Obama & Edwards Go After Clinton

If the first 10 minutes of the debate are any indication, Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) are going to take shots at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) but she isn't going to play along.

Obama started the debate by insisting that "some of this stuff gets overblown" when it came to his aggressiveness toward Clinton. But, he then went through a list of areas of disagreement with Clinton, casting himself as the candidate best able to draw a contrast with Republicans.

"The way to bring about that change is to offer some sharp contrasts with the other party," said Obama. "That requires us to be honest about the challenges we face."

Edwards took his turn at Clinton as well. "Given this historic moment in this country's history, [people] deserve a president who will tell them the truth," Edwards said. He added that Clinton has defended a broken system in Washington and "voted to give George Bush the first step in moving militarily on Iran."

Neither time did Clinton take the bait, choosing instead to focus on President Bush. "I have a long record of standing up and fighting," she said at one point. At another, she insisted that the reason she was the topic of conversation among Republicans in their debates was because she had been able to defeat Republicans time and again in the past.

Let's see if this dynamic plays out throughout the debate.

By washingtonpost.com Editors  |  October 30, 2007; 9:16 PM ET
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