A Missed Opportunity?

"But with a week left to go before the critical primary votes in Ohio and Texas, Clinton had to do more than chip away at Obama. To shake up her faltering campaign, she needed to shake him up . . .

"Yet judging from Obama's unruffled composure and measured responses through much of the debate, that moment of truth never came."

Boston Globe: "At times -- such as when she pushed him to denounce Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in stronger terms -- she seemed to go too far, but as the candidate who is trailing, she needed to take some risks and shake things up. In the end, she may have chafed some viewers but succeeded in taking the fight to Obama. Nonetheless, he seemed to emerge unscathed after skating through some verbal thin ice of his own."

Chicago Tribune: "On a night when she and Obama accused each other of distorting legislative records and clashed across the fine lines that divide them on policy, Clinton's complaint -- and her reference to a comedy sketch that portrayed the national media as fawning over Obama -- epitomized the frustrations of a candidate who has fallen from front-runner status to desperately needing a win in Ohio's March 4 primary."

New York Times: "By the end of the night, there was little evidence that Mrs. Clinton had produced the kind of ground-moving moment she needed that might shift the course of a campaign that polls suggest has been moving inexorably in Mr. Obama's direction for weeks.

"Instead, in contrast to other debates -- where she mixed a warm smile with a sharp attack -- she was stern and tense through most of the evening, speaking in an almost fatigued monotone as she recounted her criticisms of Mr. Obama, some of them new but many of them familiar. She often sat staring unsmiling at Mr. Obama and at Tim Russert of NBC News, who, yet again, presented himself as a tougher challenge to Mrs. Clinton's credentials than Mr. Obama himself."

New York Post: "Devoid of any real fireworks, last night's debate was a victory for Barack Obama.

"With the momentum behind him from 11 straight primary and caucus victories, Obama was confident, gracious and even presidential.

"Perhaps more than in any of the other 19 Democratic primary debates that have come before, it was possible to imagine Obama sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office.

"He's starting to give off that White House vibe."

Time's Mark Halperin gives Obama a B-plus: "Avoided lofty rhetoric and focused on presenting himself as cool, deliberative, and substantive. Well prepared and focused . . . Surprisingly unsunny and subdued-- almost dour." Hillary gets a B-minus: "Her conviction that the media is biased against her seemed to throw her off throughout, and she was too distracted by her frustration with Obama and the press to truly shine."

Andrew Sullivan gives the debate to Obama but also scolds him on Farrakhan: