Jan. 15 Democratic debate transcript

Speakers: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.; Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.; Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

Moderator:  Brian Williams with Tim Russert and Natalie Morales

Brian Williams: Before we get under way, we need to thank all of our hosts for this evening, in part so our candidates don't feel the need to.

The Nevada Democratic Party. That includes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The African-American organization known as 100 Black Men of America. Also, our local Nevada partners in this: Impacto; the African- American Democratic Leadership Council; and, of course, the College of Southern Nevada.

We have told the members of our vast studio audience here tonight that we cannot allow applause or any outbursts following the candidates' responses.

We will open with a Q&A format, allowing for 90-second answers, lights will alert the candidates to the end of time; some 30-second answers; and then follow-ups at the moderator's discretion.

Finally, for tonight's debate of the top three Democratic contenders, I am joined by my partner Tim Russert, our Washington bureau chief and of course moderator of "Meet the Press" on NBC; and Natalie Morales of "Today" on NBC, who will be handling some of the thousands of e-mail questions we've received over the past few days directed to the candidates.

We thank you all for being here.
And before we begin with the questioning, we have to mix a bit of breaking political news with the business of our debate tonight. At this hour, as we come on the air, we are prepared to report that NBC News is projecting that when all the votes are counted in tonight's Michigan primary, Mitt Romney is the projected winner of that contest.

Again, in the Michigan primary tonight, a former Massachusetts governor, a son of the state of Michigan, Mitt Romney, will be the projected winner.

That is according to an NBC News estimate. And now, we can begin with the questioning tonight.
As we sit here, this, as many of you may know, is the Reverend Martin Luther King's birthday. Race was one of the issues we expected to discuss here tonight. Our sponsors expected it of us. No one, however, expected it to be quite so prominent in this race as it has been over the last 10 days.

We needn't go back over all that has happened, except to say that this discussion, before it was over, involved Dr. King, President Johnson, even Sidney Poitier, several members of Congress, and a prominent African-American businessman supporting Senator Clinton, who made what seemed to be a reference to a party of Senator Obama's teenage past that the Senator himself has written about in his autobiography.

The question to begin with here tonight, Senator Clinton, is: How did we get here?

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton: Well, I think what's most important is that Senator Obama and I agree completely that, you know, neither race nor gender should be a part of this campaign.

It is Dr. King's birthday. The three of us are here in large measure because his dreams have been realized. John, who is, as we know, the son of a millworker and really has become an extraordinary success, as Senator Obama who has such an inspirational and profound story to tell America and the world; I, as a woman, who is also a beneficiary of the civil rights movement and the women's movement and the human rights movement, and the Democratic Party has always been in the forefront of that.

So I very much appreciate what Senator Obama and I did yesterday, which is that we both have exuberance and sometimes uncontrollable supporters; that we need to get this campaign where it should be.

We're all family in the Democratic Party. We are so different from the Republicans on all of these issues in every way that affects the future of the people that care so much about.

So I think that it's appropriate on Dr. King's birthday, his actual birthday, to recognize that all of us are here as a result of what he did, all of the sacrifice, including giving his life, along with so many of the other icons that we honor.

But I know that Senator Obama and I share a very strong commitment to making sure that this campaign is about us as individuals.