10:14 PM ... Russert clearly had his agent call the bigwigs at NBC because now they're turning the questioning back to him.

10:16 PM ... Inside Tim's head: my ingenious question to throw anti-military Democrats on the defensive.

10:17 PM ... Inside Tim's head 2.0: I struck out with Hillary and Obama, I'll give it a crack with Edwards.

10:20 PM ... Inside Tim's head 3.0: I'm a very serious guy and I won't shy away from the toughest questions.

10:23 PM ... Russert cometh ... But somehow he's really off his game tonight. He keeps going into the questions with that checkmate relish. And then the candidate answers it without too much problem.

10:28 PM ... Inside Tim's head 4.0: Let me whip you upside the head with some facts, Edwards.

10:35 PM ... I'm starting to wonder if Russert really knows how to deal with answering questions when the producer and sound man doesn't work for him and the candidates have no respect for him. I think he's about 0 for 8 at this point.

10:38 PM ... Hillary points out to Russert that they should discuss race issues besides the inflammatory fun ones that Russert enjoys.

10:43 ... I think I may remember this debate as the one where the candidates refused to take Tim Russert seriously no matter how serious he tried to seem.