AUSTIN, TEXAS — Setting aside their admittedly similar policy prescriptions, Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton differed sharply in a televised debate Thursday over which of their divergent leadership styles offered the best chance of success.
The tension in the nearly two-hour session came as the campaigns' trajectories collided in Texas, which along with Ohio is a pillar of the next round of primaries, on March 4. The debate opened with polls showing that Clinton's dominance in Texas has evaporated into a dead heat, as her troubled campaign suffered under Obama's 11-contest winning streak.
Most of their exchanges at the University of Texas debate, sponsored by CNN, Univision and the Texas Democratic Party, were calm recitations of their proposals. But the debate flared to life when the candidates were asked about Clinton's allegation this week that Obama had plagiarized a section of a speech made by one of his supporters, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
"The notion that I had plagiarized from somebody who's one of my national co-chairs, who gave me the line and suggested that I use it, I think is silly," Obama declared, to cheers from the audience. He added: "Sen. Clinton has a fine record. So do I. And I'm happy to debate on the issues, but what we shouldn't be spending time doing is tearing each other down. We should be spending time lifting the country up."
Clinton, in response, repeated a line from earlier in the week. "Well, I think that if your candidacy is going to be about words, then they should be your own words." She went on to mock Obama's campaign slogan, "Change we can believe in."
"Lifting whole passages from someone else's speeches is not change you can believe in; it's change you can Xerox," she said, drawing some jeers from the crowd.
The dispute between the two did not end there. Clinton closed the debate with a emotional recounting of her belief that "the hits I've taken in life" were nothing compared to those suffered by Americans she meets every day.
"Whatever happens, we're going to be fine," she said, in words that underscored the straits faced by her campaign. " . . . I just hope that we'll be able to say the same thing about the American people, and that's what this election should be about."
Minutes later, the Obama campaign circulated similar remarks uttered by former Democratic candidate John Edwards, whose support both Clinton and Obama have been seeking.
