Sparks flew between the leading presidential candidates of both parties during the Saturday “fight night” debate doubleheader just three days before New Hampshire’s January 8 primary.

Hillary Clinton took shots at Barack Obama over healthcare during the Democratic debate and John McCain and Mitt Romney sparred over immigration in the GOP standoff at St. Anselm College in Manchester. And, in both of these arguments a third candidate couldn’t help but jump into the fight.

On January 3, GOP candidate Mike Huckabee and Obama left the Hawkeye state with a significant wins over their opponents. According to New Hampshire polls, however, Democrats Clinton and Obama are running nearly neck-in-neck and Republican McCain leads former Massachusetts Romney.

Iowa exit polls showed that Democratic voters indicated that “change,” a characteristic often attributed to Obama, was more important to them than “experience,” a trait Clinton has pitched to voters again and again. Debate moderator and ABC News Anchor Charles Gibson asked the two candidates to discuss “change” and “experience” which led to a discussion on their differences on universal healthcare plans.

Clinton accused Obama of changing position on the issues and said that “He could have a pretty good debate with himself.”

Obama didn’t retaliate to Clinton’s jab, but John Edwards did. Edwards, who beat Clinton in Iowa with a second place finish, interjected that Clinton was attacking Obama because because she was a sore loser. “"I didn't see this kind of attacks from Senator Clinton when she was ahead. Now that's she's not, we hear them, anytime you speak out for change, this is what happens,” Edwards said. Then, he said Clinton was aligned with the “forces of status quo.”

Clinton retorted angrily, “Making change is not about what you believe or what you say, it's about working hard.” She said loudly, "I want to make change, but I've already made change. I'm not running on the promise of change. But on 35 years of change.”

The tension was so thick that long-shot candidate and former United Nations Ambassador Bill Richardson noted, “I've been in hostile negotiations that are a lot more civil than this." Continued...