Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have accused each other of negative campaigning during a live television debate.

Exchanges between the two Democratic presidential candidates become heated as they debated their views on the country's health care system. Whilst both senators have proposed universal healthcare cover for Americans, Clinton and Obama insist each other's proposals would leave too many people without cover.

With less than a week to go before those crucial primaries in Ohio and Texas, these bitter rivals have everything to play for.

During their debate at Cleveland State University in Ohio, Hillary Clinton attacked Barack Obama for claiming she supported the North American Free Trade Agreement - many workers hit by factory closures blame the deal - agreed under Bill Clinton's administration - for job losses.

SOUNDBITE: Senator Hillary Clinton, Democratic presidential candidate saying (English):

"We have differences and in the last several days some of those differences in tactics and the choices that Senator Obama's campaign has made regarding flyers and mailers and other information that has been put out about my health care plan and my position on NAFTA have been very disturbing and therefore, I think it's important that you stand up for yourself and you point out these differences so that voters can have the information they need to make a decision."

SOUNDBITE: Senator Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate saying (English):

"Senator Clinton has her campaign , at least, has constantly sent out negative attacks on us...email, robo-calls, flyers, television ads, radio calls and we haven't whined about it because I understand that's the nature of these campaigns. But to suggest somehow, that our mailing is somehow different from the kinds of approaches that Senator Clinton has taken throughout this campaign I think it is simply not accurate."

With her campaign on the line, Clinton has been aggressively challenging Obama in recent days, but Obama has sought to give as good as he gets.

Revisiting their differences on the Iraq war, Obama said her vote "facilitated and enabled" President Bush to go to war.

 Senator Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate saying:

"The fact is that Senator Clinton often says that she is ready on day one, but in fact she was ready to give into George Bush on day one on this critical issue. So the same person that she criticizes for having terrible judgement and we can't afford to have another one of those, in fact, she facilitated and enabled this individual to make a decision that has been strategically damaging to the United States of America."

It's unclear who won this latest debate, but what is clear is that after eleven straight victories Barack Obama is gaining ground, so it's vital that Hillary Clinton wins a majority of delegates in Ohio and Texas to stay in the Democratic race.

Liz Kennedy, Reuters