In order of best to worst:

• Joe Biden - Not actually a factor in the presidential race (Veep’s a different story), but he still had a great night in Vegas. Perhaps he got lucky on the slots, but he was in a super mood and became and easy fan favorite with his quick wit and sudden penchant for short-but-sweet answers to any question. Is this really Joe Biden? Pushed too hard in rattling off his foreign policy resume. But, after all, he probably deserves some time to flaunt his amazing record.

• Hillary Clinton - Made the press stop talking about her “stumbling” campaign with a solid performance. Part of that is because of bad nights for her rivals and part of that is actually due to HRC. Didn’t provide any cringeworthy sound bites when she did waver and dodge a few Q’s - unlike Philly. Was somehow able to take serious shots at Edwards and Obama without coming across as super-negative. She did enough to stop any perceived slide, but now it’s up to the polls to tell us if it really worked.

• Bill Richardson - We’ve been a big critic of Richardsonfor a numjber of reasons. Flip-flopping on Iraq, plenty of verbal gaffes, and a horrible stage presence. He fixed a lot of that last night. Made himself look silly by repeatedly going past Blitzer’s time limit, but managed to make a lot of serious policy points that differentiated himself from the Big Three. Might see a sizable bounce. But his outright lie on Yucca Mountain (said he consistently opposed nuke waste there when he never did as NM Guv) was a setback. And yes, another verbal gaffe.

• John Edwards - The best and worst of Edwards was on display in Vegas. He was able to snuff out (not without taking a couple shots of his own…) the increasingly heated spat between Hillary and Obama with one of his patented “there are more important things” speech that plays off of his populist theme . But he also failed to really land a serious blow on either HRC or Obama, and he waffled on such key issues as the Patriot Act and trade agreements. Can’t portray himself as the “genuine” candidate if he’s spinning as much as the other contenders.

• Barack Obama - His worst debate performance since his debut. Started strong but wilted even before his infamous illegal immigrant driver’s licenses gaffe. But that hilarious mistake was what really killed him. Like Hillary’s bobble of the same Q in Philly, this one will get played for a while on the cable news shows. What was he thinking? Add plenty of inconsistent answers and no punches on HRC, and it’s a tough night for the Dem’s #2. Managed to paint HRC into a few corners on social security and Iran, but his own baggage diminished the effect.

• Chris Dodd - Dodd is just background noise at these things. He makes sense and is nice and concise, but that isn’t going to cut it. Still, he shouldn’t be kicked off the circuit. He always adds to the overall chatter.

• Dennis Kucinich - Apparently e missed Mike Gravel so much that he decided to do his best imitation. Not so much what he says but how he says it. Every previous debate saw DK as the lighthearted true liberal, ready to provide a few much-needed laughs. Turned off the charm in Vegas and went full-on raving protest candidate. Note to Kucinich: Don;t do it again.