Barack Obama fended off renewed attacks from Hillary Clinton over campaign tactics, health care and trade last night, but their third and possibly last head-to-head debate ended on a harmonious note.
The 90-minute faceoff did not appear to deliver a turnaround moment for Clinton, who is losing the contest for delegates and could be pushed from the race if she loses Texas and Ohio on Tuesday.
Clinton said near the outset that she intended to "stand up" for herself when Obama distorts her positions and at another point declared that "it takes a fighter" to bring about change in Washington.
But while Clinton was at times the aggressor, Obama defended himself at each turn as the candidates gave detailed descriptions about their policies and differences while breaking little new ground on substantive matters.
It was the 20th debate of the Democratic presidential campaign and the second in less than a week. The encounter, on the snowy campus of Cleveland State University, was livelier than last week's meeting in Austin, Texas, and showcased the seriousness of two candidates who celebrated the historic nature of their campaign as they neared the end.
Obama, slipping into the past tense, even as he insisted there was "still a lot of fight" left in a campaign that might not end next week, praised Clinton as an "outstanding" public servant and said he was proud "to have been campaigning with her."
The 46-year-old senator from Illinois said there was "a vanity aspect and an ambition aspect" to politics but that in reality, the public's expectations about government are "so modest. They just want a little bit of a hand up." He said he would be best suited to bringing about the change that voters want.
Both Democrats agreed that either of them would make a better president than John McCain, the likely Republican nominee.
Clinton, while saying that she still intends "to do everything I can to win," repeated that it had been an "honor" to run against Obama. And in the only line of the evening that drew audience applause, she alluded to the "history-making" aspect of her candidacy to be the first woman president, which would "give enormous hope" to many.
Then, acknowledging the possible breakthrough nomination, if not election, of the first African-American by a major party, she added, "Either one of us will make history."
Obama, who said he could bring the country together across divisions of race, religion and region, nearly got tripped up by questioner Tim Russert on a racially charged topic - the recent endorsement of Obama by Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam.
After prodding from Clinton, Obama said he would "reject and denounce" the endorsement. Obama initially balked at rejecting it, declaring, "Well, Tim, I can't say to somebody that he can't say that he thinks I'm a good guy."
Obama said he had been "very clear in my denunciation of Minister Farrakhan's anti-Semitic comments."
The debate began with an extended exchange over health care that largely retraced arguments from their most recent debate.
Clinton, the senator from New York, repeated her contention that Obama was distorting her positions on health care and the North American Free Trade Agreement in "unfortunate" and "very disturbing" literature mailed to voters.
Obama replied that her campaign had "constantly sent out negative attacks on us" and that "we haven't whined about it because I understand that's the nature of this campaign."
Echoing a frequently articulated complaint of her campaign, Clinton implied that the questioners were falling in with others in the news media who are biased in favor of her opponent.
She said it was "curious" that she seemed to get the first question "all the time" and referred to a recent comedy sketch on Saturday Night Live about pro-Obama debate moderators.
"You know, maybe we should ask Barack if he's comfortable and needs another pillow," said Clinton, who appeared trail-weary and, at times, testy.
At one point she remarked in an aside, "I'm a little busy right now, I hardly have time to sleep."
Earlier, Obama attempted to play down the sharp exchanges of recent days and the recent posting on the Drudge Report Web site of a photograph of him in African garb that Drudge said was sent to the site by someone in the Clinton camp.
Obama said the episode probably did not reflect Clinton's own approach to the campaign. Questioned about the photo during the debate, Clinton said she did not know where it had come from and said that if it came from someone in her campaign, she would ask that person to resign.
Obama made his remark at a news conference at which a former rival, Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, endorsed him.
Dodd, a 33-year House and Senate veteran and the first former Democratic contender to make an endorsement, countered one of Clinton's main arguments by saying yesterday that he thought Obama is ready to be president.
Dodd, who was given the job of general chairman of the Democratic National Committee by Clinton's husband, expressed concern about a prolonged nomination fight that could be "highly divisive" and "highly detrimental" to the party's chances of winning the presidency in November.
Now is the time for the party "to come together," said Dodd, who said he was not calling on Clinton, who had also sought his endorsement, to quit the race.
Recent polls show the race tightening in Ohio, with Clinton still holding a slight lead. The latest statewide survey in Texas, by Opinion Research Corporation for CNN, showed Obama pulling ahead in that state.
Obama also leads Clinton by a significant margin in the latest national surveys, including a New York Times/CBS poll that showed him with a 16-point lead and a USA Today/Gallup survey that put him 12 points ahead.
A memo by Clinton's chief strategist, Mark Penn, released last night to reporters, indicated that her nomination chances depend on demonstrating "momentum" and convincing voters that she is "ready to take on John McCain."
Recent polling has shown Obama outperforming Clinton in test matches against McCain, with Obama either ahead of or even with McCain.
However, a national poll released last night showed McCain running ahead of either Democrat. The Los Angeles Times-Bloomberg survey showed him leading Obama by 44 percent to 42 percent, within the poll's 3-point margin of error, while Clinton would lose by 6 percentage points, 46 percent to 40 percent.
paul.west@baltsun.com