Last night’s Democratic debate in Philadelphia could have been called the “Why Hillary Clinton Should Never Be President Debate” with Barack Obama and John Edwards (but especially Edwards), realizing that it’s now or never, coming down hard on the frontrunner whenever possible. Which, it seems, was almost every time they had the opportunity to speak.

Mrs. Clinton was attacked for not offering specific plans on what she might do with Social Security. She was challenged for voting to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a foreign terrorist organization. She was assailed at one moment as being disingenuous, the next as a symbol of tired Washington establishment and the next for being unelectable.

At one point, she appeared to say she supported an attempt by Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, a plan he abandoned in the face of fierce opposition. A moment later she backed off, leading her opponents to denounce her again for obfuscating.

Prior to the debate, Obama gave a semi-warning that it was time to start challenging Clinton and highlighting her weaknesses more aggressively. As one has come to expect from Obama, he only semi-lived up to his semi-warning. Instead, it was nice-guy Edwards who really tried to break Clinton down whenever she spoke.

According to the NYT:

Mrs. Clinton smiled far less frequently than she had in earlier debates, often looking grim as she turned her head from Mr. Edwards to her right to Mr. Obama on her left. “I need to rebut that,” she said at one point. “I don’t know where to start.”

Her campaign just got a little more difficult.

[NYT]