A poisonous new exchange erupted on the Democratic campaign trail Wednesday as former president Bill Clinton accused his wife's chief rival, Senator Barack Obama, of a political "hit job."
Senator Hillary Clinton insisted that Democratic wounds would heal in time for the party to recapture the White House in the election, but the bad blood was spilt anew as Obama himself came out firing against his tag-team opponents.
The running battles on the Democratic stump have sparked disquiet among party grandees heading into South Carolina's Democratic primary tomorrow and a slew of contests in more than 20 states on "Super Tuesday," Feb. 5.
However, the former president, stumping in South Carolina on his wife's behalf, hurled a venomous new broadside against the Illinois senator.
"I never heard a word of public complaint when Mr. Obama said Hillary was not truthful, no character, was poll-driven," he told startled reporters.
"When he put out a hit job on me at the same time he called her the senator from Punjab, I never said a word," he said, referring to an Obama campaign memo last year that attacked the Clintons' links to the Indian-American community.
"Shame on you!" the former president exclaimed, berating the reporters for picking up on Obama's attacks instead of focusing on the issues that he said mattered, such as the faltering US economy.
Simmering tensions between the two campaigns erupted late Monday at a Democratic debate, when Obama and the former first lady traded accusations of dishonesty, policy U-turns and campaign trickery.
Obama again accused the Clintons of twisting his remarks to suggest he was endorsing Republican ideas, and shot back at their claims that he has been inconsistent in his opposition to the war in Iraq -- which she voted for.
"The only thing I want to make sure of is that when he goes after me, that he goes after me on the basis of facts and policy differences, and, you know, stuff isn't just made up," Obama said on ABC's Good Morning America program.
And addressing a 700-strong rally of students at South Carolina's Winthrop University, Obama said some politicians "don't always say what they mean, or mean what they say."
"That is what this debate in this party is all about."
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said: "That fact that Hillary Clinton has praised Ronald Reagan and supported some of the very worst Republican ideas just underscores that she will say or do anything to get elected."
Hillary Clinton campaigned on Wednesday in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with an eye on big states that could decide the Democratic nomination.
She barely even referred to her rival, instead delving deep into healthcare, the mortgage crisis and education -- key concerns of her core blue-collar voters.
She denied she was ceding South Carolina to Obama, where overwhelming black support has propelled him to a 19-point lead over her, a new Zogby poll showed.
"We are going to have a vigorous contest, then we are going to have a united Democratic Party," she told reporters in Philadelphia after picking up the heavyweight endorsement of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell.
Clinton could take heart from a Field Poll survey in California, the biggest prize on Super Tuesday, which gave her a 39 percent to 27 percent lead over Obama among likely Democratic and independent voters.
Republican candidates, campaigning full-bore in Florida before its primary next Tuesday, stuck to longer-term prescriptions of lower taxes and spending to heal the world's biggest economy.
Senator John McCain, after winning South Carolina's Republican primary last Saturday, picked up a crop of Florida endorsements and one from General Norman Schwarzkopf, who led allied forces in the 1991 Gulf War.
He also bagged a new victory in Louisiana, where initial results showed he won the state's caucuses on Tuesday.
For former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Florida is critical after he sat out the early nominating contests. He played down polls that showed him slipping behind McCain in both Florida and his home state of New York.
"I've had more experience than they [his rivals] have in running a government ... New York is the financial capital of the world," Giuliani told CNN, insisting he was still the Republican to beat.
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