politics

After months of mild-mannered Democratic debates, the field of candidates finally launched an aggressive charge against front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York on Wednesday night, pointedly critiquing her track record on everything from the war in Iraq to her efforts to reform health care.

The debate -- held at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., and moderated by Tim Russert -- was the sharp-edged confrontation analysts have been expecting for weeks, and it came on the heels of a new poll suggesting that Clinton was favored by 43 percent of the state's likely Democratic voters, compared with 20 percent for her closest challenger, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

DRAWING DISTINCTIONS

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, whom the New Hampshire poll placed in third position with 12 percent, led the charge on Clinton, starting with the assertion that she supports "a continuation of the war" because she says combat missions might be necessary for counterterrorism purposes.

Obama joined in, saying that Clinton's attempts to reform health care in the 1990s failed in part because she didn't marshal forces to her aid in an effective manner. In doing so, he seized her words that she was "lonely" as one of those at the forefront pushing for universal health care.

"Part of the reason it was lonely, Hillary, was because you closed the door to a lot of potential allies in that process," he said. "At that time, 80 percent of Americans already wanted universal health care, but they didn't feel like they were let into the process."

ON THE WAR

All three leading candidates conceded that they could not guarantee that all U.S. combat troops would be gone from Iraq by 2013, the end of the next president's first term in office.

Said Obama: "I think it's hard to project four years from now."

Said Clinton: "It is very difficult to know what we're going to be inheriting."

Said Edwards: "I cannot make that commitment."

Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson provided the assurances the others would not. "I'll get the job done," said Dodd. Richardson said he would make sure the troops were home by the end of his first year in office.

WHY THIS ONE MATTERS

New Hampshire is slated to host the first primary -- in less than four months. The contest had been tentatively scheduled for Jan. 22, a date likely to change as other states advance their dates.

ON THE GOP SIDE

A PBS video previewing its Republican presidential candidates' forum, set to air tonight from a historically black university, asks: "Can the party of Abraham Lincoln win the hearts and minds of all Americans?"

But none of the GOP's top contenders will show up to answer the question, each citing a scheduling conflict. Instead, moderator Tavis Smiley will pose questions to five lesser-known candidates.

It has touched off a debate within the party over its efforts to draw more minority voters.