For the first time since this campaign began, it was possible to imagine these two contenders as running-mates.

Clinton came close to saying as much during a discussion about whether her proposal to mandate universal health care coverage or Obama's proposal to expand access might be preferable, the senator from New York said of the senator from Illinois, "We share a lot of the same values… we are trying to work our way through to get to where we need to be and that is to have a united Democratic party…"

But neither Clinton or Obama is running for vice president just yet. Despite one warm and fuzzy debate, don't think that this race has gone "soft."

The Captain was a propaganda stunt from the get-go: a former art student, Steve Rogers, finds himself pumped up with a super-soldier formula, dressed up in stars and stripes, and sent out to the front lines of World War II to boost morale. The 1941 cover of “Captain America Comics No. 1” shows him, with that big letter “A” on his forehead, punching out Hitler. It’s hard to escape the feeling that someone was trying too hard.

During the Watergate scandal he had a crisis of conscience and changed his name to the Nomad. He formed a partnership with the Falcon, the first African-American superhero. In his final adventure, he rebelled against a Superhuman Registration Act to license heroes in a kind of super-D.M.V. The man struggled, visibly and with great effort, to do what he saw as the decent thing.

It should be easy for conservatives to get over their McCain issues since overall he was always the most conservative of the major candidates, but of course if these pundits were rational they would already see that.

And if Democrats give the GOP the gift of Clinton, which still seems very likely, these pundits can pretty much ignore McCain and focus entirely on Hillary Clinton's purported Trotskyism, murder and drug running operations, "shrillness," her husband's penis, etc.

Some of the sociologists, psychologists and demographers who study this new life stage see it as a good thing. The twixters aren't lazy, the argument goes, they're reaping the fruit of decades of American affluence and social liberation. This new period is a chance for young people to savor the pleasures of irresponsibility, search their souls and choose their life paths. But more historically and economically minded scholars see it differently. They are worried that twixters aren't growing up because they can't. Those researchers fear that whatever cultural machinery used to turn kids into grownups has broken down, that society no longer provides young people with the moral backbone and the financial wherewithal to take their rightful places in the adult world. Could growing up be harder than it used to be?

Brokered conventions (where no candidate arrives with a majority of the delegates) are predicted every four years, and every four years they don't actually happen. However, it does seem likely this year that we'll, at the very least, see a closer result than any since 1980 or even 1968. We might not even know who will win until the convention gets underway. Edwards could act as a kingmaker by throwing his delegates to Clinton or Obama and putting him or her over the top (his delegates would not be required to follow his instructions, but they will likely be personally loyal to him). Or, unelected superdelegates could throw the nomination to a candidate who comes in second in pledged delegates. Even if the result is known at the start of the convention, it might not be determined until June or July.

The question Romney must be asking himself is what is his ultimate goal now? Should he do everything he can to stop McCain now or should he figure out how to run, but do so with dignity so he can keep his options open in the future, should McCain fail to win the general. As McCain is about to prove, the GOP regularly nominates the runners-up in previous primaries; Reagan, Bush and Dole to name a few. Romney, though, does need to play the conservative critic of McCain for a certain length of time in order to win the loyalty of the conservatives who aren't happy with McCain now. These folks could serve Romney well in '12 or '16.

It doesn't get madder than this. Swaziland is in the grip of a famine and receiving emergency food aid. Forty per cent of its people are facing acute food shortages. So what has the government decided to export? Biofuel made from one of its staple crops, cassava.

The trade should be frozen until second-generation fuels - made from wood or straw or waste - become commercially available. Otherwise, the superior purchasing power of drivers in the rich world means that they will snatch food from people's mouths. Run your car on virgin biofuel, and other people will starve.

He could not stop talking about 9/11. As Joe Biden said, Rudy's sentences consist of a noun, a verb and 9/11. Rudy's constant invocation has become a running joke. For Rudy, this campaign will end. But the damage to his life -- that will go on forever. Rudy will no longer be the hero of 9/11. He will be the man who tried to capitalize on 9/11. He will not be regarded as a savior, but as a huckster, a man who took and took from our great day of tragedy to benefit only himself.

No matter who wins the Democratic nomination, the fact remains that the Edwards campaign has set the domestic policy agenda for the entire field. He was the first with a bold universal healthcare plan, the first with an ambitious climate change proposal that called for cap-and-trade, and the leader on reforming predatory lending practices and raising the minimum wage to a level where it regains its lost purchasing power. Edwards's rhetoric has started to bleed into his rivals' speeches as well.

The American people take that phrase “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” at face value. Most believe that the policy allows a person to serve as a gay American so long as he or she does not tell anyone. Unfortunately, as we know from our SLDN client base of approximately 75 cases at any one time, men and women can be discharged because someone else “tells,” such as a mother who can’t stand the thought of her son returning to Iraq, or a jealous partner, or an intercepted innocent e-mail from an admirer back home.

And because the criterion for discharge is “credible evidence from a reliable source,” with no standard for what “credible” or “reliable” means, the policy is arbitrarily enforced at the discretion of the commander.