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Las Vegas: After a week of bitter intraparty disputes over race, Senator Hillary Clinton extended an olive branch to Senator Barack Obama and declared that she and the other Democratic candidates are "all family" in a nationally televised debate.
Obama returned the gesture, acknowledging that both Clinton and former senator John Edwards were committed to racial equality.
Yet despite striking a charitable tone during an appearance on Reverend Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, the top three contenders continued to challenge each other over substantive issues, especially energy and the economy, salient issues in this state where caucuses will be held on Saturday.
Obama and Clinton, in one of their sharpest distinctions of the night, offered starkly different visions of the presidency.
Obama said he believed the job is about "having a vision for where the country needs to go" rather than ensuring the "paperwork is being shuffled effectively", while Clinton emphasised the need for understanding how the system works.
"I do think that being president is the chief executive officer. I respect what Barack said about setting the vision, setting the tone, bringing people together," Clinton said. "But I think you have to be able to manage and run the bureaucracy."
After a week of rancor, the civil discourse of the night was notable. Obama went so far as to say he regretted a comment he made in a debate last Saturday, when he described Clinton as "likable enough".
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