The story

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, moving into front-runner status following a week of eight straight wins, is facing a new rival, exchanging fire with John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee.

In what could be a preview of the general election, the two exchanged jabs over Iraq and the economy, sure to be key issues in November.

McCain criticized the Democrats for speaking in "platitudes" about Iraq.

"The Democrats wanted to leave and set a date for withdrawal and said we could never succeed militarily. Look at the record ... not the rhetoric, not the platitudes, but the principles and the philosophy," he said.

McCain later took aim directly at Obama for lacking specifics. Read full article »

CNN's Alexander Mooney, Rebecca Sinderbrand Chris Welch, Tasha Diakides, and Peter Hamby contributed to this report

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