Halfway through
an otherwise cordial debate, Delaware senator Joe Biden
raised an issue generally left unaddressed by the other
Democratic candidates: Bill Clinton's complicated
legacy as president and how it might affect Hillary
Clinton's chances of winning her own election to the
White House.
''There's a lot
of very good things that come with all the great things
that President Clinton did, but there's also a lot of the
old stuff that comes back,'' Biden said. ''When I say
old stuff, I'm referring to policy -- policy.''
In a two-hour
debate that touched on the Iraq war, Iran's nuclear
program, Social Security, and even the Red Sox-Yankees
baseball rivalry, Biden's comment was the most direct
challenge to Hillary Clinton and the growing sense of
inevitability surrounding her candidacy.
With just four
months to go before voting begins, analysts had expected
the other candidates, notably Barack Obama and John Edwards,
to use the debate to sharply question Clinton's record
and electability. But most avoided any pointed
attacks, with Obama and Edwards mostly reiterating
their long-held argument that the former first lady is the
candidate of the status quo.
Recent polls show
Clinton widening her lead nationally and in most early
states, including New Hampshire, where the candidates
debated at Dartmouth College. Obama is running a
distant second here, Edwards third, and others trying
hard to break out of single digits.
But it was
Biden's remark that laid bare a central quandary about
Hillary Clinton's candidacy: whether she can
justifiably take credit for her husband's successes
while sidestepping the controversies and lingering
questions that make some voters wary of another Clinton
presidency.
''Bill Clinton
had a big role tonight -- he got more time in the debate
than some of the candidates,'' Democratic strategist Dan
Newman said. ''His presidency is a critical part of
both Hillary's experience argument and Obama's
argument about the need for change.''
For the most
part, the former first lady nimbly toggled back and forth --
generally embracing her husband's legacy while drawing some
distinctions.
She praised his
fiscal responsibility as president, noting he had left a
balanced budget and surplus and had developed a plan to keep
Social Security solvent until 2055.
''I thought Bill
was a pretty good president,'' she said when asked if
voters may be tiring of a succession of presidents named
Clinton and Bush.
But Clinton
distanced herself from her husband as well, most notably
when asked if she would ever approve torturing a
suspected terrorist to prevent the detonation of a
''big bomb.'' She said no, but moderator Tim Russert
pointed out Bill Clinton had proposed such a possibility in
an interview last year.
''Well, he's not
standing here right now,'' she said, and the audience
applauded.
''I'll talk to
him later,'' she said, when Russert pressed her on the
matter.
On Thursday,
Clinton's campaign acknowledged that she has reversed
course. Last October, Clinton told the New York Daily
News that that the ''ticking time bomb'' scenario
would be a narrow exception to her opposition to
torture.
''Upon reflection
and after meeting with former generals and others,
Senator Clinton does not believe that we should be making
narrow exceptions to this policy based on
hypotheticals,'' spokesman Howard Wolfson said in an
e-mail.
While the debate
was not an exercise in ''Hillary bashing'' that many
activists had expected, her opponents did try to land some
gentle barbs where possible.
Obama chided her
handling of health care reform as first lady, saying she
had lost the battle because she had pushed people away.
''Part of the
reason it was lonely, Hillary, is because you closed the
door'' to outside input, he charged.
Edwards took her
to task for voting for a Senate resolution Wednesday he
said signaled a march toward invading Iran.
''I have no
intention of giving George Bush the authority to take the
first step to war with Iran,'' Edwards said, saying Clinton
hadn't learned the lessons, as he had, of voting in
2002 to authorize the invasion of Iraq.
For her part,
Clinton seized opportunities to praise her opponents -- an
effort to blur the differences between herself and others on
controversial issues like health care and her vote on the
Iraq. She also appeared to crack up in laughter
several times.
Elizabeth Ossoff,
a professor of political psychology at St. Anselm
College, said Clinton's status as both the front-runner and
sole woman candidate was another reason her rivals
have refrained from attacking her thus far.
''The research
shows you go after a woman, it reflects badly on you,''
Ossoff said. ''They can pretend it's not a different
standard. But everyone is politely staying away from
the fact that there is only one woman on stage.''
(Beth Fouhy, AP)
