Clinton, Obama Take Heat At AFL-CIO Forum

Hoping For Endorsement, Democrat Front-Runners Withstand Barbs On Terrorism, Corporate Influence

(CBS/AP)  Democratic rivals accused Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of being too cozy with lobbyists and Wall Street Tuesday, but the party's presidential front-runner portrayed herself as a champion of working people and commonsense policies, drawing cheers from a crowd of union activists.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, running second to Clinton in most polls, leveled some of the criticism but was forced to defend his own recent statements on Pakistan during the 90-minute debate sponsored by the AFL-CIO at Chicago's Soldier Field.

“You will never see a picture of me on the front of Fortune magazine,” said former senator John Edwards of North Carolina, a dig at Clinton, who recently was featured on the business publication's cover.

Obama said U.S. trade agreements have tilted against workers because “corporate lobbyists” have had too much influence, a theme he has developed in recent days, especially when alluding to Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady.

Clinton, who appeared content with her front-runner status, replied: “The other campaigns have been using my name a lot.

“For 15 years, I've stood up against the right-wing machine,” she said, as many in the crowd cheered. “If you want a winner who knows how to take them on, I'm your girl.”

Obama's turn in the bull's-eye came when Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd chided him for recently suggesting he would strike terrorist targets in Pakistan if he had information about the location of al Qaeda terrorists, even without the permission of President Pervez Musharraf.

“General Musharraf is no Thomas Jefferson,” Dodd said, but he is an ally in the war on terror.

Clinton joined in, saying to Obama, “you should not always say everything you think if you're running for president, because it has consequences across the world.”

Obama shot back: “I find it amusing that those who helped to authorize and engineer the biggest foreign policy disaster in our generation are now criticizing me.”

Dodd, Clinton, Edwards and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden voted to authorize the Iraq war in 2002. Obama, who was in the Illinois legislature at the time, spoke out against the invasion.

Although much of the heat was focused on Obama and Edwards, “every candidate on stage came under fire from one of their opponents, making this one of the more feisty events yet,” said CBSNews.com senior political editor Vaughn Ververs.

The seven candidates praised organized labor lavishly, seeming to jockey to portray themselves as the most committed to the cause.

“Edwards, who has energetically courted labor support, found himself defending his length of devotion to the causes important to the movement, while Obama was again taken to task for recent foreign policy statements and Clinton criticized as the favorite of insiders and powerful interests,” Ververs added.

Edwards twice told the crowd of some 15,000 that he has walked 200 picket lines in the past two years. “Who was with you in crunch time?” he asked. “Who will stand with you when it really matters?”

The stadium crowd was raucous and loud at times, cheering some candidates and interrupting others.

“Tonight’s forum didn’t do much to change the overall dynamics of the race, but it’s sure going to give these campaigns plenty to talk about going forward,” said Ververs.

At the debate's start, the candidates largely agreed that the nation should invest more money in infrastructure and less in the Iraq war, citing the Minneapolis bridge collapse as a symptom of neglect.