Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton sought common ground Thursday on immigration, health care and tax relief in their first one-on-one debate with just the two of them after John Edwards suspended his candidacy yesterday. But the two left standing in the Democratic Party’s contest for president grew testy at times in trying to distinguish themselves as the candidate best able to handle the responsibilities of the White House.

Just days before the Super Tuesday contests, the two alternated addressing each other cordially with swipes, underscoring the high stakes of the upcoming contests, according to the Associated Press. The debate came on the day when Obama’s campaign reported raising a staggering $32 million in January, cash aplenty to advertise all through the Super Tuesday states, with its nearly two dozen contests from coast to coast.

AP: Obama, Clinton Trade Jabs on Immigration

In your opinion, who won the debate?

Be warned that “severe weather” in Middle Alabamaland, or a little bit of wind and rain, could knock out power and/or Net service today. Makes one wonder what Alabama Power, Charter and AT and T would do in the case of a real disaster, natural or otherwise. They want Congress to grant them immunity for spying on us. I want my money back for all the time they (we) are down…

Major storm for the eastern half of the U.S.

Meanwhile on the techno front, two cables that carry Internet traffic deep under the Mediterranean Sea snapped Thursday, disrupting service across a swath of Asia and the Middle East. India took one of the biggest hits, and the damage from its slowdowns and outages rippled to some U.S. and European companies that rely on its lucrative outsourcing industry to handle customer service calls and other operations, according to the AP and other news organizations and bloggers.

Cable Break Causes Wide Internet Outage