The Wall Street Journal-20080201-Campaign -08- Clinton and Obama Pull Punches in Face-Off
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Campaign '08: Clinton and Obama Pull Punches in Face-Off
Full Text (443 words)LOS ANGELES -- The political antagonism of recent weeks was largely set aside last night as Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, in their first one-on-one debate, threw darts at the Republicans.
The 18th Democratic debate of the political season was primarily devoted to domestic issues, and moderators spent much of the nearly two hours trying to tease out differences between Sen. Obama of Illinois and Sen. Clinton of New York. The two sparred sporadically but didn't appear to spark any contention that would change the race as it heads into a critical stage.
Tuesday, voters in 22 states will stage nominating contests, with the margins in several of them appearing tight.
In opening remarks, both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama indicated a truce following a particularly bruising stretch in which both campaigns engaged in attacks that Democratic leaders said were potentially damaging to the party. Little of that acrimony was apparent: In words and body language, both candidates showed even modest affection for each other.
"The differences between Barack and I pale in comparison to the differences we have with Republicans," Mrs. Clinton said. Mr. Obama said there was no question that the administration of Mrs. Clinton's husband, Bill, was good for the country.
The debate leaned heavily on policy, especially in areas such as health-care reform, where the two candidates continue to insist there are differences in their proposals but the public and pundits often have trouble seeing them.
Mrs. Clinton brought up her long record on fighting for universal health care. Mr. Obama countered by bringing up Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy's endorsement of him. Mr. Kennedy has long advocated health-care reform. "Ted Kennedy has said he's confident we'll get universal health care with me as president," Mr. Obama said.
Both candidates agreed that President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy should be allowed to expire. The discussion led CNN host Wolf Blitzer to point out that the policy would be a tax increase for millions of wealthy U.S. citizens.
"It's important to underscore we will go back to the tax breaks we had before George Bush was president and my memory is that people did really well during that time period," Mrs. Clinton said, sparking applause. Mr. Obama made the same point by taking a poke at Arizona Sen. John McCain, the Republican front-runner, who initially questioned making Mr. Bush's tax cuts permanent but now supports it.
The signature question of the evening was the final one, when Mr. Blitzer asked if the two would ever consider joining together on the same ticket. "I'm sure Hillary would be on anyone's short list" for vice president, Mr. Obama said.
