Clinton Employs Broad Attacks in a Key Debate

PHILADELPHIA — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton went on the attack against Senator Barack Obama on a variety of issues during a contentious debate Wednesday, warning that he would be deeply vulnerable in a general-election fight if he won the nomination.Helped along by the questioning of the moderators, Mrs. Clinton mentioned several areas in which she said Mr. Obama was vulnerable, including the incendiary remarks by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., and his service on a board with William Ayres, a former leader of the radical Weather Underground. She even cited Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader, who has endorsed Mr. Obama. “This is a legitimate area,” she said, “as everything is when we run for office.” But asked directly if she believed Mr. Obama could beat the likely Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, she answered, “Yes, yes, yes.” She quickly added: “I think I can do a better job. Obviously. That’s why I’m here.” In their final face-to-face encounter before the Pennsylvania primary on Tuesday, Mr. Obama largely refrained from taking the bait when offered the opportunity to go after Mrs. Clinton, like when the focus turned to her honesty and her claims of facing sniper fire during a trip to Bosnia. Instead, he was again forced to explain remarks he made at a fund-raiser last week in San Francisco, where he said that many small-town residents in Pennsylvania and elsewhere were “bitter” because of lost economic opportunities and “cling to” religion or guns or antipathy toward those not like them. He explained that he had “mangled” his thoughts and sought, once again, to explain that he was trying to express the frustration many economically stressed Americans feel. “The point I was making was that when people feel like Washington is not listening to them,” he said, “that politically they end up focusing on those things that are constant, like religion, which is a place they can find some refuge.” Wednesday’s nationally televised encounter at the National Constitution Center here was the 21st Democratic debate and the first in seven weeks. It may also be the last between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, and expectations were high that it would help define some of the issues that have divided them and the party since the last major primaries were held in Ohio and Texas in early March. While the two candidates are engaged in a fierce struggle for the nomination, many party leaders are looking ahead nervously to the general election in November, worried that whoever emerges as the nominee will be weakened by the long and increasingly bitter intramural contest. Mr. McCain has already picked up many of Mrs. Clinton’s accusations against Mr. Obama and used them in his speeches and advertising. Mrs. Clinton, asked about her misstatements about landing under sniper fire in Bosnia in 1996, expressed regret for her remarks. “I may be a lot of things, but I’m not dumb,” she said in explaining her exaggerated account. “On a couple of occasions in the last weeks, I just said some things that were not in keeping with what I knew to be the case.” “I’m embarrassed by it. I apologized for it. I said it was a mistake,” she added. Mrs. Clinton, under questioning by the debate moderators, Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, returned again and again to questions about Mr. Obama’s electability. She said that his comments about religion and guns had raised concerns among voters that the Democratic Party needs to prevail in the fall. She also said that Republicans would exploit doubts about Mr. Obama’s religious beliefs and his patriotism. “I’ve been in this arena for a long time,” she said. “I have a lot of baggage and everybody’s rummaged through it for years. I will be able to withstand anything the Republicans thrown our way.” Mr. Obama responded that he had no doubt that the Republicans would unleash a furious campaign against him if he won the nomination. “What I think I’ve shown in these primaries is I can take a punch,” he said. “I’ve taken a couple of pretty good ones from Senator Clinton.” Mrs. Clinton has made her testing in office and her presumed ability to withstand Republican charges a centerpiece of her campaign and her argument to superdelegates that they should support her, despite Mr. Obama’s lead in delegates and in popular votes. But polls released this week of Democrats in the coming primary states of Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina show that a majority of them believe that Mr. Obama would be the stronger candidate in the general election. Both candidates expressed confidence that the party would rally around the eventual nominee, no matter how the long and bitter contest was resolved. “The Democratic Party will come together because we have no choice,” Mr. Obama said. Mrs. Clinton said, “I’m going to do everything I possibly can to make sure that one of us takes the oath of office next January.” She said it was “absolutely imperative” that the party closed ranks behind the nominee to defeat Mr. McCain. “I will go anywhere in the country to make the case, and I know Barack feels the same way,” she said. The debate capped a day that saw more successes in Mr. Obama’s drive to secure the nomination. Earlier Wednesday, the Obama campaign trumpeted the endorsements of three more superdelegates, a propitious and probably not coincidentally timed boost after a rough five days in which he came under fierce attack for his comments about small-town residents. And Mr. Obama on Wednesday courted Jewish leaders at a Philadelphia synagogue, criticizing former President Jimmy Carter for meeting with leaders of the group Hamas and distancing himself from incendiary remarks by the Rev. Wright. During the first half of the debate, the candidates spent so much time sparring over issues of character that they had little chance to discuss major issues that have dominated past debates, with Mr. Obama mentioning Iraq only about 40 minutes into the event. On Iraq, both candidates hewed to previous pledges to begin removing American troops shortly after taking office, although Mrs. Clinton was careful to say that she would ask the military leadership to report to her within 60 days on a reasonable timetable for withdrawal. They were asked how they would respond if Iran attacked Israel. Mr. Obama said that would be an attack on “our strongest ally in the region” but did not specify what the United States’ response would be. Mrs. Clinton, speaking forcefully, said such an attack “would trigger massive retaliation.” Both candidates said they stood by unequivocal statements made by their campaign aides that they would remove combat troops from Iraq, no matter the situation on the ground.