"Obama, Edwards exchange salvos on Iraq during CNN debate" (with video from CNN)

The Hill:

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) engaged in one of the sharpest exchanges of the 2008 race for the White House by questioning each other’s votes on the Iraq war.

At Sunday night's Democratic presidential debate in Manchester, N.H., Edwards used a question about last month's Iraq war supplemental funding vote to portray Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as followers instead of leaders.

"It's the difference between leading and following," Edwards said.

When CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer asked him to specify which candidates he was talking about, Edwards singled out Clinton and Obama for staying mum on their positions on the war funding bill until they registered their “no” votes last month.

While Clinton stayed largely out of this fray, Obama quickly shot back at Edwards, subsequently forcing a concession from the former senator.

"I was opposed to this war from the start," Obama noted, calling out Edwards for his 2002 vote authorizing the Iraq war. "You were about four-and-a-half years late on leadership on this issue."

Edwards countered with a two-pronged response by saying he was wrong to vote the way he did, praising Obama's opposition while indirectly calling attention to Clinton's refusal to say she was wrong for her “yes” vote in 2002.

Clinton repeated her insistence that her vote was not necessarily for war but to force Iraq to allow additional inspections regarding weapons of mass destruction.

The New York senator added that every Democratic candidate is eager to the end the war and that their differences are minor.

Meanwhile, Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), the only sitting senator in the debate to vote in favor of the most recent Iraq spending measure, offered an ardent defense of his vote.

The debate format was more free-wheeling than those that have taken place thus far. But Iraq only dominated the debate -- the longest yet at just less than two hours -- for the first half hour.

CNN Video: Watch Edwards, Clinton, Obama mix it up over Iraq