and should be treated as a crime. Mike's explanation seemed overly technical. You may want to watch the vid on this one if you're particularly interested. He wants to 'securitize' mortgages to prevent as many foreclosures as possible and wants to 'calibrate' the relief to maximize its effect while minimizing the expense. Al explained it more simply: we need to renegotiate these people's loans and change the laws so that the predatory lenders go to prison.

US in Iraq until 2013

All four of them want us out of Iraq. How quickly is where they differ. They all want an international peace conference held.

Cohen seems to parrot the other's stances into something that he thinks sounds unique. He just sounds muddled to me.

Ciresi wants a phased withdrawal. He criticized other Democrats who voted for the war and allowed the occupation claiming that Congress didn't exercize its oversight. He criticized the press for forgetting its duties. He stated that he would fight for withdrawal like he fought the most powerful companies in the world.

Franken stated that we have a moral obligation to prevent a regional conflict. He emphasized that our only bargaining chip is a phased withdrawal and that we'd better use it.

Nelson-Pallmeyer told the audience that he advised Paul Wellstone on his Iraq vote. He's been proven right. He admonished Franken again that he should be less concerned about a regional crisis because the occupation caused the crisis. We need to target some of the resources that we were spending on the war effort to help the region recover. He also stated that the neocons do not intend to leave Iraq and that the Republicans have a clear plan for global domination that involves permanent bases in the Mideast.

Should there be a new 9/11 Commission

Mike said we ought to consider implementing the conclusions of the first 9/11 Commission first. He then returned to the Iraq issue and stated that we need to learn the lessons from Iraq and need to recognize that the US has withdrawn from diplomacy.

Al said that many people believe that 9/11 was an inside job. While he doesn't agree with that, we ought to have one because so much wasn't covered by the Commission. Bob Kerrey (who was recently in town for a Vets for Franken Rally, I interviewed him here) claims that even the 9/11 Commission doesn't know the full story. They were not allowed to interview Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind. They and the FBI were allowed to submit questions to the CIA who decided if they were going to allow the questions to be posed to Mohammed.

Jack drove the crowd nuts by raising the point that since the Bush Administration used 9/11 so shamelessly to get us into Iraq, how can impeachment not be on the table.

Aside from Al, none of them really answered this question.

Global warming

This is the one thing that they agree is a problem and about which something needs to be done very soon. But this is also the issue that really caused the sparks to fly between the candidates.

Al emphasized that they all agree that this is immensely important and action needs to happen immediately. He thinks this is very exciting, too, because of the opportunities for renewable energy, building wind turbines in MN and even electric cars at the Ford plant.

Jack stated that this is the reason he's running. He went after Al and Mike by saying to not confuse words with actions. He's the only candidate to endorse the 1 Sky Initiative. He further admonished Al for supporting nuclear power.

Mike talked about how this is a national security issue, it's about jobs and we need to tax oil, gas and non-renewables while providing tax cuts for renewable energy.

Stimulating manufacturing jobs

Jack wants a domestic Marshall Plan. They all agree that free trade pacts are killing this country. They all want labor and environmental standards included in trade deals.

Al said one thing that while initially sounding like a bad idea, might make a difference. He suggested that we need to explore improving clean coal technology. This actually elicited a short boo from a guy behind me. However, he went on to explain that India and China are building coal plants at the combined rate of 1 per week. We ought to develop clean coal technology and sell it to them. That idea is not half bad.

Education and No Child Left Behind

All four want to scrap NCLB. Mike pointed out the fallacy behind NCLB which is it assumes that all children start from the same point. There is a big difference between being raised in a wealthy suburb and a poor urban environment. Al asked that when he got to the Senate he'd ask for someone to explain to him what an unfunded mandate was. This illicited some chuckles from the crowd. Jack shot back that nobody needed to explain that to him. Sigh. It was a joke, Jack. He did go on to make the salient point that 57 cents out of every dollar goes to the military whilst only 4 cents goes to education.

Iran

They all think that attacking Iran is a horrible, awful and bad idea but they all phrase it differently. They all call for an international peace conference. Al mentions that he thinks its scary that Iran might gain a nuclear weapon. He also states that he thinks it is insane for us to attack them. We need to use sanctions. He further mentioned that Russia likes the instability because it helps their oil exports. Jack hit back at Al once again stating just because its insane didn't prevent us from invading Iraq. The Bush Administration paved the way for attacking Iraq the same way they're trying to pave the way to Iran. He furthermore stated that the Administration has secret plans to destabilize Iran. Even the opposition in Iran are pleading with the US to stop ramping up the rhetoric. This rhetoric and the threat of bombing Iran are only strengthening the Ayatollahs.

Gay Marriage

The question was more complex than the response. Would you support a) full marriage, b) civil unions, c) domestic partnership or d) no recognition. They are all for gay marriages. Their responses were enlightening about what kind of candidates they are:

Al thought that marriage was the best thing to ever happen to him. Why shouldn't same sex couples have the same opportunity. He said he ran into Newt recently and asked him about it. Wouldn't you think that the staying together through thick and thin just like in your first marriage would be good for gay couples? Or don't you think that the bonds of fidelity you had in your second marriage would be good for any GLBT couple? Or what about your third ...?

Jack emphasized that he was certain that the Republicans would run away from their record and attack with gay marriage, terror and immigration.

Mike talked about how the fight ought to be against descrimination of any kind. He supported the ENDA bill, Employee Non-Descrimination Act that was killed in the Senate. He also talked about when he learned what WOP meant when he was a kid ... With Out Passport. Illegal immigration has been an issue in this country for generations. He thinks its mighty ironic that a country of immigrants would have such backward immigration laws.

Pro-Choice?

They are all pro-choice and strongly support a woman's right to choose.

Jack mentioned that in Nicaragua, the 2nd killer of child-bearing age women was illegal abortions. Bush's first act as President was to cut family planning funding at the UN. Finally he mentioned that population growth is always attributable to the disempowerment of women.

Mike mentioned that he was the only candidate to be picketed in the 2000 race. He's tired of Republicans who claim that they want government out of people's lives to be telling us who we can marry, what a woman can do with her own body, etc., etc.

Al just said "safe, legal and rare." He made his point he always makes about how the Bush Administration is anti-science. After stopping funding of family planning and starting their abstinence programs, they prevented the NIH from studying the program and then modified the Surgeon Generals report on it. He thinks that being anti-science is not conservative, but wrong.