I finally sat down and watched CNN’s Rock the Vote debate coverage from last week. I’d read about most of the interesting moments, but I sat through it anyway. First, Anderson Cooper was much more interesting hosting ABC’s “The Mole” three years ago. He’s not very good in live, unscripted settings. He’s also not hip or cool. I do believe at one point he said, “We’re rocking the vote pretty darn hard.” Huh?

Nothing terribly new form the candidates. Dean continues to backpedal after his foolish remarks about the Confederate flag. Kerry and Lieberman both come off reminding me of Michael Dukakis. Sharpton remains the best soundbite of all the candidates. Edwards continues to impress me with his smooth delivery and charisma. Kucinich reminds me of a high school guidance counselor who really wanted to be principal but wasn’t a golf buddy with the influential members of the school board, so he didn’t get the big office. Carol Mosley-Braun sounds good, looks good, but needs to be more aggressive.

In the wake of the event, it’s being reported by the LA Times (via Captain Ed) that at least on of the so-called spontaneous questions from the audience was actually planted by CNN. I wish they had done a better job, because asking, “PC or Mac?” came off like a question that weird kid in third grade would ask you on the playground.