They came out laughing

They sat in facing chairs. They only had water to drink. They talked for an hour, no aides present. They emerged laughing.

Those are some of the details emerging today from first real face-to-face meeting of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama since he clinched the Democratic nomination, courtesy of the host, Senator Dianne Feinstein.

The California senator -- who supported Clinton and then switched to Obama and called for party unity -- said Clinton called her Thursday afternoon to ask to use her Washington house last night for the secret get-together. (Clinton plans a formal endorsement Saturday in Washington.)

While Obama and Clinton sat in the living room, Feinstein went upstairs, she told the Associated Press.

"They called me when it was over," Feinstein said. "I came down and said, 'Good night everybody, I hope you had a good meeting.' They were laughing, and that was it."

She told reporters today that she hopes the two former rivals have more one-on-one meetings, away from spinmeisters.

"It's a first good step," Feinstein said.

"This is a deeply personal time, too, you know," she added. "Barack is trying to put things together for a major presidential campaign. There are a lot of decompression and nerve endings that need to come together....It's extraordinarily difficult to be just human."