The Note's Sneak Peek

June 27, 2007— -- As Democrats prepare for Thursday's debate, it's easy to understand how Jack Germond and Jules Witcover must have felt when they penned "Wake Us When It's Over". LINK

How many times, after all, can you listen to Joe Biden warn that the next president will have "no margin for error"?

But the 25 days since the Democrats last debated have been eventful ones.

We've seen Richard Lugar split from the president on the war, Rahm Emanuel move to defund the "fourth branch," and the partial gutting of McCain-Feingold.

Before long, we will also have a Supreme Court decision as to whether schools can no longer consider a student's race in making school assignments. LINK

Beyond those developments, we've also seen new storylines emerge among the Democrats who hope to topple Hillary Clinton.

When we last saw Bill Richardson on stage, the rap on him was that he was trying out for vice president. But when he showed up at the "Take Back America" conference, he threw the sharpest elbows. He didn't just voice his opposition to residual forces in Iraq, he started going after Clinton, Obama, and even Edwards by name on the subject. Watch the video: LINK

When we last saw John Edwards on stage, he was all about courage and conviction. But since then, he has started to ask Democrats to start making a calculation: a calculation about whether he, who happens to be a white southern male, would be more electable than candidates Clinton and Obama. Watch the video of him touting his ability to go "anywhere in America" while talking to AFSCME: LINK

When we last saw Barack Obama on stage, he was all about a new kind of politics. But since then, his response to the D-Punjab flap has opened him up to the accusation that he is less about turning the page and more about pointing the finger. LINK

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Thursday's 90-minute Democratic debate, which gets underway at 9:00 pm ET, is taking place at Howard University, an historically black university "reared against the eastern sky, proudly there on Hilltop high."