LOS ANGELES, Calif.–The stakes were high. The expectations were higher. But in the end, nothing happened onstage tonight at the Kodak Theater here in Hollywood to change the contours of the race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
The reason? Neither Clinton nor Obama wanted anything to happen. They were speaking this evening to a broad, relatively unengaged audience spread across the 22 states that will vote in the upcoming Super Tuesday primary on Feb. 5. The goal wasn’t to make news for political junkies to obsess over; it was to present positive cases for their candidacies to people who haven’t been paying a lot of attention. Sniping and backbiting would’ve been a distraction–not to mention a turn off. Instead we got Clinton appealing to health-care voters, women and the working class–focusing on the “specifics,” as she always does, but working to show (through rhetoric and resume) that she’s not as “divisive” as her critics say. And Obama made his experience vs. judgment case in a single sentence, saying that while Clinton claims she will be “ready on day one,” he will be “right” on day one. “The differences between Barack and I pale in comparison to our differences with the Republicans,” said Clinton. “Hillary Clinton and I were friends before the campaign started, and we’ll be friends when it’s over,” said Obama. It was two wonks making two parallel pitches on the same stage, with only very occasional overlap.
From a purely strategic standpoint, Clinton may leave La-La Land tonight in slightly better shape than Obama–at least in a national sense. Stasis benefits the frontrunner, and with sizable leads in some of the biggest Feb. 5 states, Clinton is still ahead. Obama performed well, but he didn’t do anything to take her down a notch. Another factor perhaps working against Obama: high expectations. After trouncing Clinton in S.C. and scoring the endorsements of Ted and Caroline Kennedy, Obama arrived at the Kodak with a golden glow of sorts. But he wasn’t Mr. Camelot tonight–he was just the same old Barack. For some folks, that’s enough. But for others, it still isn’t. I doubt he changed many minds.
Then again, Clinton got caught up relitigating Iraq for half of the debate–a tough topic for her (and a welcome one for Obama). And Obama got a smart jump on the general, claiming that the wheels have fallen off John McCain’s Straight Talk Express and reminding voters that McCain has said we might be stuck in Iraq for “100 years.” If Democrats start to see Obama as a better match for McCain–here’s where his Iraq war opposition might enter into the equation–he could get a boost from tonight’s battle.
In the end, though, both Clinton and Obama were clearly content to maintain the status quo. The real battles will take place on the trail between now and Feb. 5, as the candidates crisscross the country wooing the small pockets of voters required to execute their Super Tuesday strategies. And judging by tonight, they’re both confident that if things go as planned they’ll earn enough delegates on the big day to keep on keepin’ on.
Winners? Losers? Sorry. Looks like we’ve got a long way to go.
