Edwards Conference Call

Apparently, the people of NH and Iowa have "responded well" and given a "great response" to Edwards since his debate performance Sunday. Seriously, anyone who picked "respond/response" for their conference call drinking game word (really, the only way to get through them) is totally lit by now.

A favorite moment came when Joe Trippi was asked about his exchange with Mark "cocaine use" Penn. He reiterated that he'd call out that kind of behavior anytime he saw it and "the fact that they're [the Clinton campaign] still doing it makes you wonder.... aw, I don't want to get into it." Touche.

Other good news that they rolled out for Edwards included anecdotes about new volunteers walking in after the Thursday debate and -- "this question is for Trippi" -- an increase of web traffic on their site coming from Iowa, a statement shored up by this endearingly hyper-specific detail: "Visitors to the Edwards web site from Iowa spend 26 percent more time there than non-Iowans."

They press team on the call repeatedly slammed journalists and pundits who complained about the format of the last debate, asserting that the bare-bones, no-sparks debate gave Iowans the chance to analyze candidates on their own terms. And John Edwards generated a great response.