The Democratic presidential race grew more intense this week, with the two front-runners all but declaring war on each other and perhaps providing an opening for former Sen. John Edwards’s (N.C.) sluggish campaign.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) signaled Tuesday morning that the harsh dialogue from Monday’s South Carolina debate is here to stay, even as the campaigns of her opponents and fellow Democrats warned of creating dangerous divisions within the party.

Clinton was happy to oblige that fight Monday, and she and former President Clinton kept speaking out Tuesday.
Bill Clinton has drawn some criticism for his attacks on Obama’s record on Iraq in recent weeks.

Obama’s campaign held a conference call Tuesday, on which former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said the Clintons are engaging in the same distortions Republicans used when they went after him in 2004, adding that the former president’s comments in recent days are “not presidential.” The GOP defeated Daschle in his reelection bid even as he was the sitting Senate leader of his party.

“This is the same kind of tactic that Washington uses quite frequently,” Daschle said, adding, “I think it destroys the party. Ultimately, it divides us.”

Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.), the House Democratic whip who hasn’t endorsed in the presidential race, has said similarly that Bill Clinton “is causing a lot of anxiety among the base that exists in our party.”

The pitch of the Democratic discourse has overtaken the fading tension in the GOP contest, where the field remains diffuse and candidates are, at least for the time being, less engaged with each other personally.

Sen. Clinton’s stubborn morning-after press conference demonstrated that she is not afraid of a divisive primary, believing the party will unite regardless of what happens between herself and Obama.

Asked whether recent comments by former President Clinton about Obama risk creating a chasm in the party, Clinton stood up for her husband.

“That has absolutely nothing to do with a unified Democratic Party around the nominee and full support for whoever our Democratic president will be,” Clinton said. “That is just the way it works. I’ve been through this countless times.”

Edwards, meanwhile, sees an opening in a campaign that has languished, as he clearly thinks he can now take the high road as the issues candidate.

He sits a distant third in most polls in Saturday’s South Carolina primary, even though he won the state in 2004 and was born there. It might be his last chance to win a state this year.

While Clinton and Obama monopolized the debate Monday, Edwards positioned himself as an alternative to the bickering and continued in that vein on Tuesday. At the same time, his campaign also released an ad lumping Obama and Clinton together for the amount of money they have taken from drug companies and lobbyists, respectively.

“I’m thinking, ‘I’m John Edwards, and I represent the grown-up wing of the Democratic Party,’ ” Edwards said. “At times like these, we need a grown-up.”

The former senator, speaking to reporters on a conference call to announce the endorsement of the South Carolina Communications Workers of America locals, said that the arguing amongst his opponents gives him a chance to be heard and that he continues to see this as a “three-person race.”

Edwards also said his campaign is looking to expand its budget after last week having its best online fundraising period since he entered the race.

“We have plenty of money,” Edwards said. “Money is not and will not be the issue.”

The former senator refused to say whether he needed to win or come in second in South Carolina, restating a familiar campaign message that about 90 percent of states have yet to vote and that he plans to stay in through the end.