On a scale of 1 to 10

Lewis also answers the question, and I give him a "3" as well. Disappointing. This is not an issue where you get to say "We're still looking at it."

Elaine Marshall, on the other hand, has what I consider the most effective answer among the three. I give her a 7.

Cal was the worst on substance and style. I give him a 2.

Ken was slightly better on both, but not much. He gets a 3.

Elaine was better than the other two candidates (and most other politicians on a clip). She gets an 8 on this one.

And it's not just the position they take. Could you hear how much better prepared the Secretary of State was in answering the question compared to the two lawyers? This wasn't some out of the blue question. It's a basic one.

That surprises me a little for Cal and Ken.

If either of them are to be the nominee, they've got to do better giving a two minute answer to a reporter on a basic question.

This round goes to Elaine.

Got another?

on a scale where "1 means "full of crap political double talk" all about a 6. I didn't feel like any of them went into a lot of specifics on what they were going to do about the situation, but I still felt they were fairly straight forward. From Cal I heard support of the president's build capacity/start pulling out in 2011 timetable plan, from Kenneth I heard that he is still weighing the issue, and from Elaine I heard that she opposes the presidents plan.

It is good to see the distinctions between the candidate, some maybe holding positions we disagree with, but I don't feel like I was intentionally mislead or confused by any of their statements, and I have a clearer understanding now of where both Cal and Elaine stand on the surge/2011 timetable issue, and I hope to hear more from Kenneth soon.

Obviously in terms of grasp of the issues, Lewis gets the lowest mark. He seems completely in over his head. Marshall is slightly better, but there's still not much meat in her answer. Cunningham probably rates highest, if only because he seems to understand what a counterinsurgency strategy is and what the President wants to do.

Marshall didn't do herself any favors with her statements; I don't think this is going to be what takes her ahead of Cunningham in the primary. Progressives are not a significant voting population in North Carolina and we tend not to agree on candidates, so even if we were a greater portion of the population than we are, it wouldn't make that much difference at this stage. But Marshall could still beat Cunningham if she is aggressive in the primary. He is probably going to have to run two or three ads for every one of hers.