US:Hoping to cut into her widening lead, top tier Democratic presidential candidates used a testy debate here on Tuesday to cast Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as beholden to Washington lobbyists and too compromised to revamp healthcare and make changes the party wants to see once President Bush leaves office.
The repeated swipes at Mrs Clinton came amid polling that shows her consolidating her advantage to a point where, in an eight-person field, she is drawing support from nearly a majority of voters.
Again and again, whether the question concerned bridge safety or free trade, Mrs Clinton's main rivals tried to drive home a message that she is part of a Washington culture that is delivering results only for the most influential Americans.
Former senator John Edwards, trailing Mrs Clinton by 36 points in the most recent USA Today/Gallup poll, said in reply to a question about the North American Free Trade Agreement deal, "the one thing you can count on is you will never see a picture of me on the front of Fortune magazine saying, 'I am the candidate that big corporate America is counting on'." The New York senator appeared on the cover of a July issue of the magazine.
Senator Barack Obama, down 22 points in the same poll, made a reference to Mrs Clinton's comment in a recent debate that she would keep taking campaign money from paid lobbyists.
"Are we going to make certain that you have a voice in Washington, and not just those who are paying the big money in Washington?" he asked.
Mrs Clinton professed bemusement and said it was poor tactics for Democrats to fight among themselves. Yet at another point she chided Mr Obama for a speech last week in which he said that as president he might take military action inside Pakistan, a US ally, to root out terrorists.
"I'm just taking it all in," Mrs Clinton said. "I've noticed in the last few days that a lot of the other campaigns have been using my name a lot. But I'm here because I think we need to change America. And it's not to get in fights with Democrats."
She added that "for 15 years I have stood up against the right-wing machine and I've come out stronger. So if you want a winner who knows how to take them on, I'm your girl." At that the audience applauded.
The debate was sponsored by the trade union federation the AFL-CIO and attended by about 17,000 union members. The event was broadcast.
Each campaign would relish the endorsement of the 10 million-member AFL-CIO, though it is doubtful if the union, which will endorse a Democrat, will choose a candidate before the primaries wind down next year.
"We believe one of the people up here tonight will be our next president," AFL-CIO president John Sweeney told the crowd.
Union members were given a chance to ask questions. An Indiana resident named Steve Skvara broke down telling how his company went bankrupt, costing him his health insurance and pension. "What's wrong with America and what will you do to change it?" he asked.
Mr Edwards struck a populist chord, saying that pensions and retirement benefits for chief executives should be treated the same as those of the lowliest worker.
Mrs Clinton called for a return of "defined benefits", where companies provide fixed retirement benefits - a practice that has been disappearing as businesses cast about for savings.
"The pension system is broken," she said. "We've got to stop companies going into bankruptcy in order to get rid of their pension responsibilities."
Amid the sparring, there were some light moments. Senator Joseph Biden, known for being long-winded, was asked if he would bar no-bid federal contracts - something that has drawn criticism in the Bush administration.
"Yes," Mr Biden said, staring at debate moderator Keith Olbermann who told him he had 20 more seconds to make his point. Mr Biden kept staring. Point made.
Mr Obama seemed annoyed by questions about his foreign policy speech last week, in which he raised the spectre of launching attacks in Pakistan.
Asked about the matter, Mrs Clinton said it would be dangerous to destabilise the government of Pakistan's leader, Gen Pervez Musharraf. - ( LA Times - Washington Post service)