In contrast with the recent GOP presidential debate in St. Petersburg, Fla., Saturday’s Democratic forum was collegial and upbeat.  Candidates did not attack each other directly or indirectly, and moderators Michele Norris and Ray Suarez and other questioners were specific but passive.

As promised, though, some of the questions were a bit uncomfortable.  In a few cases, candidates took positions that could cause them difficulties going forward — in Iowa and beyond.To kick off the forum, Sen. Hillary Clinton was asked about mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines as part of a question about disproportionate incarceration rates, an issue that has motivated several conferences, discussions, and meetings in Iowa’s African-American community in recent months.  If there’s a hot issue in that community right now, incarceration rates might be it.

Clinton said she would “tackle the disparity” by, among other things, reexamining the current disparities between mandatory minimum sentences for possession of crack cocaine and powder cocaine.  But asked whether she would make new sentencing guidelines retroactive, Clinton said no.  “I think that it definitely needs to be prospective,” she said, but “On principle, I have problems with retroactivity.”

Although her focus on mandatory minimums appeared to strike the right chord for audience members, her answer on retroactivity did not.  Each of Clinton’s rivals said they would support making new guidelines retroactive, which served not only to clarify the other candidates’ positions, but also to reinforce the issue in audience members’ minds.

Later, Clinton was asked to clarify her position on granting driver licenses to illegal immigrants, an issue which caused her trouble at a previous debate when other candidates (and, after the fact, many pundits) accused her of equivocating.  This time, she had an answer ready, which she delivered clearly and concisely.  But regardless, her answer — she’s against the policy — is unpopular in the Latino community.  Other candidates were not asked the question, leaving Sen. Chris Dodd and former Sen. John Edwards with the good fortune of not having to agree with Clinton’s position.

One of the more interesting questions posed Saturday night dealt with US-Cuban relations.  Norris asked Clinton whether she would support normalizing relations with Cuba, and Clinton gave an answer that some might have taken as a ‘yes.’  “Well, I think we’re going to have that opportunity, because I believe that, when Fidel Castro finally does pass on, there will be a tremendous pent up desire” for democracy in Cuba.

That might have passed as a complete, sufficient answer in front of the Iowa audience in Des Moines (it did draw some hisses), but it is a significantly more complicated issue among voters in another politically important state, Florida, where large numbers of Cuban exiles parse politicians’ words meticulously when they make statements about Cuba policy.  So Norris pressed Clinton and the rest of the candidates on stage about whether the United States should normalize relations with Cuba before its dictator, Castro, dies.  Rep. Dennis Kucinich was the only candidate to respond with an unequivocal “yes,” and Dodd gave an emphatic but more nuanced answer in the affirmative.  The rest of the field offered a fairly homogeneous set of qualified nos.  Although each candidate has pledged not to campaign in Florida, a state whose primary date violates rules established by the Democratic National Committee, it will still be an important battleground state in the general election.

The Brown and Black Forum also offered candidates the opportunity to ask questions of each other from time to time, but only one question — posed by Dodd, directed to Edwards — capitalized on it.  Dodd forced Edwards to defend his votes in favor of bankruptcy “reform” legislation which has made it more difficult for Americans to recover from financial losses.

Edwards’s response, “I was wrong,” was well-delivered, but it may begin to wear on the Iowans who have been paying close attention to the former senator for the past year.  He has now used it to explain away a lot of apparent contradictions in his candidacy, from his war vote to his mansion to his working for a hedge fund.  A candidate can only issue blanket mea culpas so many times before voters are likely to sense a theme, whether or not all of the attacks are fair.

When Sen. Barack Obama was given his chance to ask another candidate a question, he appeared to be caught off guard, almost as if he did not even know it was coming.  His used his opportunity to display his depth of understanding of racial tensions and hate crimes in the premise of his question, but when it came time for the actual question part, he didn’t have much to go on.  So he asked Joe Biden to talk about a hate crimes bill for a second, and it wasn’t clear what he was getting at.

Kucinich raised eyebrows when he was told to ask a candidate a question by asking himself about health care.  He used it as an opportunity to talk about his proposal for a single-payer, not-for-profit system.

Clinton asked all of the candidates to join her in a commitment to fight HIV/AIDS domestically, but she did not press anyone on policy specifics.

Edwards asked Obama to join him in committing to raise the minimum wage to $9.50/hour and indexing it to inflation.  Obama said yes (a no answer could have caused a rift).

Biden asked the full field whether they would support pending legislation to eliminate disparities between minimum sentences for crack cocaine possession and powder cocaine possession entirely (to a 1:1 ratio).  It could have been dicey had any candidate said no, but each candidate pledged support.

And although rumors surfaced last week about exclusivity in the planning for the event, all visible chairs in the auditorium were filled and the generous audience doled out applause to all the candidates present.

It was an uneventful evening, where most candidates agreed with each other most of the time.  If any question went unanswered at the Brown and Black Forum, it was this: Given such a broad consensus around the issues discussed Saturday night, why hasn’t more already been done?

