UPDATE: I suppose, being as the debate is now over, that it comes as no surprise to anybody who watched that Kucinich lost the appeal. Apparently the decision didn’t come down until barely an hour before it was supposed to start. The regrettable details can be found here because I did promise to update.

(I still think John held his own. Only mentioned the word “millworker” once that I heard, which is an improvement. :) Dammit he’s wrong on the no-new-nukes thing but we’re grownups, we know that even our favorite candidate isn’t going to agree with us on every single thing.)

TMP is reporting that..well, let’s just roll the tape here:

NBC News was planning on cutting tonight’s Democratic debate in Nevada down to the top three candidates — but a judge’s ruling may just force them to expand it to four.

Last night, Clark County District Court Judge Charles Thompson ordered that NBC include who Dennis Kucinich, who they had originally invited but then later excluded, or he would issue an injunction to stop the whole debate. NBC is appealing the order.

To which I of course say Huzzah, hurrah, YAY, whoooooopeeeee! and similar expressions of unbridled glee.

Not because I think our favorite elf is going to stage an amazing surge and win Nevada, but think about it: with him on the stage John Edwards is covered on the left flank! He is no longer the long-haired hippie freak in the crowd. The Overton Window just went *sproing!* and expanded to give a wider view.

Oborg and Hborg have got to be going nuts. Suddenly the Unity Pony has thrown a shoe, the triangulation effort is being vexed by an extra line segment that has to be accounted for. They risk coming clearly into focus as Republican Latte With Better SCOTUS Choices. And they have to maybe just once pander to the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party, dammit.

I need a little pandering. O Lord it’s been so long.

(update, it seems, oh shock, that NBC is appealing the judge’s ruling. Stay tuned. Same bat time, same bat channel.)