From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

The Democrats who want to be president.

Hello again, I'm Armin Alney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

At a mostly black college,

in a mostly red southern state, all the Democratic candidates met for the first time. Each one of

the eight candidates got 11 minutes in total during an hour and a half of one-minute answers

to questions on complex issues. For the most part, they were nice to each other, tough on President Bush, and really

angry about the war in Iraq. On to the point, are Clinton Obama and Edwards still the top

three? Did any second-tier candidates distinguish themselves? We'll hear from across the

democratic political spectrum. On Ruppoder's notebook later on, former CIA director George Tenet

is pushing a book. First, here's the news. Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of

KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio International Program Fund, whose contributors include

the Ford Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. McArthur

Foundation. Hello again. Mormon-Aulay, back with To the Point. South Carolina is a red state,

but that's where the eight Democratic candidates for president got together last night.

They held forth on Iraq, health care, and other issues, and tried to look and sound presidential.

On To the Point, we'll get assessments from across the spectrum of Democratic Party opinion.

On reporter's notebook, former CIA Director George Tenet's new book, will it reveal what the public needs to know?

First, this news update.

Saudi Arabia says it's arrested 172 people it calls Islamic militants, some of whom trained to fly aircraft and attacks on the country's vast oil fields and other targets as well.

The Saudi government says all that remained was to set the zero hour.

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