A flag pin that Barack Obama sometimes doesn't wear? Obama's neighbor, an English professor who was a member of the radical Weather Underground — 40 years ago? And again with Hillary Clinton's bogus Bosnia recollections and Obama's relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright?

Those subjects dominated the first half of Wednesday's Democratic presidential debate on ABC News, a debate that was defined more by the moderators' questions than by the candidates' answers. Voters deserve better.

In fairness to ABC anchor Charles Gibson and correspondent George Stephanopoulos, the tempests they asked about have driven the campaign in the six weeks since the last debate.

And because Obama and Clinton don't differ much on most issues, electability has surfaced as the latest battleground. But that's no excuse for ABC's obsessive focus on gaffes and gotchas.

The inquisitors did eventually get around to more substantive subjects: Iraq, the economy, taxes and gas prices, guns, religion and bitterness in small-town America, Iran, Social Security and affirmative action. But most of that discussion tilled well-furrowed ground. There are subjects that would have provided fresher fodder.

Why no question about the recent food riots around the world as the price of sustenance skyrockets? What about Wednesday's death penalty decision in which the Supreme Court ruled lethal injection constitutional? Or President George W. Bush telling Pope Benedict XVI that "here in America, you'll find a nation that welcomes the role of faith in the public square."

There was plenty to talk about. Too bad for voters that much of it didn't make the cut at ABC.