Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama stood side by side for nearly 2 hours last night and debated the same issues they have been debating for months.

This time, however, there was none of the rancor and ill will directed toward each other. Instead, the debate turned into a virtual love fest:

Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama spent their last debate before next week's Super Tuesday contests pointing out differences on Iraq, health care and the economy -- but without all of the finger-pointing that's marked their campaigns.

The exchange was in sharp contrast to previous debates because of the absence of political sniping, yet was one of the most substantive policy discussions yet in the race for the nomination.

On Iraq, Obama said he'd be more able to end the war because he opposed it from the beginning. He said Clinton's vote to authorize the use of force there would undermine her efforts to bring it to an end.

"I think it is much easier for us to have the argument when we have a nominee who says, 'I always thought this was a bad idea -- this was a bad strategy,' " he said.

Clinton defended her vote, saying she was told by the White House that it would be used initially to return weapons inspectors to see whether Saddam Hussein had an active weapons program.