The Democratic presidential race grew increasingly acrimonious ahead of the pivotal South Carolina primary after front-runners Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama accused each other of repeatedly and deliberately distorting the truth for political gain in a heated debate.
Republican White House candidates, meanwhile, focused on Florida where former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has pinned all hopes for his candidacy after staying out of the early contests in which his three main rivals split the spoils in contests that netted three different winners in six states.
The Democrats' debate on 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 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 said.
"Well, I can't tell who I'm running against sometimes," Obama said.
The two opponents, 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 kick-off 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.
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.
Early on in the debate, Clinton and Obama called for tax rebates for individuals to help with home heating and other short-term needs.
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