Clinton, Obama targets in lively Dem debate

CHICAGO — Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton came under sharp attack from their Democratic presidential rivals in a spirited debate in Chicago on Tuesday night, with Obama rebuked as irresponsible on foreign policy and Clinton accused of being too cozy with corporate America and Washington, D.C., lobbyists.

Obama, of Illinois, and Clinton, of New York, held their ground. Obama forcefully fired back at his critics, including Clinton, arguing that those attacking him had helped authorize the Iraq war, which he called "the biggest foreign-policy disaster in our generation."

Clinton deflected her critics by saying she is the candidate best-prepared to defeat the Republicans in 2008 and lead the Democrats back to the White House. "For 15 years I have stood up against the right-wing machine, and I've come out stronger," she said. "So if you want a winner who knows how to take them on, I'm your girl."

The debate was the most animated of the year for the Democrats and reflected that the battle for the party's nomination may be entering a more contentious phase.

Clinton has opened a wide lead in recent national polls, making her a more obvious target for rivals, but as the night's exchanges demonstrated, she hopes to stay above the fray as long as she can.

Obama's fundraising success and his grass-roots support have made him Clinton's leading challenger, but his more experienced opponents are eager to undermine his standing by questioning his readiness to serve as president.

More than 15,000 union workers and their families filled end-zone seats at Chicago's Soldier Field for the 90-minute debate, sponsored by the AFL-CIO, which was broadcast live on MSNBC and XM radio. The audience cheered and occasionally jeered the seven candidates.

The candidates competed to show their labor credentials, producing another scrape between former Sen. John Edwards, of North Carolina, and Sen. Joseph Biden, of Delaware, over who has worked longer on behalf of union workers and their families.

"It is great to give a talk, but who has been with you in crunch time?" Edwards asked, saying he has walked picket lines and rallied with workers 200 times in the past few years.

Biden shot back that he has been battling for organized labor throughout his career, which he called far more important than "when you're running for president the last two years."

Also on stage were Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who trumpeted his union fealty, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio.

Kucinich called out his opponents for not joining him in vowing to end the North American Free Trade Agreement and pull the U.S. out of the World Trade Organization.

Former Sen. Mike Gravel, of Alaska, the eighth Democrat running for president, was not included in Tuesday's debate because he did not complete an AFL-CIO candidate questionnaire, a labor spokesman said.

The longest and sharpest exchange came when moderator Keith Olbermann of MSNBC mentioned Dodd's criticism of Obama last week.

Obama had said that he would threaten U.S. military action inside Pakistan in pursuit of al-Qaida terrorists if Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf did not root them out.

"I think it is highly irresponsible of people who are running for the presidency and seek that office to suggest we may be willing unilaterally to invade a nation here that we are trying to get to be more cooperative with us in Afghanistan and elsewhere," Dodd said.

"Well, look," Obama responded, "I find it amusing that those who helped to authorize and engineer the biggest foreign-policy disaster in our generation are now criticizing me for making sure that we are on the right battlefield and not the wrong battlefield in the war against terrorism."

Clinton jumped in to say that while Obama's policy may be sound, "you should not always say everything you think if you're running for president, because it has consequences across the world."

Dodd, Clinton, Edwards and Biden voted to authorize the Iraq war in 2002. Obama, who was in the Illinois legislature at the time, spoke out against the invasion.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.