Clinton and Obama clash in TV debate
- 00:01:36
- ITN
Clinton and Obama clash in TV debate
US Presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have clashed in a tense debate five days before the pivotal South Carolina primary.A simmering feud between the Democrat hopefuls boiled over into accusations of distortion and exaggeration in the acrimonious head-to-head.Even in the highly-charged atmosphere of their fight for the party's nomination, the statements and exchanges between Clinton and Obama were unusually personal.Mrs Clinton accused the Illinois senator of representing a Chicago slumlord and Mr Obama countered that she had been a corporate lawyer for anti-union Wal-Mart.The debate came as the two campaigns continued to complain about dirty politics and disenfranchisement of voters in Saturday's Nevada caucuses.One of the rancorous exchanges came over whether Mr Obama had praised Republican ideals and former President Ronald Reagan.Mr Obama argued that he had not complimented Republican ideas and his comments had been misconstrued."What I said was that Ronald Reagan was a transformative political figure because he was able to get Democrats to vote against their economic interests to form a majority to push through their agenda, an agenda that I objected to," he said."While I was working on those streets watching those folks see their jobs shift overseas, you were a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart," he added.Mrs Clinton interrupted and said she had read the transcript and she didn't mention Reagan by name."Your husband did," said Mr Obama, who has accused the former president of misrepresenting his record."I'm here. He's not," she countered.The former North Carolina senator John 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.Mr Edwards quickly rode the wave of his quip and added that he wanted to know how the Obama - Clinton argument would benefit voters in South Carolina."This kind of squabbling, how many children is this going to get health care? How many people are going to get an education from this? How many kids are going to be able to go to college because of this?" he asked."We have got to understand, this is not about us personally," he added before saying that it was about what they were trying to do for the country to applause from the audience.The bitter exchange underscored the closeness of the race for the party nod.Mr Obama captured the Iowa caucuses on January 3, Mrs Clinton bounced back with a win in New Hampshire and the two shared the spoils in Nevada.The first-in-the-South primary on Saturday in South Carolina is expected to produce a strong turnout from black voters, who could make up more than 50 per cent of the Democratic electorate.In two weeks, some two dozen states, including California, New York and Illinois, will vote on the nominee.© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.
ITN | January 22, 2008
