In the New Hampshire debate on ABC Saturday night, it was funny to see the Republicans all gang up on Romney, and in the second half with the Democrat candidates, all the Dems ganged up on Hillary Clinton. Even though neither one is the front-runner, in either Iowa or New Hampshire right now.

Of all the debates so far, I felt this one was most interesting when the Democrats were onstage. I have to say, I gained a bit more respect, both personally and professionally, for Obama, Edwards, Richardson, and Hillary Clinton. All of them spoke with a broad macro-picture of the major issues facing the country, whether or not I agreed with their answers completely.

I felt it got more into what they actually beleive, and what they answered from their gut, rather than a rehearsed P.C. answer to the questions raised. And perhaps because there were only 4 of them, each was more able to better get their point across. The sniping was clever and funny too.

Although Obama isn't my man, he does seem to have the optimistic vision for the future of the nation, that I felt Clinton had when he was elected in 1992. Oddly, Hillary has the "building a bridge to the future" guy (Bill) on her team, but can't seem to project a future vision for her campaign. A few months ago, I posted how a Democrat strategist summed up Hillary's message as "building a bridge to the past", and while she was in the lead, she didn't deviate from that strategy.

Now that she sees it's working for Obama she'll likely shift her image more in that direction, toward a more poll-friendly future-vision.

That's also what's feuling the rise of Huckabee and McCain on the Republican side.