CHICAGO - Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York faced a rough time from other Democrat hopefuls as they were attacked relentlessly by their rivals. Obama was severely criticized for his statement on invading Pakistan is required, while Clinton was under the hammer for taking money from lobbyists.
Some 17,000 union workers and their families packed into Soldier Field to listen to the Democrat hopefuls. At the AFL-CIO forum in Chicago, it was the front-runners who were on the defensive. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said he would never take money from corporate lobbyists unlike Clinton.
"You will never see a picture of me on the front of Fortune magazine saying 'I am the candidate that big, corporate America is betting on,' " Edwards said. “That's one thing you can take to the bank." His comment was a direct reference to an article in Fortune magazine where Clinton is on the cover bearing the title "Who business is betting on."
But Clinton took these comments head on. "For 15 years I have stood up against the right-wing machine, and I've come out stronger," she said. "So if you want a winner who knows how to take them on, I'm your girl."
Recent opinion polls have shown that Clinton is way ahead of her rivals on national stage. That is why she is the subject of attacks from her rivals. But wisely Clinton has not indulged in attacking Democrat candidates. Instead she is focusing on defeating Republican candidates.
Obama was under attack for his statement that he would not hesitate to invade Pakistan if the government there did not halt al-Qaeda. "I find it amusing that those who helped to authorize and engineer the biggest foreign policy disaster in our generation are now criticizing me for making sure we are on the right battlefield and not the wrong battlefield in the war against terrorism," Obama responded.
Overall the debate was spirited, but it increasingly showed that the race is a direct one between Clinton and Obama with the former having a slight edge.
