(AFP) – Jan 20, 2008

LAVEEN , Arizona (AFP) — Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama traded new cross-country salvos in their Democratic feud Tuesday, as the global financial panic reverberated through the 2008 White House race.

Though at opposite sides of the country, the foes cranked up the heat after Monday's acerbic presidential debate, while the Democratic race broadened as potentially pivotal "Super Duper Tuesday" clashes loom on February 5.

Clinton travelled to California, as a new poll gave her a double digit lead in the delegate-rich western state, then south to Arizona, while Obama anchored himself in South Carolina, hoping to lock in a morale-boosting win in Saturday's primary vote.

The tense Republican race for the White House, meanwhile, claimed another victim, as former screen star and conservative senator Fred Thompson pulled out, after a lame early showing in early primaries.

The surviving pack fought it out in Florida, ahead of the high-stakes January 29 primary that may be a make-or-break moment for New York's former mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Before jetting across country to California to accept the endorsement of the United Farm Workers union, New York Senator Clinton said Obama was "frustrated" by her recent wins in Nevada and New Hampshire.

She accused him of making pre-planned attacks on her in Monday's debate in South Carolina, to disguise what she said were contradictions in his own record.

Obama meanwhile upped the battle with Clinton by accusing her of reversing over the years on issues including free trade.

"In my 25 years of public service, my positions haven't changed when the politics got hard, and neither will the policies I pursue as president," he said in South Carolina.

But in a campaign memo released as she flew west, the Clinton team signalled a forensic examination of her rival's record.

"While much of this campaign has focused on Senator Obama's rhetoric, there has not been much attention paid to Senator Obama's record," the memo said.

"Last night that changed. With the fireworks now receding, it's time to focus on the substance."

Clinton left her husband, former president Bill Clinton, to slug it out with Obama in South Carolina, where most polls give the young senator a double digit lead. But she said it was unfair to say she had abandoned the state to focus on battles to come.

She was later to complete her 20-hour swing by travelling to Arizona and then back to the US capital.

On Wednesday, she plans to hit New Jersey, also one of the dozen or so states holding a primary on February 5.

A new Field Poll in California had Clinton leading Obama among likely Democratic and non-partisan voters by 39 to 27 percent, with former senator John Edwards trailing on 10 percent.

The deepening sense of global economic doom penetrated the campaign trail.

"This is a global economic crisis," Clinton warned shortly after the Federal Reserve sprung a surprise rate cut that failed to calm market fears that the United States is recession-bound.

The former first lady argued the US economy could "very well thrust us into a deep, long recession," and repeated her calls for action on a US mortgage crisis that has rippled worldwide.

Obama expressed hope the Fed's 75-basis-point rate cut would stem the bleeding, but said "the fear remains ... on the faces of working Americans in every corner of this country."

With global markets plunging, "the world continues to fear that the United States government won't do enough to prevent a recession," he said.

Candidates from Bush's Republican party are preaching classic conservative themes of low taxes and limited government spending.

Having taken a huge gamble by bypassing the first nominating contests in smaller states, Giuliani faces a do-or-die challenge in Florida. Only six months ago he was considered unbeatable for the party's nomination.

Thompson's pullout could boost next-tier candidates fighting for his mantle as the field's most conservative candidate: Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.

There was worrying news for Giuliani in a new poll, showing him tied with McCain in his home state, New York.

The Quinnipiac University survey had both Giuliani and McCain in a dead heat at 30 percent among likely Republican voters. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney trailed in third place with nine percent.

Another poll released Monday showed him 12 percent behind McCain after once holding a 33 percent lead.

Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »