As a critical primary looms on Saturday, the gloves came off at the South Carolina Democratic debate Monday night as barbs flew between frontrunning candidates Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Clinton pulled out all the stops but Obama tried to remain calm.

The two and former Sen. John Edwards did have several good discussions on key issues, such as affordable healthcare and tax cuts, but the exchange often veered to the personal. The debate was sponsored by CNN and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute.

Clinton questioned Obama's past affiliation with a Chicago "slumlord" and accused him of not taking responsibility for any of his votes in the Senate. Edwards rose above the back-biting. "This kind of squabbling, how many children is this going to get healthcare?" Edwards asked.

Obama appeared on the verge of anger during several exchanges, but the closest he came to returning fire was quipping that he wasn't clear at times if he was running against Hillary Clinton or former President Bill Clinton.

Michel Martin, the host of National Public Radio's "Tell Me More," spoke with DiversityInc and says it was clearly Clinton's intent to put Obama on the defensive early and often and that last night's debate was likely a sign of things to come between these two candidates. "It's very clear that there are deep tensions between these two campaigns. And it's pretty clear to me that Hillary Clinton is trying to make the case that she has the mental toughness to get the job done, and I think that was part of her goal last night," Martin says. "Part of her calling card has been 'ready on day one' to be president, and that includes saying that she's not afraid to take on people no matter who they are."

Martin says Obama is going to have to decide whether to engage in political barbs with Clinton or continue trying to appear above the fray. "Does he get in there and scrap and show similar attributes as Clinton, or does he stick with the goal he set for himself that he is apart from this kind of behavior and that he's going to set a new tone?" says Martin. "But it's hard to set a new tone in a knife fight."

In recent weeks, Martin's program has interviewed Jacqueline Jackson, the wife of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and the Rev. Marcia Dyson, wife of political commentator Michael Eric Dyson. Both women have publicly announced their support for Clinton, while their spouses are endorsing Obama.  

Martin believes it was Clinton's intent to put Obama on the defensive, as she spent much of last week defending and explaining comments she made regarding Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "The question is how you fight that kind of campaign if you've set yourself the goal of changing the terms of public discourse. How do you get in there and scrap while keeping your hands clean? That's going to be the challenge for him," says Martin.

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