There’s a moment to remember fallen soldiers from the Citadel.

Q: How do we pull out now? Isn’t it our responsibility to get these people on their feet?

Obama: I opposed this war from the start. I anticipated that we would create these kinds of problems. We have to send a clear message to Iraqi govenrment and neighbors that there is no military solution. He takes an easy shot at the Iraqi government, saying it’s hot for our troops too. We need a diplomatic surge.

Biden: You know we can’t pull out now. If we started today, it would take one year to get 160,000 troops out of Iraq. I’ve offered a political solution and decentralized government. Everybody’s quoting the legislation that I offered in January. Tell the truth for a change.

Q: In 2006, Democrats had a mandate to end Iraq. How many more soldiers must die? Is it because the Democrats fear that blame for the war’s loss will be put on them by Republican spin machine?

Hillary: Thank you for your sacrifice. When we send a soldier to Iraq, we really send a family. I happen to agree that there is no miltiary solution and that the Iraqis refuse to consider the political solution. I was accused by the Pentagon of not being patriotic. We’re not getting. It’s time for Republicans to join us to stand up to the President to bring our troops home.

Kucinich: Yes, it is politics. The Democrats have failed the American people. We appropriated funds for the war.

Dodd: We need to set a timeline. We’ve lost our moral authority.

Richardson: There’s a big difference between me and the senators. The lives of our troops are more important that George Bush’s legacy. We should bring all the troops home in six months. No residual forces. This war is a quagmire.

Q: Do you stand by the statement that our troops

Gravel: Why would you think I would flip-flop? I like the question. I don’t get too many of them. Has it [the debate] been fair this far? It’s a setup quesiton. Our soldiers died in Vietnam in vein! You can go to Hanoi and get a Baskin-Robbins ice cream cone. There’s only one thing worse that soldiers dying in vain, and that’s more soldiers dying in vein.

Obama: Our soldiers have done everything that’s been asked of them. I think the Pentagon response to Hillary . The time to ask how we were going to get out of Iraq was before we went in.

FINALLY he takes a real shot at her.

He says he does not believe any soldier has died in vain.

Edwards: I don’t think any of our troops die in vain when they do the duty that the commander in chief goes.

[Interrupted to take a phone call from Mrs. Campaignspot.]

Q: Should women register for selective service? Dodd says yes. Hillary, too, thinks women should register for selective service. Talks about need for public service academies based on the military academies.

Obama: Cites ceremony for Tuskeegee Airmen. If women are registered for service, not necessarily combat, it would send a great message.

Edwards: A woman who flew fighter jets is sitting next to my wife . Women can serve honorably and admirably.

Gravel: I filibustered for five months to end the draft. Of course women should register also. What’s the difference?

Q: Arab states see women as second-class citizens. How would you be taken seriously by these states in any negotiations?

Hillary: Thank you for your service. I was privileged to represent our country as first lady. I met with many Arab leaders, many Kings, many Sheiks. I believe that there isn’t much doubt in anybody’s mind that I should be taken seriously. Women have served as leaders in many countries.

Q: Would you meet with leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea?

Obama: I would. The idea that not talking to a country is a punishment is rediculous. Reagan and JFK met with Soviet Union. It is a disgrace that we have not met with them.

Hillary: I will not promise to meet with these leaders during my first year. It is not that you promise a meeting at that high level before you know what their intentions are. I would enage in vigorous diplomacy. I would use high-level presidential envoys.

Edwards: Yes, I would meet with them, but Hillary is right, before that meeting is occurs, we have to do diplomacy.

Q: When will all troops be out of Iraq?

Dodd: I proposed April of next year.

Richardson: I’m trying to provoke a debate. There’s a difference. Six months, and no residual forces. Hillary wants maybe 50,000 residual forces. The diplomatic work cannot begin until our troops leave, because they have become a target.

Biden: There’s not a single military man who will tell this governor that he can get the troops out in six months. And you had better have helicopters to get out those 3,000 civilians inside the green zone – where I’ve been seven times and shot at… my opponents voted against an appropriations bill that included bomb-proofing vehicles. How can you vote against that with troops still in Iraq?

Wow. He beats the tar out of the rest of the field.

Hillary: We can move a brigade a month. We want to do so safely and carefully. It’s going to be complicated and we need to start it now.

Kucinich: Text me. I introduced a plan four years ago.

Q: Who is your favorite teacher and why?

Gravel: A priest who discovered I was dyslexic. He taught me how to speak. And that’s the little chance I get to use it today.

Obama: Mrs. Hefty, it sounds like. I’m skipping this question, it’s such a softball.

We get a follow-up with an awful, inaudible song parody about No Child Left Behind.

Richardson: Scrap it, it doesn’t work. (applause)

Biden: It was a mistake. I had great faith in Ted Kennedy. I suppose you could make a major overhaul, but I would just scrap it and start over… It’s just not working.

Q: Do you send your kids to public school or private school?

Edwards: All my kids went to public school.

Hillary: Chelsea went to public schools from kindergarten to eighth grade. I sent her to a private school to keep her away from the press.

Missed Obama, I think he gave an excuse for private school.

Biden: Private school. My sister was head of history department. Important to me that my kids go to Catholic school. Mentions loss of wife and daughter.

Gravel: Both. We need competition in our system of education.

Dodd: Public school, preschool kindergarten.

Edwards: Elizabeth likes to say she was made a member of AARP when she was pregnant with Jack. Yes, we told our look for the signs of wrong touching, inappropriate touching, sexual abuse.

Obama: Ironically, this was actually a proposal he said he supported when he was running for governor [referring to Romney]. Apparently he forgot. I’ve talked to my 9 year old daughter. Important for children to be aware of sexual predators.

Two refugees from the Red Green show offer some bizarre question about Al Gore and Tennessee… and then we get a snowman Mr. Bill. Hey, this totally refutes the argument that this was going to be a freakshow.

Kucinich: Global warring is a reflection of our reliance on oil. Snowmen shouldn’t be melting, and neither should the planet.