Notes from Wednesday's Democratic presidential candidate forum in Carson City, brought to you with no strings attached:

GEORGE WHO?: The forum began with a moment that the state media corps surely was waiting for: the first mispronunciation of "Nevada." The gaffe by moderator George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, who pronounced the first "a" as "ah," drew customary faux outrage from the crowd at the program sponsored by the 1.4 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union (AFSCME).

You'd think a guy named Stephanopoulos would feel our pain.

"It's Nevada, George," Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd scolded playfully, saying the first "a" like the "a" in "cat." Turning to the crowd, he added, "We pronounce it that way in Connecticut, I want you to know."

Go, Dodd, go.

CLINTON'S CROWD: New York Sen. Hillary Clinton pegged the adulation meter and didn't need to make concise points to score with the partisan assembly. As dynamic as she is, her opening remarks appeared scattered, and a few minutes later she waved to the adoring crowd and walked off stage without giving her one-minute closing statement.

The roaring audience didn't seem to care.

EDWARDS' ELBOWS: Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards challenged his fellow candidates to match his dedication to immediate universal health care for all Americans by calling for an enormous tax hike to pay for a program estimated to cost upward of $120 billion. He added that as president he would try to implement his big plan swiftly and not wait "six or eight years" to get the job done. It was an obvious jab at Clinton, who said her plan would be complete "by the end of my second term."

Second term? Some people would call that presumptuous.

RICHARDSON'S RESUME: New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson led with his work experience -- he has served as a congressman, energy secretary and U.N. ambassador -- but he turned the most heads when he called for the candidates to sign a pledge not to criticize each other. The move made him look as if he were positioning himself as Clinton's running mate. After all, the front-runner will take the most hits in the coming months.

Why make everyone out to be liars this early by enlisting their signatures for an agreement few will honor?

"Are you here to see me or Senator Clinton?" Richardson said, smiling as he entered a packed media area.

Clinton, probably, but the media settled for Richardson, who answered inquiries about his "play nice pledge" as well as some regional and Nevada-centric questions. The former energy secretary read the last rites for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump project and fielded a reporter's question in Spanish.

Richardson has a Hispanic heritage that receives little notice by media infatuated with the candidacy of African-American Barack Obama.

STRING THEORY: Leave it to Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich to fire up the liberal end of the Democratic Party. Leave it to Kucinich to call for a cutoff in funding for the Iraq war, dumping the North American Free Trade Agreement and busting out of the World Trade Organization.

And leave it to him to make some folks wonder whether he comes from a planet to the far left of Vulcan after he ended his forum segment with arms outstretched, reminding the audience that he would be the president with "no strings attached."

After leaving the gathering, Kucinich appeared nearby at the suddenly famous Comma Coffee house, where the word is he stood on a table and repeated his "no strings attached" routine with applause all around.

I wonder whether caffeine is bothering him.

NOBODY AFSCME, BUT: With the AFSCME audience giddy at the prospect of seeing stars Clinton and Edwards up close, in my opinion it was Dodd who made the best impression. He combined a concise knowledge of the issues with a sense of humor.

As a new father, the 62-year-old Dodd spoke about wanting to leave the country a better place for his children, then deadpanned, "I'm probably the only candidate here who gets mail from AARP and diaper services."

He also knew how to pronounce Nevada.

ON THE BOULEVARD: Michele Mosey and former Las Vegas homicide detective Phil Ramos have created the Teen Violence Prevention Program, which meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Arbor View High School at 7500 Whispering Sands Drive. It's endorsed by Sheriff Doug Gillespie and District Attorney David Roger.

Have an item for the Bard of the Boulevard? E-mail comments and contributions to Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0295.