Democrats tussle in Texas debate

McALLEN, Texas - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton last night accused Sen. Barack Obama of plagiarism for borrowing some lines in his standard stump speech.

"Lifting whole passages from other people's speeches is not change you can believe in; that's change you can Xerox," Clinton said during their televised Democratic presidential debate, mocking Obama's campaign slogan.

Obama rejected the allegation - which Clinton aides, but not the candidate herself, first made several days ago - as "silly." He said a political ally, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, had suggested he use the language, about the importance of words in inspiring people.

"What we shouldn't be doing is tearing each other down," Obama said. "We should be lifting the country up."

It was an unusually pointed exchange in an otherwise civil debate that largely plowed familiar ground in the long slog toward the Democratic nomination, ahead of March 4 primaries in Texas and Ohio that are seen as must-wins for Clinton if she is to catch the surging Obama.

The debate at the University of Texas in Austin, broadcast live on CNN and later in Spanish on Univision, seemed unlikely to shake up the race between the two candidates, though it illuminated some differences.

The two sparred over the nuances of their plans for health-care coverage, a paramount issue among Democratic voters, and about the proper approach toward Cuba in the wake of dictator Fidel Castro's resignation after nearly 50 years in power.

Clinton came into the debate with her longtime front-runner status having evaporated after 11 straight defeats to Obama, the latest being the Democrats Abroad result announced yesterday.

Texas and Ohio, with their sizable delegate allotments, loom as potential last stands for Clinton, even supporters acknowledge, as she tries to halt Obama's growing lead in pledged delegates.

Advisers hope Clinton can do well enough in those two states, along with Pennsylvania on April 22, to deny Obama the 2,025 delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination, and to throw the decision to the party leaders and elected officials who will serve as superdelegates to the national convention in Denver in August.

Clinton's 17-point loss in Wisconsin on Tuesday was especially devastating for her, because Obama captured demographic groups, including blue-collar workers, that had been key to her earlier victories.

Since Wisconsin, Obama was endorsed by the Teamsters and Change to Win, a coalition of unions, adding to a sense of momentum, and Clinton ratcheted up her criticisms of him as unprepared to be president.

They disagreed on the proper response to the change in Cuba. Clinton said she would refuse to sit down with the likely incoming president, Raul Castro, until he implemented political and economic reforms. Obama said that he would meet "without preconditions," but that his agenda for such a session would include human rights in the communist island nation.

"It's important for us not just to talk to our friends but to our enemies," Obama said, adding that he would not normalize relations with Cuba until significant reform took place there.

Both agreed, on the topic of illegal immigrants, that high-tech surveillance measures were preferable to construction of a border fence to curtail illegal immigration, and on the need for a path to citizenship for workers.

Obama took pains to stress that he wanted universal health insurance, responding to Clinton's criticism that his plan, because it lacks a mandate for people to buy insurance, would leave millions out.

He said, in turn, that Clinton's mandate would be punitive - "in order to force people to have health insurance, you have to have a harsh, stiff penalty" - and added that he would stress lowering the cost of health care so more people could afford to buy coverage.

Clinton said, "If you do not have a plan that starts out attempting to achieve universal health care, you will be nibbled to death, and we will be back here with more and more people uninsured, and rising costs."

"We would not have a social compact with Social Security and Medicare if everyone did not have to participate," she said. ". . . It would be as if Social Security was voluntary."

Obama said Clinton had mishandled health-care reform when she was in charge of it during her husband's first term in the White House by working in secret. A detail-by-detail comparison of their two plans is beside the point, he said, "if we don't change how the politics is working in Washington."

Asked how each had handled a personal crisis, Clinton talked emotionally about wounded Iraq war veterans she had met at the dedication of a hospital unit in San Antonio.

"The hits I've taken in life are nothing compared to what goes on every single day in the lives of people across our country," Clinton said.

As the debate wrapped up, she spoke of being "honored" to be on the same stage with Obama, and the two shook hands warmly.

"No matter what happens in this contest . . . we're going to be fine," Clinton said of herself and her rival. "You know, we have strong support from our families and our friends. I just hope that we'll be able to say the same thing about the American people, and that's what this election should be about."

The good feelings might not last long. Moments after the debate, the Obama campaign e-mailed to reporters a comparison showing that Clinton's closing words were similar to a thought uttered earlier in the campaign by former Sen. John Edwards.

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

See the campaign map and other links at http://go.philly.com/campaign2008EndText