As often happens when he’s interviewing a Democrat, Daily Show host Jon Stewart dropped most of his smart-aleck routine when he interviewed Hillary Clinton on Monday night. Instead, Stewart took the opportunity to hail the “historic race,” comparing Clinton and Barack Obama to baseball stars Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio, and that the country might not appreciate “watching two historical figures battle it out.” He also hailed Clinton, Obama, and McCain as people who might serve in each other’s Cabinets, causing Clinton to claim mysteriously that she’d like to appoint a bipartisan Cabinet and thinks there are “good ideas across the political spectrum.”

As the interview wound to a close, Stewart declared that the American people ought to be gearing up to remember Hillary vs. Barack as this century's Lincoln-Douglas debates on the scale or sheer momentousness:

The thing that people I guess shouldn't lose focus of is either way this is an historic race. You have done better than any woman in the history of this country running for the highest office of this land. (Applause.) Barack Obama has done the same for African-Americans. It's almost whoever wins or loses, it's almost like in 1941, this is a stupid analogy so bear with me. In 1941 Ted Williams hit .400. Nobody has done that since in baseball but that year he didn't win the Most Valuable Player because Joe DiMaggio had a 56-game hitting streak. I feel like we as Americans are watching two historical figures battle it out. I don't know if people will be able to appreciate that because it's unfortunately one of you guys is going to have to yield to the other."

Hillary was pleased with the statement and agreed: "It is historic. I'm honored and thrilled to be, you know, part of what is a history-making campaign." Stewart added that the whole race can only help both campaigns:

STEWART: However long the campaign lasts, however long the battles last, it probably just strengthens whatever candidate comes out of it. You know the other thing I find interesting, whether you be the victor, obama or even Senator McCain ultimately, I feel like the three of you, I would not be surprised to see any of you working in each other's Cabinets, and it's been so long in our country that you could say that. I think people might find inspiration in just that very fact.

HILLARY CLINTON: Well, I've said many times that I would like to have a bipartisan Cabinet and White House. You know, a lot of our problems have nothing to do with Republican or Democrat. We've got to start acting like Americans again and roll up our sleeves and solve our problems. There are good ideas across the political spectrum.

Who took away liberal Hillary and replaced her with Ross Perot? In the first half of the interview, Stewart also lamented that Ohio has been neglected by the federal government, and is the victim of an “abusive relationship with politicians.”

I always feel bad for Ohio. I'll tell you why. It seems like every four years, people fly in and they criss-cross the state. They go, "Ohio, you are the salt of the earth. You are the blue collar people." Then the election is over and they disappear. Nobody in Ohio gets to hear from them. How do you convince people that have been in this abusive relationship with politicians for this long... how do you convince them of the sincerity of what's going on there?

Stewart, as long as he was lamenting the apparent lack of ever-flowing subsidies into Ohio, asked what a lot of liberals are thinking, whether Hillary is comfortable with crushing the Obama dream and mocking idealism:

I keep wondering because when I look at the speeches sometimes, it almost makes you feel like this idea between experience and hope, as though in Washington those two are mutually exclusive. That if you've worked in Washington for a long time, if you have the experience, it kills the hope inside you. Does that place you in an awkward position? You're someone that I think probably values yourself as an idealist. For all those years. Are you uncomfortable in the role of chastising someone's idealism? Is that an uncomfortable place for you to be?

Hillary assured Stewart that she cherishes Obama's idealism, but wants to bring realism to accomplishing liberal objectives like "universal health care."  

The only really funny moment happened when Stewart mocked Hillary at the beginning for coming on his show on the verge of such an important election and Hillary deadpanned: "It is pretty pathetic."

—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.