WASHINGTON _ Instead of a Bernie Sanders-Elizabeth Warren showdown, the seventh and final Democratic presidential primary debate before voting begins delivered stacks of substance and few fireworks.
After growing signals that the detente between the two progressive senators was ending, both sought on Tuesday to deescalate tensions that had inflamed over a report that Sanders told Warren a woman couldn't be elected president. Sanders continued to deny the claim, while Warren attempted to wield the controversy as a rallying cry for women to join her candidacy. Instead of joining the fight, they walked away from it.
That dynamic was a major theme of the night. Less than three weeks before the leadoff Iowa caucuses, the name of the Des Moines debate game was caution. None of the six candidates on stage produced a runaway victory, but none of the top contenders appeared to harm their standing in a race that remains fluid.
