Clinton and Obama Clash After Youtube Debate

Bickering broke out yesterday between the camps of the two main contestants for the 2008 Democratic nomination with Hillary Clinton's team seeking to portray Barack Obama as naive in his approach to foreign policy in the wake of an experimental debate organized by CNN and YouTube.

Mr Obama, responding to a question from a YouTube user in Monday night's debate, said he would meet without preconditions the leaders of countries with which the US has strained relations - Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea.

Mrs Clinton, asked the same question, said she would not as she did not want to be used "for propaganda purposes".

Yesterday she said she thought Mr Obama's response was "irresponsible and frankly naive". Mr Obama's camp highlighted a quote from Mrs Clinton in April in which she said: "I think it's a terrible mistake for our president to say he won't talk to bad people."

The spat demonstrated how intense the rivalry between the two has become six months before the first primary contests begin. It also shows the impact of the new irreverent style of debate that was pioneered on Monday. The organizers of next year's key US presidential debates are planning to dispense with much of the old formula and incorporate the freewheeling style of the YouTube website and other new media favorites.

Presidential hopefuls, television companies and political websites yesterday judged the debate, organized by CNN as well as YouTube, as a success. The eight candidates for the Democratic nomination faced two hours of questions from a cross-section of Americans who submitted 30-second video clips.

The debate, in Charleston, South Carolina, included questions about Iraq from a mother whose son was to be deployed there and a father who had lost a son in the country. There were also questions about health from brothers spoon-feeding dinner to a father suffering from Alzheimer's, about Darfur from an American in a refugee camp, and about gun laws from a man cradling a rifle which he described as his "baby". Some questions were gimmicky and aimed at winning laughs.

One of the organisers said it would now be impossible to return to the old format. Although the candidates at times seemed uncomfortable with the uncertainty, listening with fixed grins, their campaign managers yesterday said it had been refreshing. Joe Trippi, who is part of John Edwards' campaign, said: "I thought it was great. It was more freewheeling."

David Axelrod, the campaign strategist for Mr Obama, said: "I think he relished this. He thinks the American people have been cut out of Washington politics."

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, co-author of a history of presidential debates, called the move a milestone. The humor in some of the videos inspired interest in topics that might otherwise bore viewers, as did the images of "real" people talking about troubles in their lives, she said.

YouTube bloggers generally welcomed the format but objected to CNN choosing the questions: 39 were selected from almost 3,000 clips sent in.

Typical of the format's directness was Jordan Williams, a Kansas student, who asked Mr Obama whether he was "authentically black enough". Mr Obama said he had suffered the same difficulties as other African-Americans in hailing a taxi in New York: "You know, when I'm catching a cab in Manhattan in the past, I think I've given my credentials." He also asked Mrs Clinton if she was "satisfactorily feminine enough". She replied: "Well, I couldn't run as anything other than a woman."