For those who tuned into the Democratic debate in Nevada last night hoping for a spirited debate with slings and arrows, were sadly disappointed, as the two main candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, early on, made a concerted effort to tamp down the rhetoric.
        I’ve seen pillow fights more exciting than what took place in Las Vegas last night.
        It was like watching ``The View'', without a Rosie O’Donnell/Elisabeth Hasselbeck catfight. Viewers couldn’t even benefit from a few over-the-top rants from Dennis ``The Menace’’, Kucinich, thanks to the Nevada Supreme Court, who ruled that MSNBC was not required to include the diminutive Ohio congressman.
        After a full week of mud-slinging over race and mischaracterizations, I guess you could understand why Team Clinton and the Obama camp decided to mend fences and direct their ire against someone much more threatening: the policies of the George Bush administration.
        Still, I was puzzled why moderators Brian Williams and Tim Russert didn’t engage all the candidates a little more rigorously in a dialogue about race relations in America. Tuesday marked the 79th anniversary of the birth of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, and the debate, after all, was sponsored, along with the Nevada Democratic Party, by the 100 Black Men of America, and the Nevada African American Leadership Council.
        What better time, then, to hear what the candidates had to say about race and capital punishment, affirmative action, hate crimes, fair housing, and a host of similar hot button issues affecting minorities. Not all dialogue about race relations has to be in your face, down in the gutter talk. Even Clinton seemed surprised by the lack of dialouge. ``This is a black/brown debate. We haven’t actually talked about black/brown issues — I regret that’’, the New York senator intoned.
        Obama, though, did have some nice moments talking about the importance of getting a good education, the way he did, despite being raised by a single mother and his grandparents; and the urgency of African American fathers, who in the words of the Illinois senator, ``all too often are absent from home’’, and need to take more of an active role in the nurturing of their children.
        The most contentious part of the debate came at the tail end of the evening, over the question of Al Qaeda and the specter of terrorism
Clinton was effective, stressing to voters, they’ll be electing a president, who more than likely, will be tested by Al Qaeda, just like British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was in his first few months in office. ``We have real enemies, Clinton emphasized, and we’d better be prepared and we’d better be ready to meet them on day one’’ 
        I thought that passionate statement vaulted her as the most hawkish candidate on stage; and for the first time, her initial support for the war in Iraq, may not have worked against her.
         Obama came back to compliment Clinton’s efforts after 9/11; but underscored that Washington (and by extension Clinton) went after the wrong enemy, and used the ``fear of terrorism in scoring political points. And I think that’s a mistake. Now, I don’t want to perpetuate that.’’ Obama said.
      One telling moment was when Brian Williams (reading a viewer email) asked the three candidates the exact time when they decided to run for president. Clinton was the only candidate who didn’t mention her family. Obama, by comparison, talked about what the rigors of the campaign would do to his wife and two young daughters; while Edwards talked about sitting down with his wife Elisabeth, and deciding how they wanted to spend their time serving their country they love so much.
It’s no secret Bill Clinton is a more a political convenience to Hillary, than he is a loving and supportive husband, but she could have at least attempted to convince voters her deciosn to run was a family one.
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        Mitt Romney finally picked up some traction winning the Michigan primary last night, to slow down the surging John McCain, who delivered a stunner in New Hampshire just last week. It was encouraging to finally see a candidate, as McCain did last night, admit defeat, saying in front of a mob of supporters with Joe Lieberman looking on, that his campaign ``doesn’t mind a good fight’’. How many times have we seen candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire, pretend like they just won a primary, instead of admitting defeat?
    -Bill Lucey
     billlucey@bellsouth.net