When Democrat candidates for president Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders appeared in their first nationally televised debate Tuesday night, fireworks of the type engaged in by the large field of Republicans weren’t the order of the day.

Both Sanders and Clinton essentially chose to refrain from any major personal attacks. They said they preferred to stick to the issues. On that dimension it isn’t all that easy to tell them apart.

Clinton and Sanders differ somewhat on just how much more they would expand government’s intrusiveness into our lives. But their similarities far outweigh their differences.

They agree on “free”college tuition, for example. But goodies like that are not free.

The Clinton plan is estimated to cost $350 billion over 10 years. That is more than $1,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States.

From Clinton’s expanded government role in health care to Sanders’ $15 minimum wage, dozens of their proposals have big price tags.

That leads to the question that voters should ask both candidates repeatedly:

Who pays?