Sorry, it wasn’t the American people. (See CNN transcript #1)

The early reaction from the liberal bloggers?

Mark Gisleson thought the YouTube potential fell short because of CNN’s selection process. And while critiquing some in the first tier of candidates, he’s ready to see the second tier excluded.

Ari Melber, a contributor at Huffington Post and The Nation magazine, liked the format and gave high marks to Clinton, Edwards and Obama.

Over at Down With Tyranny, Howie ripped a new one in Joe Biden. (And I agree with his critique).

Ron Chusid was unimpressed and highlighted Clinton’s word-parsing.

Pam Spaulding and her commenters zeroed in on the gay marriage question mostly, giving Kucinich and Richardson the highest marks on that. They also discussed Iraq, Darfur and enjoyed the YouTube approach.

John Aravosis liked the format, liked Anderson Cooper, liked the top three candidate responses and thought nothing got changed in the pecking order, overall.

Scout Prime liked the format, Cooper’s followup work, and liked Edwards’ candidate video the best.

Mustang Bobby was generally unimpressed but liked the candidate videos the best, also highlighting Edwards’ effort there.

That’s all I could find from left of center in the wee hours of the morning. American viewers gave the edge to Clinton. But the bottom line for me?

I won.

But they kept cutting my answers. Here’s a sample, based on actual questions:

Q: We have a Congress and a president with, like, a 30 percent approval rating, so clearly we don’t think they’re doing a good job. What’s going to make you any more effectual, beyond all the platitudes and the stuff we’re used to hearing? I mean, be honest with us. How are you going to be any different?

A: Instead of letting Dick Cheney choose my vice president, letting Dick Cheney ruining a valuable spy network that tracked nuclear arms, letting Dick Cheney determine our energy policy secretly with Enron and Exxon, letting Dick Cheney work with his longtime cohort, Rumsfeld, in determining our Iraq War strategies, instead of letting Dick Cheney’s Halliburton stock portfolio multiply because of his war profiteering on the sacrifices of our soldiers, I’d choose my own vice president. And in a country of 305 million people, I’m certain at least 250 million of them would prove more competent.

Q: how would America be better off with you as president than we would be if either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama became president?

A: My income would increase far more than theirs, and the higher tax differential would put more total money in the public treasury. And I’d choose one of them as Vice President, which would establish a long overdue historical precedent of someone competent besides a white man in one of the two executive offices.

Q: how would you define the word “liberal?”

And would you use this word to describe yourself?

A: A liberal observes the problems Americans face and seeks change to provide a positive solution. A conservative sees the problems and tries to convince Americans that everything would be okay if they’d just change themselves into conservatives.

Yes, I’m a liberal. I believe a government can serve its citizens by creating fresh opportunities and the tools people need to seize those opportunities to improve their lives, to strengthen families and communities and to build a better nation than we’ve ever achieved previously.

Q: Partisanship played a major role in why nothing can be done in Washington today. All of you say you will be able to work with Republicans. Well, here’s a test. If you had to pick any Republican member of Congress or Republican governor to be your running mate, who would it be?

A: It’s a standard part in every newly elected President’s term that he or she will work with members of the opposition party. Political compromises occur to make that happen and it’s only exceptional when a president comes along who refuses to do that.

I won’t refuse to work with them. I will refuse to make any Republican my Vice-President. The last four Republican Vice Presidents Americans elected were Agnew, Bush, Quayle and Cheney, so I’m certain I don’t want to handicap myself like that. Though I’ve got to admit, I’d be happy to choose Dwight Eisenhower if he was available.

(I’ll admit that Edwards gave an answer that was almost as good).

Q: But is African-Americans ever going to get reparations for slavery?

I know you all are going to run around this question, dipping and dodging, so let’s see how far you all can get.

A: I defer to Congressman Kucinich on this. Yes on reparations. He’s got it exactly right.

Q: Do you believe the response in the wake of Hurricane Katrina would have been different if the storm hit an affluent, predominantly white city? What roles do you believe race and class played in the storm’s aftermath? And if you acknowledge that race and class affected the response efforts, what can you do to ensure that this won’t happen in the future? And what can you do to ensure this nation’s most needy people, in times of crisis and always, something will be done to help them too?

A: Yes, it would have been different. And the problems you described were afflicting New Orleans even before Hurricane Katrina. Mistreatment of Black Americans and the tens of millions of workers making less than $40,000 per year remain a shameful part of our country’s legacy. Post-Katrina policies have benefited more developers and land speculators than the marginalized citizens of New Orleans.

My highest priority in disaster relief would be to set policy requiring adequate evacuation planning, and a fast-track process to spee