Democrats playing it safe in first presidential debate

Eight hopefuls attacked President Bush and the Iraq war, not each other.

posted April 27, 2007 at 12:30 p.m. EDT

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WASHINGTON - – Anyone watching for fireworks or zingers Thursday night in the first Democratic presidential debate of the 2008 campaign will have been disappointed. There were moments of humor – such as Joe Biden's one-word response when asked if he had "the discipline to be president," given his propensity for gaffes and verbosity. "Yes," the Delaware senator replied definitively, then pausing for effect, to audience laughter.

And there was a moment or two of suspense. When former Sen. John Edwards was asked whom he considered his "moral leader," he hesitated for a few uncomfortable seconds, then recovered and spoke of his Lord, his wife, and his father.

But there were no attempts at knockout punches; the basic shape of the Democratic field did not change at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, the historically black university that played host to the forum of eight presidential hopefuls. It was almost as if the major candidates had agreed in advance to play it safe, play it polite, and train their sights on the one political figure and issue they could all agree deserved scorn: President Bush and the war in Iraq that he initiated four years ago.

Even when given the opportunity to criticize Rudy Giuliani, who leads in polls of Republican voters for their party's presidential nomination, the candidates opted to focus on the issues. NBC TV host Brian Williams raised Mr. Giuliani's recent comment that "America will be safer with a Republican president," and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton focused on the nation's post-9/11 response, not the man who was New York's mayor during the attacks. She said Giuliani's remark reflected a "myth" that she hopes can be put to rest, and spoke of actions she says the administration has failed to take since 9/11.

"You know, we haven't secured our borders, our ports, our mass-transit systems," Senator Clinton said. "You can go across this country and see so much that has not been done."

In this early phase of the race – with more than a year and a half before the November 2008 general election – it is smart of the Democrats not to appear concerned about any of the potential GOP nominees, analysts say.

"You don't want to tip off the opposition that you're worried about one of their candidates," says Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.

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