Regarding Gwen Ifill. . .

. . .I think she did one of the best jobs of moderating a debate that I've seen since I've been watching them. She was even-handed and authoritative, whether rebuffing Cheney's appeal for more time to address the distortions that Edwards threw at him, or chiding Edwards for not answering the question on Israel.

I think the chiding of Edwards was precipitated by the comments he made regarding Cheney's record of voting against the MLK holiday, Nelson Mandela, etc.

I got the impression immediately that his pandering really hit her wrong. The way he pleaded with her, expecting some sort of Pavlovian response to the words "against" "MLK" and "Mandela" in the same sentence just struck me as a shameless attempt to draw Ifill into the debate.

When she pointed out that he hadn't said much about Israel in his answer, to me, it seemed she was saying, "Listen here, young man. You're not going to get me off my game with some cheap emotional appeal. Now, go sit in the corner and don't say a word until I tell you so."

The sheepish laughter and fingerpointing Edwards displayed after being grabbed by the ear said it all.