One thing was clear after watching Alabama's Democratic candidates for governor go at each other Tuesday night.

That there are only two candidates.

This is a race between former Supreme Court Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb and Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox. That's it.

I'm sorry, James Fields. You performed well. You've shown in the past you're capable of unleashing a haymaker and you answered questions reasonably and with good humor. But it's not happening.

But then, you've proved the smart guys wrong before.

I'm sorry Doug "New Blue" Smith. You probably know more than any of the candidates on stage, you put out some ideas and gained some admirers. But it's too late.

I'm sorry Christopher Countryman. We barely knew ya. I'm sorry Anthony White. You didn't show up and nobody noticed.

This is two-person fight, and - from the looks of things Tuesday - it's gonna be a doozy.

Cobb hit Maddox right in his resume, pointing to a University of Alabama study that criticized the equality of the recovery in Tuscaloosa after the 2011 tornado. The report concluded that "the housing boom that occurred in Tuscaloosa after the tornado and concurrent with University growth has resulted in cumulative vulnerabilities for individuals who were left homeless after the storm and cumulative advantages for developers of student apartment complexes."

Maddox hit Cobb in her history too, on her decision to quit her elected position as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court even though she was, until last year's senate race, the last Democrat in Alabama elected to a really important job.

"While you've been sitting behind the marble castle of Montgomery, ruling from the bench up high in your black robe, I've been out where real problems need real solutions," he said. "Leaders don't quit in crisis, and when Tuscaloosa faced its crisis I stood tall for the people of Tuscaloosa."

Yeah. It's a two-person fight. And it's gonna be a whopper.

Which in some ways is great for Democrats, who haven't tasted excitement in a statewide primary in a long time. Both are formidable. Both have experience of a sort. Both, it has been shown, are willing to bare their teeth and their knuckles to fight for the job they want.

Though if Maddox is more than a cheap shot artist, he'll tell those who follow Cobb around heckling her at appearances to cool it once and for all. It's unseemly, and it reflects on him.

But this race presents a dilemma, too. Because, in the post-Roy Moore daze in which Democrats believe they have at least a puncher's chance of seating their own governor in Alabama, Maddox and Cobb must figure out a way to deck one another without dividing the party, without knocking the steam out of the race and simply handing it, again, over to Republicans who expect to dominate.

Columnist Cameron Smith pointed out at the debate that Doug Jones needed crossover Republicans to beat Moore, and any Democrat who wins in November will need some GOP help, too. How can they pull that support without Republican scandal or corruption?

Maddox said Republicans would recognize the need to expand Medicaid to save hospitals in their communities. Cobb said moderate Republicans and Democrats agree on most issues, and cited the lottery and clean water.

If you ask me they both sound a little punch drunk. They've got to do better, or this won't be a two-person fight at all.

It'll just be an undercard to an inevitable Republican victory in November.

John Archibald's column appears in The Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Register and AL.com. Write him at jarchibald@al.com.

Tuscaloosa report by John Archibald on Scribd