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Clinton, Obama debate marked by cautious civility

BY GLENN THRUSH | glenn.thrush@newsday.com

11:09 PM EST, January 31, 2008

Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., right, and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., stand together before a Democratic presidential debate in Los Angeles Thursday night. (AP Photo / January 31, 2008)

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - Their words were civil but the body language told a different story.

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama were on their best behavior at the CNN/Politico/Los Angeles Times debate here Thursday night -- confounding expectations that their first head-to-head confrontation would devolve into a name-calling fight.

"I was friends with Hillary Clinton before we started this campaign and I will be friends with Hillary Clinton after this campaign is over," said Obama, who remained cordial while honing the argument that he's more appealing to Republicans and independents than she is.

"The differences between Barack and I pale in comparison to the differences we have with the Republicans," she said.

Referring to the reality that Democrats will nominate a woman or an African-American for their first time, she added, "Neither of us, just by looking at us, are more of the same."

Clinton and Obama, who traded insults and accusations during a bruising Myrtle Beach, S.C., debate a week ago, seemed eager to burnish their images and downplay their negatives five days before the potentially decisive 22-state Feb. 5 primary. The absence of John Edwards -- a provocative and combative third player -- seemed to sap the energy right out of the celebrity-packed Kodak Theatre.

Yet more than any of the previous debates, the 17th and final Democratic debate was all about the images -- Clinton's often strained attempt to appear relaxed, Obama's tense, disapproving expression when she spoke -- and a final laughing embrace between the pair intended to erase their possibly chilly encounter at the State of the Union Address.

The pair did clash, albeit briefly, over the Iraq war and immigration, with Obama chiding Clinton for first supporting and then opposing Gov. Eliot Spitzer's failed plan to grant drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants.

"Senator Clinton gave a number of different answers over the course of six weeks on this issue, and that did appear political," Obama said. "At this point she's got a clearer position, but it took a whole year."

Clinton pointed out that Obama appeared to waffle on the issue during a late-October debate in Philadelphia. "About a week after I said I would try to support my governor, although I didn't agree with it personally, you were asked the same question and could not answer it."

The showdown came on a day of disquieting, potentially disastrous news for Clinton. First came word that Obama raised $32 million in January, a staggering haul that had Clinton's aides quietly expressing admiration for his achievement and wondering if he now had an advantage in ad spending.

Clinton still enjoys double-digit leads in key states like California, New York and New Jersey. But new polls released yesterday showed those leads shrinking, with a Gallup daily tracking poll showing Obama closing to within 4 points of Clinton nationally, apparently picking up supporters of Edwards, who withdrew Wednesday.

Clinton seemed eager to shoo another prominent Democrat off the 2008 stage -- William Jefferson Clinton.

"At the end of the day, it's my name that's on on the ballot," said Clinton when asked if her husband was playing too significant a role after a week of Bill Clinton headlines. "I will have to make the calls. ... It's a lonely job in the White House."

Both candidates were asked about the possibility of a "dream ticket" of Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton.

"We've got a lot more road to travel" before such a decision, Obama said. Clinton agreed it was too early to discuss.