Clinton, Obama Accuse Each Other of Misleading Voters (Update1)

Feb. 26 -- Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama traded accusations over their positions on trade, their competing health-care plans and their records on the Iraq war in a final debate before pivotal March 4 presidential primaries.

The two found some common ground, vowing to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico to include additional protections for U.S. workers if elected as president. Still, they had sharp exchanges over past statements about the accord.

``It is inaccurate for Senator Clinton to say that she's always opposed Nafta,'' Obama, a senator from Illinois, said. ``In her campaign for Senate, she said that Nafta, on balance, had been good for New York and good for America.''

Clinton, a senator from New York, said Obama's statements and his campaign mailings on her positions were ``erroneous.''

``I have been a critic of Nafta from the very beginning,'' she said. Nafta is ``heavily disadvantaging many of our industries, particularly manufacturing.''

The debate at Cleveland State University's Wolstein Center sets the stage for the campaigning leading up to primaries next week in Ohio, Texas, Vermont and Rhode Island. Clinton, 60, is counting on Ohio and Texas to blunt Obama's momentum after his 11 consecutive victories in primaries and caucuses since Feb. 5.

Issue in Ohio

Trade has been a central issue in Ohio. The state has lost about 254,000 manufacturing jobs since the start of 2000, a reduction of almost 25 percent, and union officials blame Nafta, completed in 1994, for those losses.

A 16-minute exchange on health care opened the debate during which Clinton accused Obama of putting out ``false, misleading and discredited information,'' on her health-care proposal, the centerpiece of her campaign.

She said Obama's plan will ``let the insurance companies do what's called cherry picking.''

``I think it's imperative that we stand as Democrats for universal health care,'' said Clinton. ``But Senator Obama has not.''

Obama rejected that accusation. ``Senator Clinton repeatedly claims that I don't stand for universal health care,'' Obama said. ``For Senator Clinton to say that, I think, is simply not accurate.''

Health Plans

The proposals by Clinton and Obama share the same basic principles: Allowing many Americans the option of paying to join a new government-run plan, requiring insurance companies to accept all applicants and not charge more for those who are ill, giving subsidies to help families afford coverage and raising taxes on upper-income Americans to pay for it all.

Clinton would require Americans to purchase policies or apply for government-subsidized plans.

Obama, wouldn't require that all Americans have insurance, and only insurers that wanted to sell plans through a new ``insurance exchange'' would have to agree to enroll everyone who applied at rates not based on their health condition. He would make coverage mandatory only for children.

The two clashed over the war in Iraq as well. Responding to Clinton's suggestions that he lacks experience in foreign policy, Obama pointed to his early opposition to the war.

``Senator Clinton, I think, equates experience with longevity in Washington,'' Obama said. ``I don't think the American people do, and I don't think that if you look at the judgments that we've made over the last several years, that that's the accurate measure.''

Facing McCain

Clinton said she was better prepared to go up against Arizona Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, in the general election.

``I will have a much better case to make on a range of the issues that really America must confront going forward and will be able to hold my own and make the case for a change in policy that will be better for our country,'' she said.

While she continues to hold a lead in polls of Democrats in Ohio, Obama has been gaining ground. The two are in a dead heat in Texas, according to most polls.

Obama, 46, has the edge so far among pledged delegates who will decide on the Democratic nominee, He has 1,129.5 to Clinton's 1,009.5, according to unofficial estimates by The Green Papers, a nonpartisan Web site. Texas, which selects some of its delegates in caucuses held after polls close, and Ohio have a total of 334 pledged delegates at stake.

The totals don't include the 795 so-called superdelegates, Democratic Party officials and officeholders who aren't bound by election results. A candidate needs 2,025 votes at the party convention to become the nominee.