Tomorrow the eight Democratic hopefuls for 2008 hold their second debate in the tiny state of New Hampshire. But if their first outing last month was anything to go by, critics of the way the George W. Bush's administration has handled the post-September 11 world may come away feeling short-changed.

With the notable exception of Iraq, on which all the candidates favour a withdrawal of US combat troops within a year or so, few have directly challenged the parameters of Mr Bush's "global war on terror". Among the leading candidates only John Edwards has proposed an overhaul in how to frame it.