With polls showing a highly competitive primary race and no clear front-runner, the Democrats in Wednesday’s debate acted as if they had decided ahead of time to avoid taking risks or doing much of anything that might cause them to lose momentum at this stage of the campaign.

It was not flashy. It might not be memorable. But it was revealing.

Here are five takeaways:

It was the debate that wasn’t

For much of the night, the showdown in Atlanta felt more like a candidate forum than a true clash of visions, as contender after contender seemed more than satisfied to go long periods reciting elements of their stump speeches, rather than contrasting with one another on policy.

They disagreed politely with one another, and agreed repeatedly about the menace of President Trump.

“I think Joe is right,” Senator Bernie Sanders said at one point to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.