Barack Obama vowed yesterday to confront Bill Clinton head-on, saying that the former president was habitually twisting facts and “has taken his advocacy on behalf of his wife to a level that I think is pretty troubling”, writes Tom Baldwin.

In a Democratic race where Mr Obama has often tried to present himself as a healing candidate who can rise above old divisions, his comments signalled that he is ready for hand-to-hand combat with Hillary Clinton – and her husband.

Both candidates, together with John Edwards, staged an apparently friendly show of unity at a rally outside the South Carolina Capitol building in Columbia yesterday where they marked the annual holiday for the civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

Mrs Clinton went out of her way to praise Mr Obama as an “extraordinary young African-American man who has so much to contribute”– before trying to match him for passion when she spoke out against inequality.

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Mr Obama leads the polls before the primary here on Saturday with strong backing from black voters who are likely to account for more than half the turnout. But the Clintons will not give up the support of a community that has always held them in high esteem without a fight.

The former president is shadowing his wife’s rival every step of the way. Yesterday he delivered an address at the Ebenezer Church in Atlanta, Georgia, where Dr King was a pastor and where Mr Obama had spoken on Sunday. Mr Clinton said that Dr King would get a kick out of seeing the Democratic nomination contested by a profoundly eloquent black man and a woman – who had idolised the civil rights leader.

He may, however, be embarrassed by video footage of him apparently falling asleep during some speeches.

In his interview yesterday Mr Obama talked of how he faced two formidable opponents in Mrs Clinton and her husband. Although acknowledging that there would be some sharp elbows in any election, he went on to detail a litany of complaints about the former president. These ranged from recent attacks on Mr Obama’s position on the war in Iraq and apparent praise for Ronald Reagan, to repeated claims that his campaign made use of dirty tricks in last weekend’s Nevada caucuses.

“This has become a habit and one of the things that we’re going to have to do is to directly confront Bill Clinton when he’s making statements that are not factually accurate,” said Mr Obama, who has made counter-allegations of hard-ball politics by the Clinton campaign in Nevada. “I think it’s important that we try to maintain some level of honesty and candour during the course of the campaign.”

In a speech on Sunday night Mr Obama made several references to what he called the “mis-characterisations” of his views by Mr Clinton’s campaign. Howard Wolfson, the spokesman for Mrs Clinton, suggested that her opponent was smarting from successive defeats in New Hampshire and Nevada. “They are frustrated and they are attacking Bill Clinton,” he said. “Senator Obama’s allies in Nevada engaged in strong-arm tactics and intimidation against our supporters and his record against the war has been inconsistent. President Clinton is a huge asset to our campaign and will continue talking to the American people to press the case.”

There was more ill-feeling when the Clinton camp accused Mr Obama of breaking a promise to abide by party rules and not campaign in Florida.

But it is the issue of race that simmers through the South Carolina primary. The two campaigns clashed last week about comments in which Mrs Clinton was alleged to have belittled the role of Dr King in the passage of civil rights legislation.

James Clyburn, a senior, black Congressman, called on Mr Clinton to “chill a little”, saying that he should not “engender the kind of feelings that seem to be bubbling up”.

David Axelrod, the campaign manager for Mr Obama, described the recent behaviour of the former president as “crass”, adding that it was sad and disappointing to see him act in such fashion. “Nobody doubts that there is a good-cop, bad-cop, thing going on,” he said. “I admire him as a former president but he is out there on the battlefield and we’re not going to stand there and allow Senator Obama’s comments to be distorted by anybody.”

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