For the past 15 months, we have heard one constant drumbeat from the Democratic campaigns: Change.

So why is it during last night’s televised debate we got a lot of the same old stuff.

We learned that Sen. Hillary Clinton is somewhat memory-challenged when it comes to her arrival in Bosnia a few years back. To her credit, Clinton didn’t even bother trying to explain it. She simply said she botched it.

We learned that Sen. Barack Obama managed to offend a lot of Pennsylvanians by referring to some residents of small towns as being “bitter” and “clinging to guns and religion.” Obama spent a lot of time explaining just what he really meant to say, along the way admitting he “mangled” the reference.

And so it went for much of the first hour of the debate, picking open the scabs that have not yet had a chance to heal, the belief that Clinton cannot be trusted, or that Obama did not properly disassociate himself from the controversial comments of his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

But we really didn’t learn much that is new, unless you also got the impression that we should not hold our breath waiting for either of these folks to volunteer to serve as the other’s vice president. Or that either of them, if victorious, would agree to select the other in the first place.

But for the most part, the debate took entirely too long to get to the key issues. Both candidates stood firm on their belief that they would immediately begin to withdraw our troops from Iraq, regardless of the recommendations of the military.

We did not hear enough about gas prices and the economy, which seem to be going to hell in a gas-soaked coffin.

We got only a few snippets on what appears to be one of the few areas these two Democrats actually differ, on taxes.

We have five days left before the state goes to the polls on Tuesday. Maybe we should spend that time talking about the issues.