I don’t know about you guys, but I woke up in the morning and was still on a high. What a show!

The episode is (obviously) all over the news today, and I’m sure we’ll be posting stories and reactions continuously as we see things that particularly strike us. Here are just a couple that I thought were worth pointing out.

The New Republic had a pretty thorough analysis of each guest’s appearance and concluded that the night belonged to Obama:

The Colbert Wars
Sacha Zimmerman
17.04.2008

Just when I thought I was about to settle in for a Colbert Report with Hillary Clinton as the guest, Stephen Colbert hits me with an additional trifecta of political force: Representative Patrick Murphy, Senator John Edwards, and Barack Obama himself. If it was supposed to be Clinton’s night, it sure didn’t end up that way.

. . .

So over all, Clinton’s appearance is upstaged by the golden-boys twin set: one of whom has explicitly endorsed her opponent, and the other of whom has managed to say something earnest about real issues and be funny at the same time. Suddenly, Clinton’s “Call me!” walk-on is looking a touch, um, weak. Which is why it’s almost too much when Barack Obama appears on screen to chat with Colbert. And what does Obama do? He puts manufactured issues and political distractions “on notice.” With a little help from Colbert, “distractions” are now lower than dirt–you know, distractions like the Clinton camp accusing Obama of plagerizing and talking to hippies.

When it comes to the Clinton cameo versus the Obama cameo, I think that Clinton’s bit was actually funnier; but that’s the battle not the war. As we used to say in law school (cough, cough, dropped out), it’s the totality of circumstances that make the case. And, last night, in the court of Colbert, Obama was the victor.

I agree that, between the two remaining candidates for the Democtatic nomination, the show skewed pretty clearly toward Obama, but I truly felt that the night belonged to John Edwards. At least one blogger for The Los Angeles Times appears to concur:

John Edwards (finally) gets a star turn, courtesy of Stephen Colbert

Hillary Clinton (to start the show) and Barack Obama (to end it) made brief (very brief) appearances on “The Colbert Report” tonight. But it was the Democratic rival they left in the dust almost three months ago — John Edwards — who stole the show.

Edwards strolled onto Stephen Colbert’s set to punctuate the point the comic was making that in a race between a woman and a black, the key to success in their battles has hinged — and presumably will continue to depend — on which one white men support.

It’s about time this demographic ruled, Colbert smirked. And Edwards quipped that no white male voter is being “more vigorously courted than this one.”

He began his shtick by reiterating that he remains undecided — and provided some elaboration as to why. On the one hand, he said, he doesn’t want to be seen as “anti-hope.” With fine timing, he added: “On the other hand, I don’t want James Carville to bite me.”

He then detailed some expected — and unexpected — ways that Clinton or Obama might win him over.

. . .

Read the full text of the post here

As someone who felt that John Edwards was always given the short shrift in media coverage during the early days of the campaign and who was disappointed when he ended his candidacy, it was slightly bittersweet to see him back on the (sort of) political stage last night. But man, he nailed it, and I give him all kinds of credit for that.

I repeat: what a show!

• Press Sec. Gibbs explains why Pres. Obama would avoid ‘The Colbert Report’
• VIDEO: Stephen Colbert and Barack Obama – behind the scenes
• Stephen Colbert in the Zeitgeist – May 24, 2009
• Stephen Colbert in the Zeitgeist – April 26, 2009