I saw a bit of the Democratic debate tonight.

I could not agree more with John Edward's comments that this petty bickering is not what American's want to see. It also bothered me when they argued about race last week. Race is the absolute last issue anyone, but especially Obama, should raise in this election.

But I was really struck by comments Obama made. "Sometimes Im not sure who I'm running against." - meaning Hilary or Bill Clinton.

What was that comment supposed to mean? Obama is not sure who he is running against? It was such an odd comment, i keep thinking about it.

Is he trying to say that Hilary is not a real candidate and her husband is running the show? Was that the gender card? Was that code for a "woman's place"? Or is he just letting us know that he is truly ignorant about elections? It was a strange thing to say.

Last week John Kerry endorsed Obama but no one is confused about which of them is running for election. It is standard practice for famous people and elected officials to campaign for someone else and before Obama's comment, I have never heard anyone talk about it. It is also common place for a candidate's spouse to campaign for them, as we see with John Edwards, whose wife is much more appealing than he is. Then again, that situation is almost always a wife campaigning for her husband not the other way around.

On a related note, I listened to Shields and Brooks last Friday discuss Bill Clinton's active role in this election. They both agreed that it was unseemly of Bill to be so down & dirty campaigning for his wife. In their eye's, it cheapened the Presidency. I really had not thought of it like that before.

What few people are talking about is that in this campaign we are seeing the real Bill Clinton. A man who us unable to control himself a lot of the time. To her credit, this is the man that his wife, the First Lady, kept in check when he was President. But now she is running for herself and he is showing his true colors and it is not always a pretty sight.

Not for the first time, I think that being married to a President hurts Hilary more than it helps her. Which is sad. I give her a lot of credit for the wisdom and personal fortitude to keep her husband together while enduring so much public humiliation and taking so much criticism from both ends of the spectrum. She is experienced and tough and I think she would have done better as the first viable female presidential candidate rather than the first First Lady presidential candidate.

But you only get to play the cards that you are dealt. Shields and Brooks are probably right; she would do better if Bill stayed aloof and Presidential and left the campaigning to her. That is something her campaign could decide to do and I hope they do it.