It was a cordial, friendly, even touchy-feely debate.
Gone were the raised voices and personal attacks of past meetings; last night at Kodak Theatre, Sen. Barak Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton set a new, warmer debate atmosphere.
It's the first head to head debate since John Edwards announced his withdrawl from the presidental race. And that meant the pressure was on last night, as both Obama and Clinton jockeyed to win over former Edwards supporters and undecided voters.
But why this new civil approach? Why do Clinton and Obama seem to suddenly be pals? One theory is an Obama-Clinton, or Clinton-Obama ticket. Both dodged the question last night, saying there was a big difference between those two choices.
The other anwser to the question of why the two put forth this new cordial atmosphere could be that neither canidate seems to be feeling the pressure of losing everything on Super Tuesday. It could be so tight next week that the fate of who the next Democatic Presidental candiate could stretch all the way to the National Convention in August. Neither took crazy shots at each other, which has political analysts guessing that neither thinks they are behind. And according to MSNBC,Obama has already bought television slots well beyond Super Tuesday, suggesting he's not giving up after Febuary 5th.
While Obama raised an unbeliable $32 million last month, he goes into Super Tuesday the underdog. The Wall Street Journal says Obama trails Clinton by large margins in polls in most of the big states.
But as history shows, no amount of polls can predict what voters will do once they enter the voting booth. And both canidates seem very unlikely to give up the fight anytime soon.