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US Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (L) and Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain greet each other at the beginning of the presidential debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee October 7, 2008. [Agencies]
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McCain also said it was important to reform the giant benefit programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
"My friends, we are not going to be able to provide the same benefit for present-day workers that present-day retirees have today," he said, although he did not elaborate.
The two men also competed to demonstrate their qualifications as reformers at a time voters are clamoring for change.
McCain accused Obama of being the Senate's second-highest recipient of donations from individuals at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two now-disgraced mortgage industry giants.
"There were some of us who stood up against it," McCain said of the lead-up to the financial crisis. "There were others who took a hike."
Obama shot back that McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, has a stake in a Washington lobbying firm that received thousands of dollars a month from Freddie Mac until recently.
Pivoting quickly to show his concern with members of the audience listening from a few feet away, he said, "You're not interested in politicians pointing fingers. What you're interested in is trying to figure out, how is this going to impact you."
But that didn't stop the two men from criticizing one another repeatedly as the topics turned to energy, spending, taxes and health care.
Obama said McCain was going to require taxes on the health benefits workers receive from their employers at the same time his plan would wipe out the ability of states to enforce their own regulations to require tests such as mammograms.
