Suzanne Goldenberg, guardian.co.uk
Hillary Clinton hammered Barack Obama on his commitment to universal healthcare and grasp of foreign policy, using a last debate before a set of crucial primaries to try and expose her opponent\'s potential flaws.
Following 11 straight primary wins for Obama, the debate was critical to Clinton\'s chances of reviving her campaign and she came out swinging. However, her attacks at times seemed more flailing than focused.
After so many debates, there was little that was new, although Clinton came the closest she ever has to expressing contrition for her 2002 vote authorizing war on Iraq. She acknowledged she wished she had not cast the vote.
The contentious start set the stage for a 16-minute exchange on healthcare, which saw Clinton repeatedly speaking over the moderators to accuse Obama of failing to provide coverage to all Americans in his proposals.
"It would be as though Franklin Roosevelt said, let\'s make Social Security voluntary. That\'s, you know - that\'s - let\'s let everybody get in it if they can afford it. Or if President Johnson said, let\'s make Medicare voluntary," Clinton said.
But in what was a sign of the high stakes for Clinton, the attack seemed somewhat desperate. And amid raising substantive points on such issues as healthcare, the NAFTA free trade agreement, and mastery of world events, she displayed peevishness and self-pity.
Clinton accused Obama\'s campaign of producing misleading campaign literature and said the U.S. media had treated her unfairly. Later on, she teamed with moderator Tim Russert to increase pressure on Obama to disavow the pastor of his Chicago church that has links with Louis Farrakhan.
For Obama, who’s been cutting into Clinton\'s lead in the opinion polls ahead of next week\'s contests in Texas and Ohio, there was comparatively little pressure to deliver a knockout punch.
While Clinton was focused on the differences with her opponent, Obama\'s demeanor was relaxed and conciliatory. He repeatedly noted points of agreement with Clinton and praised her as an able Senator.
When Clinton again accused Obama of lacking substance to back up his soaring rhetoric, Obama responded mildly.
"I am not interested in talk," he said. "I would not be running if I wasn\'t absolutely convinced that I can put an economic agenda forward that is going to provide them with healthcare, is going to make college more affordable, and is going to get them the kinds of help that they need not to solve all of their problems, but at least to be able to achieve the American Dream."
Clinton didn’t have the luxury to appear relaxed as her campaign has cast the next set of primaries as a last stand. If she cannot extract wins in Ohio and Texas by convincing voters she is prepared to fight for their economic interests, Clinton may be out of the race.
Polls suggest Clinton\'s once imposing lead over Obama in Ohio has evaporated as she now leads by as little as five points. The two are in a dead heat in Texas.
The pressure was telling, as was the duration of the contest. The debate was the 20th encounter between Obama and Clinton and there were signs that they were past the point of tolerating each other\'s company.
Clinton complained that she was always asked the first question in debates and then mentioned a Saturday Night Live skit that played up the American media\'s soft spot for Obama.
Obama, on a number of occasions, seemed to smirk or laugh as Clinton was speaking.
But despite Clinton\'s claims of favoritism to Obama, her opponent also came in for tough questioning from Russert about whether he would live up to a written pledge to accept public financing of his general election campaign.
Obama faced even tougher questioning about Farrakhan. Although Obama repeatedly said he disavowed Farrakhan\'s anti-semitic views, Clinton egged Russert to get Obama to issue a more strenuous disavowal.
"If the word \'reject\' Senator Clinton feels is stronger than the word \'denounce,\' then I\'m happy to concede the point, and I would reject and denounce," Obama said to applause.
