Clinton Accuses Obama of Spoiling for a Fight

WASHINGTON — Senator Clinton said that a "very frustrated" Senator Obama came to last night's debate in South Carolina "looking for a fight" as she sought this morning to spin a series of caustic and personal exchanges between the two leading Democratic presidential contenders in her favor.

"I think what we saw last night was that he's very frustrated," Mrs. Clinton told reporters in a hastily-scheduled press conference in Washington before she flew to California for campaign events. She said that Mr. Obama's losses in New Hampshire and Nevada had "clearly convinced him to adopt a different strategy" based more on confrontation and attack.

"He clearly came last night looking for a fight. He was determined and launched right into it," Mrs. Clinton said.

Mrs. Clinton's comments signaled a strategy to paint Mr. Obama as the aggressor in the ramped-up Democratic primary, seizing on the fact that while the two contenders went toe-to-toe for several minutes in the debate, it was the Illinois senator who threw the first verbal punch. Mr. Obama mentioned Mrs. Clinton by name in response to the first question last night, suggesting she had revised her economic stimulus proposal to bring it in line with his.

The New York senator appeared relaxed and eager to talk with reporters, ignoring an aide's call for the press conference to end and lingering in a hotel ballroom to allow for more questions. Exuding confidence, she seemed excited by the combative turn the campaign has taken. "I'm great. I love a good campaign," she said as the event concluded.

While Mrs. Clinton relished the opportunity to opine on Mr. Obama's state of mind and his record as a legislator, she was less eager to rehash the two harshest moments of the debate — when he brought up her service on the corporate board of Wal-Mart in the 1980s, and when she trotted out his link to Antoin Rezko, a Chicago developer under federal indictment on fraud charges.

She directed reporters to ask Mr. Obama about Mr. Rezko, and she characterized as old news her past with Wal-Mart, a company often criticized by many Democrats for its labor practices.

"It's no secret that I served on the board of Wal-Mart," Mrs. Clinton said. "I took a very active role in promoting diversity and the involvement of women." She added that she "had disagreements with Wal-Mart that are also well-known," citing its approach toward unions and saying that she long urged the company to provide health care for its workers.

Mrs. Clinton defended the role her husband has played in the campaign, and she said that despite the current acrimony between her and Mr. Obama, "we will have a unified party once we have a nominee."

She also addressed the economy at the outset of the press conference, which took place as the stock market was set to fall sharply amid concerns about a recession. "This is a global economic crisis," Mrs. Clinton said, noting the emergency interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve Board and calling on President Bush to convene his working group on financial markets. She touted her own economic stimulus plan, but she urged lawmakers and the White House to come out of a scheduled meeting today with an agreement "that can be quickly passed."