So I’m suspending blogging for the afternoon, but will be back between 8:00-8:30 EDT for a preview of the debate, to be followed by live-blogging and then some analysis. Please feel free to use the comment thread here to make your own observations and predications about the debate.

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Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.