Pat Dollard | Young Americans

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) - Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama clashed bitterly Monday over Bill Clinton’s role in his wife’s campaign and Obama’s recent praise for Republicans in a presidential debate five days before the pivotal South Carolina primary.

After a brief discussion of the nation’s economic woes, the debate devolved into an angry exchange between the two senators, with Clinton noting Obama had taken campaign contributions from a political patron facing fraud charges and Obama calling Clinton a “corporate lawyer sitting on the board of Wal-Mart.”

As Obama tried to defend his comments about Republicans and Ronald Reagan, Clinton interrupted and said she has never criticized his remarks on Reagan.

“Your husband did,” said Obama, who has accused the former president of misrepresenting his record.

“I’m here. He’s not,” she snapped.

John Edwards, who badly trails his two rivals, tried to stay above the fray while pleading for equal time.

“Are there three people in this debate, not two?” he asked.

“We have got to understand, this is not about us personally. It’s about what we are trying to do for this country,” Edwards said to applause from the audience.

South Carolina holds its primary Saturday.

Clinton and Obama called for tax rebates for individuals to help with home heating and other short-term needs. But Obama claimed he was first with the idea, saying Clinton had “caught up” with him.

Edwards tried to make a distinction by pointing out that Clinton and Obama supported a trade deal with Peru. “South Carolina has been devastated by NAFTA and trade deals,” Edwards said.

Obama responded by criticized Edwards for voting for permanent trade relations with China and struck out at Clinton for saying last year that NAFTA has been boon to the economy. “I think it’s been devastating,” Obama said.

MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton clashed sharply over Iraq and spending in a South Carolina debate on Monday, drawing a rebuke from rival John Edwards for their “squabbling.”

With tensions rising in the Democratic battle for the presidential nomination, Obama questioned the accuracy of Clinton’s recent criticism of his spending plans to stimulate the economy and for his past statements in opposition to the Iraq war.

“That is simply not true,” he said of her criticism that he could not pay for his economic stimulus proposals.

In an ABC interview that aired earlier in the day, Obama criticized Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, for making untrue attacks on his record. He said the criticism was “troubling” but he was ready to fight back.

When Obama mentioned an attack by Clinton’s husband, she said: “Well, he’s not here.”

“Well, I can’t tell who I’m running against sometimes,” Obama said.

Clinton and Obama are dueling for the Democratic nomination in the November election to succeed President George W. Bush. Obama won Iowa, and Clinton has won the last two contests in New Hampshire and Nevada.

Edwards, who won South Carolina during his failed 2000 presidential bid, finished a distant third in the last two contests but says he will push on in the race.

“This kind of squabbling, how many children is this going to get health care?,” Edwards asked in the three-way debate shown on CNN.

South Carolina is the next battleground in the race to find a candidate for the November election. Obama holds a slim lead in polls in the state, where more than half of the likely primary voters on Saturday will be black.