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  For the Record [UPDATED]

  Posted Monday, January 21, 2008 8:26 PM | By Chadwick Matlin

  Obama and Clinton are getting as testy as we've ever seen over Obama's comments about Ronald Reagan. For the record, here's what he said: "I think it’s fair to say that the Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10 to 15 years in the sense that they were challenging conventional wisdom."

  Clinton at first said that Obama claimed Republicans were the party of "good" ideas, Obama rebutted, and then Clinton realized she was wrong, causing her to say that's how it came across. Empirically, Obama is right, but perception-wise, Clinton is. And in politics, it's usually the perceptions that matter.

  UPDATE Jan. 22, 8:07 a.m.: At the debate, Clinton did not assert Obama said the GOP was the party of "good ideas," although she has in the past.
  

  Filed under: debate

About Chadwick Matlin

• Chadwick Matlin is the staff writer for Slate's business site, The Big Money. In another life, he taught a college course on Lost.

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