The core group helping to organize the forum has been shrunk from previous years, according to Des Moines Realtor and Latino activist Joe Henry, who was involved with the forum in its early years during the 1980s and became involved again during the 2000 election cycle.  Henry, who supports Sen. Barack Obama, was not invited to participate in the planning this year.

“It’s pretty evident at this point that both Wayne Ford and Mary Campos — both old friends of mine — have undoubtedly aligned themselves with the Clinton campaign,” he said, “and the smaller, the better, for that.”  Campos and Ford, both respected and long-standing activists, founded the forum together in 1984 and continue to operate it as co-chairs.  Ford also serves in the Iowa House.

Reached for comment Wednesday afternoon, the two organizers denied any allegations that they were favoring one candidate over others.  “I don’t think that question needs an answer,” Ford said.  “I am a little insulted that people would even think that,” continued Campos.

Mark Daley, Iowa Communications Director for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign, denied the accusations as well.

Still, concerns exist because of the uncharacteristic exclusivity of the planning for this year’s forum.Max Cardenas, a Hispanic entrepreneur from Des Moines, was involved in the 2004 Brown and Black Presidential Forum.  He told Iowa Independent that he was invited to participate in the planning of that year’s forum a month before it began.  In the week preceding it, he was asked to organize one of several community-wide meetings focusing on specific issue areas that were of interest to the minority community.  The meetings served as part of the build-up to to the Saturday forum, he said, and they helped to maximize the number of people involved in the discussion before questions were formulated and the forum took place.  This year, he was not invited to participate, and there was no indication that any such meetings took place.  “That’s unfortunate,” he said.

Although Cardenas admitted he had not seen “concrete evidence” that either Campos or Ford planned to endorse Sen. Hillary Clinton, he noted speculatively that “The guests of Mary Campos [who will be at the Forum with her] are co-chairs of the Clinton campaign.”

Henry said he did not have concrete proof that Campos and Ford were operating the forum to the benefit of Clinton, either.  But, he said, “If they weren’t doing it consciously, they were doing it through reduction of size” of the group invited to participate in organizing the forum, “Kind of in an unconscious way.”

“By not allowing larger or more participation, they pretty much knew what they were going to do,” he continued.  “It lends itself to partisan behavior.”

“Both Mary and Wayne, they already know which group they are going to support… They know what is going to be the end result.”  Henry added, “Again, I’m not going to be surprised a day after the forum that an endorsement’s going to [be announced] and they’re going to support Clinton.”

Aside from the concerns raised by past participants about who was included in the planning of the forum and who was excluded, three knowledgeable sources who asked to remain anonymous expressed frustration over the apparent secrecy with which tickets are being distributed.  Each presidential campaign has been promised approximately 50 tickets to hand out to their supporters, the organizers say, but the auditorium at North High School in Des Moines seats more than 1,000 people.  If all eight participating candidates (including Rep. Dennis Kucinich and former Sen. Mike Gravel) fill all 50 of their allotted seats with supporters, that would still leave the majority of the auditorium empty.  Campaigns were set to receive their allotment of tickets Thursday afternoon.

In an interview, Campos and Ford did not explain how they would fill the rest of the auditorium, nor did the organization respond to an emailed request for clarification after the interview concluded.  The Brown and Black Forum’s web site does not offer any information about ticket distribution to the public.

Although no sources could provide proof of who would receive the additional tickets, three sources independently speculated that they would go to Clinton supporters, a charge which the Clinton campaign denies.

But Ford and Campos would not admit to any bias. “There’s no proof out there that me and Mary have ever done anything wrong,” said Ford.  He also noted that the forum operates as a tax-exempt 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, so it cannot endorse a political candidate.  It is “completely nonpartisan and noncommittal to any party,” said Ryan Ford, who acts as the forum’s liason with the media.  “The co-chairs … make sure that they do not commit or do any work for any of the campaigns before the forum” for this reason, he continued.

But the organizers do plan to issue individual endorsements.  “My history has always been, after the forum is over, when I have a comfortable zone, I’ll make a decision,” Wayne Ford said.  “I plan to make a statement about who impressed me.”  Campos confirmed that she, too, would probably make an endorsement, but noted that “I believe we have all good candidates running.”

Neither would commit to a timetable for announcing their endorsements, admitting that they could come as early as next week or as late as January 2, 2008.  Both said they had not made up their minds about which candidates they might support.

For their parts, both Cardenas and Henry called the appearance of bias — whether true or not — “unfortunate.”

“I think the Brown and Black Forum, given its national audience — it’s a great opportunity for African-Americans and Hispanics” in Des Moines, said Cardenas.

“Now other Latinos and other African-Americans are being excluded from a group that should not be discriminatory and partisan,” said Henry.  “It should be about the issues.”

Asked why the forum has been the subject of allegations and scrutiny this year, Ford paused.  “It must be a close race,” he said.