Democrats spar over race, war in Las Vegas 
Four days before Nevada voters attend statewide caucuses that are expected to shift the momentum in a tight Democratic primary, the party's presidential candidates faced off in Las Vegas.
Dennis Kucinich, the Ohio congressman and long-shot candidate, did not appear alongside the other candidates after host network MSNBC won an 11th-hour decision to keep him off stage.
Moderator Brian Williams began the debate reminding candidates that Tuesday would have been civil rights leader Martin Luther King's birthday. The debate was expected to focus on issues of race as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have sparred over the extent to which race has been a factor in the campaign.
Clinton and Obama seemed ready to reach détente in the rhetorical battles among the candidates and their surrogates in recent weeks.
"We both have exuberant and sometimes uncontrollable supporters," Clinton said, referring to some comments from her surrogates that Obama supporters have said were racially insensitive.
Clinton and John Edwards both praised the work of Martin Luther King while Obama acknowledged his fellow candidates' commitment to civil rights.
"What I am absolutely convinced of is that everybody here is committed to racial equality, always has been," Obama said.
The former First Lady was asked about what many saw as insensitive comments from Robert L. Johnson, the founder of BET and a Clinton supporter, implying that Obama was too busy doing drugs -- as he has acknowledged in his memoir.
"I am frankly insulted," Johnson declared, "that the Obama campaign would imply that we are so stupid that we would think Hillary and Bill Clinton, who have been deeply and emotionally involved in black issues since Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood - and I won't say what he was doing, but he said it in the book - when they have been involved."
Clinton at first appeared to defend Johnson, repeating Johnson's claim that he wasn't referring to Obama's drug use but his time as community organizer in Chicago neighborhoods.
"Bob has put out a statement saying what he was trying to say and what he thought he had said. We accept him at his word on that," Clinton said.
Later in the exchange, moderator Tim Russert asked Clinton if the comments were "out of bounds."
"Yes they were, and he has said that," Clinton responded.
Clinton said she wanted to avoid "diverting" the campaign toward statements she said don't reflect her point of view, but she backed away from saying that she would not welcome Johnson at future campaign events.
A protester seemed to disrupt the debate about 20 minutes in with shouted complaints about "race-based questions." Authorities presumably removed the man from the auditorium, but it was not immediately clear what happened to him.
Attention turned at one point to President Bush as all three candidates criticized his handling of the war in Iraq. Each candidate pledged to curtail US operations in Iraq and said they would withdrawal combat troops. Edwards sought to set himself apart, saying he had the most vigorous plan to quickly withdraw all troops from Iraq.
Clinton turned her focus on the Republican presidential candidates, who she accused of planning to follow the president's strategy in Iraq.
"It's not just Bush," she said.
Obama said Edwards was trying to create a specious distinction between himself and the other candidates. Obama and Clinton have said they would maintain some troops to root out elements of al Qaeda, while Edwards says he will keep troops in Kuwait, ready to re-enter Iraq if needed to fight al Qaeda.
"There's a distinction without a difference," Obama charged.
All three candidates also promised to enforce a ban on federal funding to colleges and universities that bar military recruiters from their campuses.
This video is from MSNBC Presidential Debate, broadcast January 15, 2008.
In the following video, Democratic candidates spar over ending the war in Iraq.
This video is from MSNBC's Presidential Debate, broadcast January 15, 2008.
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