Arizona Senator McCain and Illinois Senator Obama looked past Clinton and quarreled anew over the war in Iraq as it approaches its fifth anniversary in March.
The unpopular war is an important fault line in the campaign for the November presidential election, with Democrats advocating a quick US troop withdrawal while McCain insists a pullout would amount to surrender and give Islamic extremists a victory.
McCain, who has linked his candidacy to a successful outcome in Iraq, attacked Obama’s stance on the war at a town hall meeting in Texas as he seeks to wrap up the Republican presidential nomination.
Obama hit back at a rally in Columbus, Ohio, saying McCain had joined President George W. Bush in supporting a war "that should have never been authorized and should have never been waged."
