Clinton, Obama: The gloves come off

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- In the most intense and personal exchange of the campaign season, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama assailed each other's integrity and voting records during a televised debate Monday, five days before a critical South Carolina primary.

They snapped at each other, shouted above the other's protests and stopped just short of a free-for-all. At points, CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer seemed to lose control of the panel.

Obama and Clinton clashed over who really fought President Reagan, their relationships with special interests, and how they would pay for their proposals. They stared at one another icily and repeatedly accused one another in strikingly personal terms.

"You know, Senator Obama, it is very difficult having a straight-up debate with you, because you never take responsibility for any vote, and that has been a pattern," Clinton said, drawing jeers from the crowd in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Obama shot back that Clinton was conducting a brand of negative politics that, he suggested throughout the night, she and her husband had perfected: "Comb my 4,000 votes in Illinois, choose one, try to present it in the worst possible light."

Both candidates believe the Democratic nomination could be sealed in the next six weeks, and they used this debate, the second-to-last one of the primary season, to unload their best opposition research and sound bites against each other. In some cases, it was the first time the candidates had personally confronted each other on potentially embarrassing points.

The third Democratic contender, John Edwards, had to fight to speak. He tried to portray himself as the only candidate who was focusing on the real issues, criticizing the others for squabbling among themselves when health care and other issues go unresolved.

For the most part, the sparring focused on the major issues in the primary contest, from the candidates' plans on the economy and universal health care to their past and current positions on the Iraq war and free trade. The subtext of the attacks dwelled on honesty and accountability, with Clinton and Obama repeatedly implying that voters could not trust the opponent's words.

Often speaking over each other, Obama and Clinton bitterly complained about the other's legislative records. Clinton claimed Obama "basically did the bidding of health-insurance companies" in work he did in the Illinois state legislature on health-care reform.

Obama countered that Clinton carried political water for credit-card companies in voting for bankruptcy legislation that would have made it harder for consumers to discharge debts. The legislation failed and Clinton voted against a later version of the bill that has now become law.

Obama was as heated and intense as he has been at any debate over the past year. At times, he appeared to be on the verge of losing his temper at Clinton -- and also at her husband, former President Clinton, whom Obama criticized frequently during the debate for what he said were distortions of his views and his record.

"I'm here," Hillary Clinton said, "not my husband."

Obama snapped, "I can't tell who I'm running against sometimes."

Bitter exchanges

The two-hour debate, sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus and shown on CNN, was intended to commemorate the celebration of the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. But in the opening hour, a discussion of the economy and the candidates' plans to jump-start it was overtaken by personal charges and countercharges.

Obama objected particularly to the way the Clintons hammered him for saying recently that Reagan had transformed U.S. politics, insisting that he had been stating the obvious and not praising Reagan.

While he fought Reagan's policies as a community organizer in the poor neighborhoods of Chicago, Obama said, "you were a corporate lawyer sitting on the board of Wal-Mart." Clinton was a director of Wal-Mart from 1986 to 1992.

Clinton countered that she was fighting Reagan while Obama was representing a contributor who had a "slum landlord business in inner-city Chicago" -- a reference to indicted businessman Antonio Rezko, who had donated to Obama's campaign. It was the first time Clinton has linked Obama to Rezko.

Prosecutors have charged Rezko with fraud, attempted extortion and money laundering in what they allege was a scheme to get campaign money and payoffs from firms seeking to do business before two state boards. Obama, working for a law firm in Chicago, performed legal work involving Rezko's housing developments.

On Saturday, Obama returned more than $40,000 in political contributions that were linked to Rezko; in 2006, when charges against Rezko were made public, Obama gave $11,500 in Rezko contributions to charities.

Clinton also worked to turn Obama's complaints against him, suggesting they signaled weakness for a candidate who wants to take on the Republicans.

"I'm used to taking the incoming fire," she said. "But when you get into this arena, you can't expect to have a hands-off attitude about your record, and it is perfectly fair to have comparisons and contrasts."

Edwards was largely a bystander to what was by any measure a one-on-one battle between Clinton and Obama. After tartly reminding Blitzer, the moderator, that this was a three-person debate, Edwards moved to take advantage of the adversity between his rivals.

"There are three people in this debate, not two," Edwards said. "I also want to know on behalf of voters in South Carolina, how many children are going to get health care because of this? We have got to understand that this is not about us personally."

Still, the intensity of the exchange between them was a reminder that Clinton and Obama now view this as a two-person race, all but ignoring Edwards. When he jumped in, Edwards often sided with Clinton.

Democratic strategists differed on whether either Clinton or Obama emerged as a winner of the two-hour session. Some said Obama came off as defensive; others said Clinton was so aggressive that it could cost her support. Edwards backers hope he will benefit if voters were turned off by his rivals' tone and temperament.

Display of unity

South Carolina is the fourth stop in the Democratic nominating fight, and it has emerged as a critical battlefield for Obama, who won the Iowa caucuses but fell short to Clinton in New Hampshire and Nevada.

Hours before the debate, the three rivals had stood together on the steps of the state capitol in Columbia, in a brief display of political unity as they remembered the life and legacy of King. The candidates addressed a crowd that overflowed onto a sprawling downtown plaza, vowing to complete the unfinished business of the slain civil-rights leader.

"We have come so far together," Hillary Clinton said. "Barack Obama, an extraordinary, young African-American man with so much to contribute. John Edwards, a son of the South -- in fact, a son of South Carolina. And a woman -- all of us running for president of the United States of America!"

Compiled from The New York Times, McClatchy News Services, Chicago Tribune and Associated Press reports.