I have mixed feelings about the way the Bhutto tragedy yesterday was suddenly used for political gain by the candidates. I agree mostly with some assessments about the way different candidates handled it.

Clinton did the best job of putting her personal story with into a moment of highlighting her experience. McCain did the second best job, I thought, though he had a few too many “I” moments. Conversely Obama sounded way too stiff, detached and non-presidential in my opinion while Rudy Giuliani threw in too many “I lived through 911″ statements that didn’t really add up.

In addition though it was a nice political move for John Edward’s to seek an audience on the phone with Musharraf (he succeeded) I don’t entirely know what he gained by talking to the leader. In contrast again Joe Biden who held a press conference and who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and highlighted his experience and relationships with all the players, really hit it out of the park as to why his experience and knowledge matters.

That was all well and good for using a moment of strife to play up ones strengths. Things quickly turned ugly though as Obama campaign manager David Axelrod jumped on the moment to suggest that Clinton’s Iraq vote made her somehow responsible for the whole affair. It sparked a back/forth that was reminiscent of the continued back/forth between the two candidates up until this point.

Clinton could have used the momentum from her earlier speech and the sudden shift from social issues to foreign policy woes to once again remove herself from the horse race. Unfortunately I don’t know that she did and instead her people currently seem to be going back into the mudslinging mode instead of the presidential one.

The same can be said of McCain who moved on from the presidential mode to slinging arrows at Giuliani and spending today mixing it up again with Romney. I should point out Romney’s own response wasn’t the greatest and was at times incomprehensible so he, like Obama, obviously need to try and change the conversation.

Again, I have mixed feelings. Politics isn’t a venture for the weak willed or the weak stomached and I am always of the mindset that you throw everything and the kitchen sink out there in order to win even if it is ugly and you don’t get uglier than using someones death for political points. With that said doing so doesn’t always make you look good. Moments like this could have helped McCain, Clinton and Biden transcend the daily politics and the dogfight but I haven’t seen evidence that they have capitalized on it. Meanwhile it doesn’t help Romney or Obama who don’t have experience on foreign policy and instead use the moment throw mud at those who do. That doesn’t mean it won’t work though.