Clinton and Obama renew campaign-trail brawl

GREENVILLE, South Carolina (Reuters) - Democratic White House hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama renewed their campaign-trail brawl on Tuesday, hours after angrily denouncing each other in a fierce South Carolina debate.

Clinton said the sharp tone of Monday's debate, when the pair exchanged a series of harsh accusations, was a sign of Obama's growing frustration after two consecutive losses in their duel for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Obama said Clinton would say anything to get elected and he needed to set the record straight.

"Sen. Obama is very frustrated. The events of the last 10 or so days, particularly the outcomes in New Hampshire and Nevada, have apparently convinced him to adopt a different strategy," said Clinton, a New York senator who would be the first U.S. woman president.

"He clearly came last night looking for a fight. He was determined and launched right in," she said at a news conference in Washington. "And I thought it was important to set the record straight."

Obama, an Illinois senator who would be the first black U.S. president, said he was determined to fight back against what he says are distortions of his record coming from Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

"I think it's very clear, Sen. Clinton and President Clinton have been spending the last month attacking me in ways that are not accurate. At some point it was appropriate for us to answer them," he said before an economic speech in Greenville.

FIGHT BACK

Obama said over the weekend he intended to fight back against Bill Clinton's comments questioning his opposition to the war in Iraq and the tactics of his Nevada supporters.

He said Hillary Clinton signaled their strategy in the days before the first nominating contest in Iowa when she described the political crossfire as "the fun part" of a campaign.

"I don't think it's the fun part to fudge the truth," Obama said. "If you are willing to say anything to get a political or tactical advantage, that erodes trust in government."

The pair are battling along with rival John Edwards to be the Democratic candidate in the November 4 election to succeed President George W. Bush.

They exchanged a series of angry and sometimes personal attacks in Monday's debate, with Obama referring to Clinton's time as a lawyer on the Wal-Mart board and Clinton saying Obama represented a "slumlord" when he was an attorney.

The heightened tension comes four days before a crucial contest in South Carolina, where both candidates are appealing to black voters who will make up more than half of the primary electorate.

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator who won South Carolina during his failed 2004 bid for president, rebuked the pair during the debate for their squabbling and took the same tack on Tuesday.

"You know, between all the allegations of Hillary serving on the Wal-Mart board and Sen. Obama working for a slumlord, I was proud to represent the grown-up wing of the Democratic Party last night," he told a town hall meeting in Conway, South Carolina.

Obama said in his economic speech Clinton had changed her stance on a stimulus package for the economy, a bankruptcy bill and on trade agreements.

"This is exactly the kind of politics we can't afford right now. Not when the stakes are this high. Not when the economy is this fragile," he said at Furman University in Greenville.

"We can't afford a president whose positions change with the politics of the moment," he said.

(Additional reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst; editing by Doina Chiacu)

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)