NH Debates Produce Sharp Exchanges, Effort to Slow Obama's Momentum

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Republican and Democratic presidential candidates in a tight race ahead of Tuesday's New Hampshire primary clashed Saturday on a night of back-to-back debates.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney absorbed the sharpest jabs in the GOP event and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton tried to slow the momentum of Iowa Democratic caucus winner Barack Obama.

Saturday's debates came as New Hampshire polls showed each race headed to close, two-person battles on Tuesday — Romney and Arizona Sen. John McCain at the top among the Republicans; Clinton and Obama among the Democrats.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the winner in Iowa on Thursday, and McCain knocked Romney for changing his position on numerous issues such as abortion and gun control.

When Romney claimed he had been misquoted in a newspaper story, McCain said: "If you change positions from time to time you will get misquoted."

The 90-minute debate of six Republican candidates was followed by a similar debate among four leading Democratic contenders, which included some of the most heated exchanges yet among Clinton, Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards over who would best bring about change in the way business is done in Washington.

Clinton, trying to slow Obama's surging campaign, suggested that the Illinois senator could have "a debate with himself" over some of the issues in his health care plan. Her voice uncharacteristically rising, she added, "I'm not just running on a promise of change – I'm running on 35 years of change."

In his own defense, Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, responded by insisting, "I have been entirely consistent in my position" on features of his health care plan. But throughout the event, he repeated his trademark appeal for a new "politics of hope" in the country.

It was Edwards, though, who upbraided Clinton for criticizing Obama. "I didn't hear these kinds of attacks form Senator Clinton when she was ahead," he said.

When agents like he and Obama take on powerful interests, "the forces of the status quo are going to attack," added Edwards, who finished second in the Iowa caucus behind Obama and just ahead of Clinton.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former ambassador to the United Nations, had the best quip of the night when he commented on the verbal crossfire. "I've been in hostage negotiations that are a lot more civil than this," he said.

On the GOP side, Romney criticized McCain's plan for reforming the immigration system, prompting McCain to snap: "It's not amnesty. You can spend your whole fortune on these attack ads, my friend, but it's not true."

But much of the Republican debate consisted of the candidates offering sound bites from their stump speeches as a variety of issues came up.

"I must say, you don't sound like two guys who've been sniping at one another over and over in your ads and interviews," ABC's Charlie Gibson, the moderator, told Romney and McCain, the New Hampshire front-runners according to polls.

The Democrats touched on a number of issues but the debate repeatedly returned to the broader issue experience versus change and how to tame the special interests that dominate Washington.

"Can we just have sort of a reality break for a minute?" Clinton said after Edwards and Obama delineated their efforts against special interests and lobbyists.

"Senator Obama's chair in New Hampshire is a lobbyist. He lobbies for the drug companies. I think it's important we are all held to the same standards, that we are all held accountable," she said.

And then Clinton took direct aim at Edwards' passion and Obama's eloquence.

"Words are not action, and as beautifully presented and passionately felt as they are, they are not action. What we've got to do is translate talk into action and feeling into reality," Clinton said. "I have a long record of doing that."

McCain, juxtaposing Romney's call for change with his varying stance on issues such as abortion, fired this one-liner at Romney.

"We disagree on a lot of issues, but you are the candidate of change," McCain said with a sly smile.

"The continuous personal barbs are interesting but unnecessary," Romney replied.

The GOP debate included Romney, McCain, Huckabee, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson and Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

Huckabee fired at Romney during a conversation that keyed on Huckabee's previous comment that President Bush's foreign policy has been marked by arrogance and a bunker mentality.

As Romney claimed he has supported the troop surge from the beginning, Huckabee jumped in to challenge that.

"Governor," Romney said, "don't try and characterize my position."

"Which one?" Huckabee countered.

"You know," Romney responded, "we're wise to talk about policies and not to make personal attacks."

Romney is banking on a New Hampshire win to help erase his surprising second-place finish to Huckabee in Iowa. McCain finished fourth in Iowa despite making relatively little effort there.

On the Democratic side, Clinton needs a New Hampshire win after finishing third to Obama and Edwards in Iowa.

A Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby released Saturday and conducted Tuesday through Friday gave McCain a 32 percent to 30 percent edge on Romney, with Huckabee third at 12 percent and Giuliani fourth at 9 percent.

On the Democratic side, the poll showed Clinton with a 32-28 edge over Obama, two percentage points less than her lead a day earlier. Edwards was third at 20. No other Democrat was in double digits.

A CNN/WMUR poll conducted Friday and Saturday showed Clinton and Obama tied at 33 percent, with Edwards trailing at 20. In a Dec. 27-30 poll, Clinton had a 34-30 lead over Obama in New Hampshire.

On the GOP side, the poll showed McCain with a 33-27 lead over Romney. Giuliani was at 14 and Huckabee trailed at 11.

In a Dec. 27-30 poll, McCain and Romney were tied at 29 percent.