By Rachel Kapochunas, CQ Staff

On the national holiday to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr., there was little harmony to be seen on stage in South Carolina where the Democratic candidates gathered in Myrtle Beach for a debate Monday night. Perhaps personal attacks and squabbling were not what sponsors CNN and the Congressional Black Caucus Insitutute had in mind, but that’s what they got.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton directly attacked one another throughout the first half of the two-hour debate, while former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards tried to rise above but struggled to get a word in edgewise.

With the primary just five days away, the stakes were high. Candidates have frequently noted that 50 percent of expected primary participants are African-American, making this the first early voting event where blacks make up a large percentage of the electorate.

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer moderated the debate and fellow network anchors Suzanne Malveaux and Joe Johns posed additional questions. Topics ranged from the economy to Iraq and racial disparities, but the candidates frequently strayed from the issues to cast each other in an unfavorable light.

Here are CQ Politics’ Bests and Mosts of the debate:

Most hard-hitting attacks: Tie, Clinton and Obama.

Both went straight for the jugular multiple times, and turned especially negative about events well before either was in the Senate. During a discussion of the Reagan era, Clinton said Obama told media outlets he thought Republicans had good ideas, and Obama snapped that while Reagan was in office, “You (Clinton) were a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart.”

Clinton fired back that she was busy fighting for Democratic ideas while Obama was representing his “contributor” in his “slum landlord business,” in a reference to Tony Rezko, who has since been indicted on charges of corruption.

Each accused the other of unfairly cherry-picking single votes or statements and each tried, sometimes by interrupting, to correct the other’s version of events.

Both Clinton and Edwards took Obama to task for voting “present” in the Illinois Senate instead of a Yea or Nay vote. Edwards argued that when he was in the Senate, “it would have been safe for me politically” to do the same, “but I had a responsibility to take a position.”

Obama accused Clinton of “combing” his 4,000 votes in Illinois, as a state legislator, and choosing one to cast in the “worst possible light.” “You need to present them as accurate,” Obama said to Clinton.

Most overlooked: Edwards.

Clinton and Obama frequently went head-to-head, leaving Edwards to sit silently on stage. Blitzer even commented that Edwards had been “remarkably patient”

Apparently frustrated, Edwards posited: “Are there three people in this debate?” Edwards then attempted to take the high road, arguing that “this kind of squabbling” will not help more children receive healthcare or improve education. He began to discuss fiscal matters when the hosts attempted to cut him off, but Edwards stood his ground.

“Let me finish, because Lord knows you let them go on forever,” he said to laughter from the audience and Edwards was permitted to continue.

•Most discussed topic: The economy.

All agreed the economy needed fixing and all charged that the stimulus plan proposed by President Bush was inadequate, saying it left out too many Americans. All mentioned increasing environmental-related or “green collar” jobs as a way to boost employment .

Obama also noted that the country spends “8 to 10 billion dollars a month” on costs related to the war in Iraq and argued that those funds would make an enormous impact if spent domestically. He criticized the North American Free Trade Agreement as “an enormous problem” and charged that Clinton said the agreement was “a boon to the economy.”

Edwards criticized both Clinton and Obama for voting for trade agreements, saying “South Carolina has been devastated by NAFTA and trade deals.”

Clinton said she would freeze interest rates and have a moratorium on home foreclosures as part of her economic plan.

•Most agreement on policy: Affordable healthcare.

There was common ground on increasing the number of Americans with access to affordable healthcare. All three have plans for significant reforms, but Clinton argued that Obama’s plan would not cover everyone. When asked to specifically address healthcare for African-American women, there were little or no specifics.

•Most negative audience reaction: Clinton.

Clinton was booed when she said it was difficult to have a “straight up debate” with Obama because “you never take responsibility for any vote.”

•Best concession that things were out of hand: Blitzer.

After an hour of sparring in which candidates often overstepped their time limits and talked over one another, Blitzer told viewers that the debate would break for commercial and when they returned the candidates would be seated and the rules for discussion would change. “Whatever rules are left, that is,” Blitzer said.

•Most race or gender references: Edwards - on being a white male.

Edwards tried to lighten the mood by saying, at one point, “It’s amazing now that being the white male .... is different, referring to himself as the lone white male candidate on the stage. And Obama pitched in, at one point saying that the media “has really been focused a lot on race as we move down to South Carolina.” But “race is a factor in our society. There’s no doubt that in a race where you’ve got an African American and a woman and, and John . . . ,” Obama said to wide laughter from the audience.

•Best lesson for debate hosts: Sit them down!

In the first half of Monday’s debate, candidates stood at podiums and tension levels were high. But in the second half, candidates sat on swivel chairs (Obama in the middle) and the tone turned more collegial.

•Best quip: Obama.

Obama received loud applause for his comment in response to whether Bill Clinton can be fairly called the country’s “first black president,” a label coined by author Toni Morrison.

“I would have to investigate more in Bill’s dancing abilities . . .  before I accurately judged whether he was in fact a brother,” Obama said.