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# Posted 7:41 PM by Ariel David Adesnik

SUNDAY MORNING ROUND-UP: Dueling presidential hopefuls Joe Biden and George Allen were on NBC, followed by authors Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor. Barack Obama and Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AK) were on CBS. And Russ Feingold and Bill Frist were on ABC:

George Allen: B. Knows and toes the GOP line.

Joe Biden: A-. Forget anything Biden said about politics. Of all the guests I have heard on Meet the Press, only Biden tries to preempt Russert's "gotchas" by citing the transcripts of his own prior appearances on the show. Other pols would benefit from that kind of self-awareness.

Barack Obama: B+. I don't think there was a single thing Obama said about Iraq that a Bush supporter wouldn't agree with. That must really make some of Obama's more liberal supporters pretty mad.

Gordon & Trainor: Incomplete. Gordon (a NYT correspondent) and Trainor (a former general) have just written a new book about the invasion of Iraq. I can't give them a grade, since all Russert did was throw softballs in their direction.

Mike Huckabee: A-. As someone trying to lose some weight right now, I gotta have respect for a man who lost 110 lbs. by just exercising and eating right, not with pills or a staple.

Russ Feingold: C+. What a charming lack of common sense. Feingold is launching a belated campaign to censure Bush on the Senate floor because of the wiretapping program. Feingold sincerely hopes that Republicans will support his motion to censure. Yet while accusing Bush of violating the constitution "consciously and intentionally", Feingold won't even think about impeachment, since it wouldn't be good for the country right now. How this man thinks is a mystery.

Bill Frist: C+. Did a wonderful job of making Feingold look good by arguing twice that Feingold's brand of criticism just makes America's enemies stronger.

And now for the hosts:

Russert: B-. I have built up too much respect for the man to give him a C. But all he did with Gordon & Trainor is enthusiastically lead them in a recitation of the same criticisms of the Bush war effort we've all heard before. Maybe we should replace Russert with Biden.

Schieffer: B-. I don't know why, but his blandness annoyed me more than usual this week.

Stephanopoulos: B-. Feingold and Frist? That should be like shooting fish in a barrel. It wasn't.

See ya next week

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