LAS VEGAS — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton stepped down from her front-runner's pedestal and hit back at her Democratic rivals Thursday night in a feisty debate that drew out differences over immigration, foreign policy and the proper tone of an increasingly harsh campaign.
The skirmishing started right off, when Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois faintly praised Clinton as "a capable politician" who had run a "terrific campaign."
"But what the American people are looking for right now is straight answers to tough questions," Obama went on. "And that is not what we've seen out of Sen. Clinton on a host of issues."
After spending the first seven Democratic presidential debates largely above the fray, the senator from New York fired back, suggesting that Obama had failed to take a strong stand in favor of universal healthcare.
"His plan would leave 15 million Americans out," Clinton said, then ticked off several early-voting states: "That's about the population of Nevada, Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire."
Obama disputed the assertion. Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina chimed in, echoing Obama's criticism of Clinton. "She continues to defend a system that does not work, that is broken, that is rigged and is corrupt," Edwards said.
Clinton struck back, harder. "I don't mind taking hits on my record on issues, but when somebody starts throwing mud, at least we can hope that it's both accurate and not right out of the Republican playbook," she said.
"For him to be throwing this mud and making these charges I think really detracts from what we're trying to do here tonight," Clinton said to cheers from the rowdy audience. "We need to put forth a positive agenda for America."
Much of the two-hour debate, held at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and sponsored by CNN, resumed a conversation that began Oct. 30, the last time the Democratic candidates shared a stage. That evening began the roughest patch of Clinton's presidential run. Her nonspecific answers to several questions fueled rivals' assertions that she was shifty and over-calculating.
Her problems compounded in the days that followed when Clinton's allies complained that her rivals and the debate moderator, NBC's Tim Russert, were unfairly piling on -- because of her gender, some said.
Asked Thursday night whether she was playing the gender card to garner support and sympathy, Clinton said no. "I'm just trying to play the winning card," she said.
