So I’m a bit behind here (got called away to other news). But I’ll be monitoring the rest of the debate between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Right now we’re in a commercial break. I can’t help but think of a football game (Chicago Bears, maybe):

Announcer: And now a timeout?

Crowd: Where?

Announcer: On the field.

For summary of what’s happened up until now, I give you some notes from the Washington Post’s The Fix blog:

Obama won the coin toss (symbolic?) and elected to go first, touching on the frustration that people across Pennsylvania and America feel without ever mentioning the “bitter” remarks that drew so much attention over the past five days.

“This election offers us an opportunity to change that,” said Obama. “I am running for president to ensure the people of America are heard in the White House.”

Clinton, providing yet more evidence that there is very little difference between the two candidates, echoed Obama’s sentiments.

“There is a lot of concern across Pennsylvania and America,” said Clinton. “People feel as though their government is not solving problems. I am running for president because I know we can meet the challenges of today.”

One other note: ABC News is REALLY playing up the fight theme for tonight’s debate. “We are in round 15 of a scheduled 10-rounder,” moderator Charlie Gibson said at the outset of the the proceedings.

And of course, what we were all listening for — commentary on Obama’s “bitter” remark last week. More from WashPo’s The Fix:

It didn’t take long for the comments made by Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) at a San Francisco fundraiser last weekend to become fodder for tonight’s debate.

Asked by Charlie Gibson whether he understood why some people would be offended by his comments — about “bitter” victims of small-town economic distress clinging to their religion and guns — Obama reiterated his past statements that he had simply misspoken and that his remarks did not reflect his personal views about small town residents.

“There is no doubt that I can see how people were offended,” he said. ” It is not the first time I have made a statement that was mangled up and it won’t be the last.”

Clinton was not ready to let the issue drop, calling Obama’s statement a “fundamental misunderstanding” of why people are religious or value their right to own a gun. “I just don’t believe that is how people live their lives,” Clinton added.

End of story? Not even close.

Obama, clearly loaded for bear on this issue coming into the debate, evoked Clinton’s 1992 comment that she would not simply stay at home and bake cookies as first lady as evidence that politicians occasionally misspeak and that it is wrong to conclude that a misstatement represents the true feelings of a politician.

“The problem we have in our politics is you take one person’s statement if it’s not properly phrased and you just beat it to death,” said Obama. “That’s what Senator Clinton has been doing over the last four days.”

Clinton, of course, responded — noting that her comments about Obama as an elitist did not come out of thin air but rather developed as a result of his remarks to a group of donors in San Francisco.