Democrats Hillary
Clinton and Barack Obama are making their final pitches
to voters in Ohio and Texas, must-win contests for Clinton,
after a mostly somber and policy-filled debate that
seemed unlikely to alter the political calculus of the
race.
In sometimes
testy exchanges the two sparred over health care, the war in
Iraq, and trade, particularly the North American Free Trade
Agreement, which was negotiated in her husband's first
term -- and is seen by labor and other critics as a
chief culprit in the loss of manufacturing jobs in
Ohio and other industrial Midwestern states.
Both candidates
have called for renegotiating parts of the trade pact,
but in different terms.
It was their
final debate before next Tuesday's contests, which also
include races in Vermont and Rhode Island.
Clinton needs big
wins after 11 successive Obama victories and after
Obama's steady increase in gathering delegates. It seemed
unlikely the debate at Cleveland State University
would provide that lift.
Neither one
seemed to knock the other off stride.
''I don't think
the debate changes a lot. Both came across as strong in
the ways they've always been seen as strong,'' said Wayne
Fields, a professor at Washington University in St.
Louis who studies political rhetoric. Neither one
managed to seriously erode the other's credibility.
In a 90-minute
session that was largely devoid of humor, Clinton tried
for a light moment, invoking the opening skit on last week's
Saturday Night Live in which the news media is
portrayed as going hard on the New York senator and light on
Obama.
''In the last
several debates I seem to get the first question all the
time. I don't mind. I'll be happy to field it. I just find
it curious if anybody saw Saturday Night Live,
maybe we should ask Barack if he's comfortable and
needs another pillow,'' she said.
But the line
might have undercut Clinton's own efforts to portray herself
as a strong leader able to take on a range of challenges.
Obama seemed to
have an awkward moment when grilled about an endorsement
from Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan and remarks by
his Chicago pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright,
which have stirred controversy.
The Farrakhan
endorsement -- and a photograph circulating on the
Internet of Obama dressed in traditional local garments
during a visit to Kenya in 2006 -- could further
fuel a longtime buzz on the Internet suggesting that
the Illinois senator, who is a Christian, is either
secretly a Muslim or has Islamic sympathies.
Obama distanced
himself from Farrakhan's comments, but he sidestepped a
question on whether he would reject the endorsement, saying
he had denounced Farrakhan in the past for
anti-Semitic statements.
Clinton said
rejecting support was different from denouncing it, noting
she had ''rejected'' in her 2000 Senate race the support of
a group with anti-Semitic views.
Obama drew
laughter by saying, ''I happily concede the point, and I
would reject and denounce.''
The exchanges
were sharper than their one-on-one debate a week ago in
Texas, but not as sharp as their combative debate
confrontation just before the South Carolina primary.
Both Democrats
planned campaign events in Ohio on Wednesday, with Clinton
ending her day in West Virginia and Obama moving on to
Texas.
After the debate,
Obama paid a late-night visit to unionized workers at a
food distribution plant in nearby Bedford Heights, Ohio. He
was accompanied by Teamsters union president James P.
Hoffa. (Tom Raum, AP)
