Clinton, Obama
Have Bitter Debate Ahead of S.C. Primary

Barack Obama began speaking out more aggressively against his rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in a heated debate, as the Democratic presidential race grew increasingly combative ahead of the pivotal South Carolina primary.

Republican White House candidates, meanwhile, were focused on Florida, where former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani has pinned hopes for his candidacy after ignoring previous primaries. His three main rivals split the spoils in contests that netted three different winners in six states, leaving the race wide open.

The Democrats' debate Monday night quickly devolved into an angry exchange between Clinton and Obama.

Obama told the former first lady in Monday night's debate that he was helping unemployed workers on the streets of Chicago when ''you were a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart.''

Moments later, Clinton said that she was fighting against misguided Republican policies ''when you were practicing law and representing your contributor ... in his slum landlord business in inner-city Chicago.''

Obama seemed particularly irritated at Hillary Clinton's husband, former president Bill Clinton, whom the Illinois senator accused in absentia of uttering a series of distortions to aid his wife's presidential effort.

''I'm here. He's not,'' she snapped.

''Well, I can't tell who I'm running against sometimes,'' Obama countered.

The two rivals, joined by former North Carolina senator John Edwards, debated at close quarters five days before the South Carolina primary -- and 15 days before the equivalent of a nationwide primary across 22 states that will go a long way toward settling the battle for the party's nomination.

Clinton was the national front-runner for months in the race, but Obama won the kickoff Iowa caucuses three weeks ago, knocking her off stride. She recovered quickly, winning the New Hampshire primary in an upset, and on Saturday, won the popular vote in the Nevada caucuses while Obama won one more delegate to the party's presidential nominating convention than she did.

The Democratic electorate in South Carolina is expected to be roughly 50% black, an evident advantage for Obama in a historic race that matches a black man against a woman. Polls showed Obama ahead in the race, and he needs the momentum a win would provide.

Even in the superheated atmosphere of the primary, the statements and exchanges between Clinton and Obama were unusually acrimonious.

Obama suggested the Clintons were both practicing the kind of political tactics that had alienated voters.

''There was a set of assertions made by Senator Clinton as well as her husband that are not factually accurate,'' Obama said. ''I think that part of what people are looking for right now is someone who is going to solve problems and not resort to the same typical politics that we've seen in Washington.''

Clinton countered: ''I believe your record and what you say should matter.''

Edwards, who badly trails his two rivals, tried to stay above the fray while pleading for equal time.

''Are there three people in this debate, not two?'' he asked.

''We have got to understand, this is not about us personally. It's about what we are trying to do for this country,'' Edwards said to applause from the audience.

With the holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. as a backdrop, the candidates also addressed questions of racial equality in the debate sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute and CNN.

Edwards tried to make a distinction by pointing out that Clinton and Obama supported a trade deal with Peru. ''South Carolina has been devastated by NAFTA and trade deals,'' Edwards said.

Obama responded by criticizing Edwards for voting for permanent trade relations with China and struck out at Clinton for saying last year that the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada has been a boon to the economy. ''I think it's been devastating,'' Obama said.

Hillary Clinton was scheduled to leave South Carolina after the debate and not return until Thursday -- an indication that she is putting more stock in the February 5 contests. Her husband and daughter, Chelsea, are expected to campaign for her in South Carolina.

Edwards, who acknowledged that he got his ''butt kicked'' in Nevada, has also staked his fading hopes on South Carolina, the state where he was born and whose primary he won in 2004.

The Republicans focused on the January 29 contest in Florida, where the race is close despite Arizona senator John McCain's victories in South Carolina and New Hampshire. A Florida win would give the victor a whopping 57 delegates to the party's national convention and a huge jolt of energy in the run-up to February 5.

McCain courted the influential Cuban vote in Miami, stressing that he would not lift the United States' decades-old Cuba embargo and noting that some U.S. prisoners of war in Vietnam, though not him, were tortured by Castro's agents.

The veteran senator hopes his personal and professional links to Florida, as well as his military background, will help him break out of the pack in a state that is home to a large number of veterans and active-duty service members.

Almost immediately after the Republicans' January 19 South Carolina primary, Giuliani and Mitt Romney, a Mormon millionaire and former Massachusetts governor, wasted no time in criticizing McCain. Their swipes were couched in economic terms, in line with Americans' recession worries that are dominating the race.

Giuliani attacked McCain for siding with Democrats in voting against President George W. Bush's tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. Romney, buoyed by wins in Nevada, Michigan, and Wyoming, portrayed the Arizona senator as a consummate Washington insider.

Romney on Monday said that both McCain and Giuliani would ''have a relatively difficult time'' strengthening an economy that is in danger of falling into a recession and that only he has the business experience to turn the economy around. (AP)