Washington: The US presidential campaign is turning fierce as candidates attack each other over their tactics and records, less than two weeks before the crucial early nominating contests.

The Democratic and Republican front-runners are pulling fewer and fewer punches as the first nominating contest, Iowa's caucuses on January 3, looms large.

Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign brought in Anthony Weiner, a New York member of the House of Representatives, to hurl some verbal punches at her Democratic rival Barack Obama.

"Obama says he's going to fight for his positions. In order to do that, you have to have a position," said Weiner.

"In order to be able to fight for a position and fight for the American people and fight for the values of the Democratic Party, you at least have to take the first step, which is expressing what they are," he said.

Weiner mentioned a New York Times article stating that Obama voted neither for nor against issues 130 times during his eight years as a state senator in the Illinois legislature. He cast some 4,000 votes during that time, his campaign said.

The Obama camp lashed back. "While Senator Clinton takes a break from her likeability tour to go back on the attack, Senator Obama - the only major candidate who opposed both the Iraq war and the rush to war in Iran - will continue to demonstrate why he has the judgment to turn the page on the Bush-Cheney foreign policy," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton.

Former senator John Edwards, who is polling a close third behind Clinton and Obama, accused the Clinton camp of distributing violently anti-Obama flyers falsely signed by his campaign - in full knowledge that Iowa voters dislike dirty tricks and negative campaigning.

Source : PTI