Democrats play nice in Nevada debate

The three leading Democratic presidential candidates opted for civility and contrition in Tuesday night’s Nevada debate in the aftermath of a nasty racial storyline that marred their nominating contest in recent days.

The testy nature of past debates and campaign operative exchanges was nearly gone, with the candidates initially accepting opportunities to apologize for the conduct of their campaigns and certain past votes and then working more delicately to parse differences between themselves.

{mosads}Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) went further than her campaign previously had in saying that Black Entertainment Television (BET) founder Robert Johnson’s comments that apparently alluded to Sen. Barack Obama’s (Ill.) past drug use were out of bounds.

Obama took responsibility for his campaign’s pushing of the race issue in South Carolina and an offhand comment from a previous debate in which he suggested Clinton was not very likeable.

And both Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) said they regretted 2001 votes for a version of a bankruptcy bill that they agreed is now hurting middle class Americans.

Asked whether Johnson should be removed from her campaign for his comments, Clinton demurred and said she believed his explanation that he wasn’t referring to Obama’s youthful drug use, but instead Obama’s community organizing.

But when pressed, she agreed that Johnson’s comments were “out of bounds.”

Obama said a memo sent by his South Carolina staff about the Clinton campaign’s commentary on race in the campaign was also out of line.

“It is my responsibility to make sure that we're setting a clear tone in our campaign, and I take that responsibility very seriously,” Obama said.

Obama also said that his sheepish assurance that Clinton was “likeable enough” at a previous debate was misinterpreted, and that he regrets how he said it.

On the bankruptcy bill, both Clinton and Edwards said they should not have voted for a precursor to a similar 2005 bill that has made bankruptcy more difficult for the middle class.

Clinton emphasized that the 2001 bill did not become law and that she voted against the 2005 incarnation of the bill.

Obama, who was not in the Senate in 2001, said he opposed both versions.

“They were pushed by the credit card companies, they were pushed by the mortgage companies, and they put the interests of those banks and financial institutions ahead of the interests of the American people,” Obama said.

Clinton declined to back off her comments that she is the most qualified to lead the country from the moment she takes office and suggestions that the others aren’t prepared.

Pressed on whether Edwards and Obama were qualified to lead, Clinton declined to give a direct answer.

“I think that that’s up to the voters to decide,” Clinton said. “I think that's something that voters have to make a decision about on all of us.”

The candidates began carving out further differences when they were asked to pose questions to each other.

Edwards suggested to Obama that contributions he has received from drug and insurance company employees come with strings attached.

Obama emphasized that he does not accept money from political action committees and said mid-level executives should be able to contribute if they believe in his candidacy.

The candidates were also asked about their greatest strengths and weaknesses, and Obama said he is not always very effective on day-to-day managerial tasks such as keeping papers in order.

Clinton pounced, saying skills such as holding subordinates accountable are necessary for a president and that those abilities are lacking in the Bush administration.

“I respect what Barack said about setting the vision, setting the tone, bringing people together, but I think you have to be able to manage and run the bureaucracy,” Clinton said.

Obama said Clinton misread his comments and that it is not Bush’s inability to manage that has hurt his presidency.

“He was very efficient; he was on time all the time,” Obama said, adding: “What he could not do is to bring in different people with different perspectives and get them to work together.”

Edwards attempted to create some ground between him and the others by advocating that all combat troops be out of Iraq by the end of 2009.

Clinton and Obama have left open the option of keeping a limited number of combat troops in the country to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq while still effectively ending the war.

“As long as you keep combat troops in Iraq, you continue the occupation,” Edwards said. “If you keep military bases in Iraq, you're continuing the occupation.”

Obama said their positions were not so different, agreeing with Edwards that keeping combat troops in Kuwait might be a viable option in case they need to fight Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Obama and Edwards both said that they supported withholding funding from higher education institutions that do not provide ROTC programs to students. Clinton initially said she would enforce laws to stop funding but later said of prominent schools that do not have ROTC programs that “there are ways they can work out fulfilling that obligation.”

The debate excluded Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), after the Nevada Supreme Court decided that NBC, which held the debate, did not have to include him.