All Smiles

You could feel a bit of electricity at the Kodak Theatre, with Hollywood stars in the audience, as the two Democratic trailblazers faced off.

But then there was a power failure.

Barack Obama--perhaps making up for the snub?--set a high-minded tone by saying he would remain friends with Hillary Clinton, and that it's not about race or gender. But he laid down his "past versus the future" line, meaning why would you ever want to go back to the 90s? Hillary went right to the "stack of problems" awaiting the next prez and used her favorite phrase--"Day One"--to signal her greater readiness.

She doesn't want to talk to dictators without preconditions. He doesn't want to force anyone to buy health insurance. She would hold down costs more aggressively. He would lower premiums. She wants to underscore "three really critical points." He would broadcast the negotiations on C-SPAN. Which is what the debate was starting to feel like.

Wolf Blitzer was letting them go on, and on they went.

They got a bit more animated when the LAT's Doyle McManus asked them about being labeled as big taxers, as both candidates attacked the Bush tax cuts and Obama threw some tacks under the Straight Talk Express because John McCain, once opposed, now wants to extend them. But then Hillary was off on electronic medical records.

Blitzer tried to get Obama to contrast his "humane" immigration plan with Hillary's. Obama wouldn't bite.

The template was set. The two senators would talk policy, smack the Republicans, and barely lay a glove on each other. Clearly, they had concluded that the bickering had gotten out of control.

Even on immigration, when Barack said Hillary kept changing positions on driver's licenses, he quickly moved on. Hillary said he had initially bobbled the question as well. So there!

What this also said to me was that Obama and Hillary are both comfortable with their position heading into Super Tuesday. Neither was looking to throw the hard punch that could shake up the race. Neither wanted to take the risk of looking too aggressive.

Politico's Jeanne Cummings tossed out the Mitt Romney talking point that neither has ever run a business. Hillary ripped the current "CEO/MBA president"; Obama said Romney hasn't gotten a very good return on his zillion-dollar investment in the campaign. Hillary finessed a question about Ted Kennedy's endorsement by invoking her own Kennedy backers. Obama said Hillary's husband did some good things. Hillary finessed the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton question by saying we are "all judged on our own merits" (especially if we have a spouse who ran the country).

Nothing could break the kumbaya mood. Even when Wolf took an Obama answer about having opposed Iraq and translated it -- "Senator Clinton, that's a clear swipe at you"--she pretended it wasn't.