Democratic and Republican presidential candidates alike joined in criticizing her yesterday - even as several Republicans used the occasion to go after one another.

And the Clinton campaign, hoping the episode would not become a metaphor for evasiveness, clarified her position on the issue and put out a Web video mocking her opponents for "piling on."

During the debate, Clinton struggled with a question about whether she supported a proposal by New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to allow illegal immigrants to get licenses.

At first, she appeared to endorse the idea, saying she understood why Spitzer wanted to issue licenses. Then, she seemed to reject it, saying she "didn't think this was the best thing for any governor to do."

Her Democratic rivals seized upon her performance, hoping to use it as confirmation of their claim that she has avoided specific positions and sometimes engaged in double-talk.

"I think last night's debate really exposed this fault line," Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois told the Associated Press yesterday. "Senator Clinton left us wondering where she stood on every single hard question from Iran to Social Security to driver's licenses for undocumented workers."

At a news conference in New Hampshire, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina said: "In the course of three minutes, I heard Clinton, Senator Clinton, say two different things. When you get a yes-or-no question, you can't say yes and no."

Yesterday, the Clinton campaign issued a statement confirming that she does support the Spitzer plan.

"Senator Clinton supports governors like Governor Spitzer who believe they need such a measure to deal with the crisis caused by this administration's failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform," her campaign said.

Republicans joined in the attack on the Democratic front-runner, saying she was both waffling and supporting an idea that the electorate does not welcome.

According to a CNN/USA Today survey taken in mid-October, Americans oppose licenses for illegal immigrants by a 3-1 ratio. Democrats oppose the idea by almost 2-1.

"You know, she was being attacked all night for taking different positions in front of different audiences and then by the end of the night, she took different positions in front of the same audience," Rudy Giuliani told radio and TV host Glenn Beck. "It was pretty amazing. . . . Of course, you don't give out driver's licenses to illegals."

Mitt Romney, who appeared on Laura Ingraham's radio show, agreed with Giuliani on both points, saying that Clinton "was tap dancing so much that I thought I turned it to Dancing With the Stars."

But he also restated his contention that Giuliani, in his years as New York City mayor, made illegal immigrants welcome in his city. "And that's simply wrong," Romney said.

The campaign of former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee then went after Romney, accusing the former Massachusetts governor of being soft on illegal immigration.

At a post-debate conference yesterday at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, political scientist John J. DiIulio said he did not believe the issue would do much damage to Clinton's candidacy.

"I don't think it will loom as large as it does this morning a week from now, 10 weeks from now, or in the general election," DiIulio said.

But Al Felzenberg, former spokesman for the 9/11 commission, said he thought the driver's license dispute - an easy-to-grasp piece of the broader immigration issue - had the potential to divide Democratic voters.

The candidates themselves are divided on the issue, a fact obscured by all of the attention paid to Clinton's back-and-forth during the debate.

Obama, after saying that he couldn't "tell whether she was for it or against it," supported licenses for illegal immigrants, calling it "the right idea."

In a show of hands during the debate, three other candidates appeared to support it: Edwards, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, and Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich.

Sens. Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut and Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware said they opposed the proposal.

See video excerpts from the debate via http://go.philly.

com/demdebate

How the Drexel Debate Rates

MSNBC's Democratic debate Tuesday at Drexel University received the highest viewership rating of

the network's 2007 presidential debates and the sixth-highest of all the televised debates this year.

April 16: Democrats (MSNBC): 2.26 million viewers

May 3: Republicans (MSNBC): 1.76 million viewers

May 15: Republicans (Fox News): 2.55 million viewers

June 3: Democrats (CNN): 2.78 million viewers

June 5: Republicans (CNN): 2.06 million viewers

July 23: YouTube Democratic debate (CNN):   

2.62 million viewers

Aug. 5: Republicans (ABC): 2.19 million viewers

Aug. 7: Democrats (MSNBC): 960,000 viewers

Aug. 19: Democrats (ABC): 2.87 million viewers

Sept. 5: Republicans (Fox News): 3.14 million viewers

Sept. 9: Democrats (Univision): 2.2 million viewers

Sept. 26: Democrats (MSNBC): 1.47 million viewers

Oct. 9: Republicans (CNBC): 1.02 million viewers

Oct. 21: Republicans (Fox News): 2.37 million viewers

Tuesday: Democrats (MSNBC): 2.46 million viewers

SOURCES: Boston.com, MSNBC

Clinton Picks Up Backing of AFSCME

Hillary Rodham Clinton

won the endorsement of

the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees yesterday.

The union is the largest

for workers in the public- service sector with 1.4 million members nationwide.

The union said the New York Democrat "will help rebuild America's middle class and make sure everyone shares in our country's prosperity."

The endorsement is a welcome boost for Clinton in the labor community. The 1.8-million-member Service Employees International Union decided not to endorse

a candidate on the national level, and its state chapters have been backing John Edwards, whose pickups included the New Hampshire chapter yesterday, and Barack Obama.

- Associated Press