MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama accused each other of repeatedly and deliberately distorting the truth for political gain last night in a highly personal, finger-wagging debate that ranged from the war in Iraq to Bill Clinton's role in the campaign.

Obama told the former first lady that he was helping unemployed workers on the streets of Chicago when "you were a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart."

Moments later, Clinton said that she was fighting against misguided Republican policies "when you were practicing law and representing your contributor ... in his slum landlord business in inner-city Chicago."

The two rivals, joined by former Sen. John Edwards, debated at the Palace Theater in Myrtle Beach, five days before the South Carolina primary — and 15 days before the equivalent of a nationwide primary across 20 states that will go a long way toward settling the battle for the party's nomination.

The Democratic electorate in South Carolina is expected to be roughly 50 percent black, an evident advantage for Obama in a historic race that matches a black man against a woman.

Edwards, who badly trails his two rivals, tried to stay above the fray while pleading for equal time.

"Are there three people in this debate, not two?" he asked. "We have got to understand, this is not about us personally. It's about what we are trying to do for this country."

Meanwhile in Miami, supporters mobbed Republican presidential candidate John McCain yesterday in Little Havana, while rival Rudy Giuliani's banners were plastered across storefronts.

That scene could be a metaphor for the Cuban-American community, expected to represent about one out of 10 voters in Florida's GOP primary next Tuesday. After years of coalescing behind the Reagan and Bush campaigns, Cuban-Americans are now split among rival GOP camps.

Seeking to blunt McCain's narrow edge in a state that could be a springboard to the nomination, Giuliani's campaign assailed McCain's opposition to national catastrophe insurance. Mitt Romney is spending the most on television advertising and has the edge in one new Florida poll, setting the stage for Cuban-American voters to resolve a muddled race.

The Associated Press and McClatchy-Tribune News Service contributed to this report.