WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton accused Barack Obama Tuesday of "looking for a fight" in their rancorous debate and suggested her Democratic presidential rival acted out of frustration over campaign losses in New Hampshire and Nevada.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, Clinton said Obama came armed to Monday night's debate with "rehearsed points" that he could use when needed. She added that her primary and caucus wins are forcing him to revise his sinking strategy.

"I think what we saw last night was that he's very frustrated," Clinton said. "He clearly came -- he telegraphed it, he talked about it -- he clearly came last night looking for a fight. He was determined and launched right in."

Obama responded that honesty has always been his best defense, and he will use it to show he is the antidote to Clinton's Washington insider approach.

"When it comes to Sen. Clinton's remarks, I think it's very clear that Sen. Clinton has and President Clinton have been spending the last month attacking me in ways that are not accurate," Obama told reporters in a conference call. "If you get the kind of looseness with the facts that Sen. Clinton displayed and you're willing to say anything to get a political or tactical advantage, that lowers people's trust in government. It makes us cynical."

Monday night's debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., was the fieriest so far among the two leading Democratic presidential candidates. John Edwards also participated and lobbed a few grenades at Obama ahead of South Carolina's Democratic primary on Saturday. A RealClearPolitics average of polls shows Obama 10.5 points ahead of Clinton, 42.8 to 32.3 percent with Edwards far behind at 14 percent.

At the debate, Obama and Clinton landed several rattling punches over each other's prior business relationships, with the Illinois senator remarking that he was working to protect jobs from leaving the United States when Clinton was "a corporate lawyer sitting on the board at Wal-Mart."

In return, Clinton said she was fighting against the policies of Ronald Reagan when Obama was "representing your contributor, (Tony) Rezko, in his slum landlord business in inner city Chicago."

Asked about the back and forth, Edwards on Tuesday took the position he held during the debate.

"You know, between all the allegations of Hillary serving on the Wal-Mart board and Senator Obama working for a slumlord, I was proud to represent the grown-up wing of the Democratic Party last night," he said.

During Monday night's debate, the bickering also tread into territory such as who opposes the Iraq war more and Bill Clinton's role in the campaign.

"You talked about Ronald Reagan being a transformative political leader. I did not mention his name," Clinton said in one exchange over whether Obama had complimented the former Republican president.

"Your husband did," Obama said, to which Clinton responded, "Well, I'm here. He's not."

"OK. Well, I can't tell who I'm running against sometimes," Obama replied.

Obama has accused Bill Clinton of becoming the Clinton campaign's designated attack dog, and his campaign took a page from John McCain's playbook, developing a "South Carolina Truth Squad" to combat what Obama says are persistent inaccuracies from both Clintons about his record.

Separately, Obama ally and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said Bill Clinton's "back-biting" is unbecoming of the ex-commander in chief.

"It's not presidential and not in keeping with the image of a former president," Daschle said about Bill Clinton's criticism of Obama. "I don't think it raises the level of debate and I think it's a disappointment to many Democrats."

Daschle accused Hillary Clinton of sending the campaign down a path of "back-biting and bitter give-and-take."

"It's wrong," Daschle said, "and it destroys the party. ... These are the same kind of tactics that Washington uses very frequently and that the American people are so tired of."

Responding to Obama's complaints, Clinton campaign adviser Evan Bayh told FOX News, "Politics ain't bean bags."

Clinton denied that her campaign is using her husband as a pit bull and rejected accusations that she is doing damage to the party.

"I can tell you that never crossed our minds. That's not how we think," she said. "It has absolutely nothing to do with a unified Democratic Party around a nominee and a full support for whoever our Democratic president will be. That is just the way it works."

The former president also defended himself against the criticism.

"I think this is a great field, and we're going to have a few arguments -- it's a contact sport," Bill Clinton said at a restaurant in Columbia, S.C., with a few dozen supporters and breakfasters.

Hillary Clinton also denied that she has been patronizing in her descriptions of Obama or has used racially charged language to undercut him.

"I really cannot strongly enough just reject that," Clinton said. "I think this is totally about us as individuals. He is African-American. I am a woman. This obviously brings with it an enormous historical significance on both of our behalfs."

Obama said to make progress on issues such as the economy, it is necessary to bring the country together and be honest with the American people. He added that Clinton's divisive approach has been her plan all along.

"Sen. Clinton announced while we were still in Iowa that this was going to be her strategy and called it the fun part of campaigning. And, you know, I don't think it's the fun part to fudge the truth," he said. "The necessary part of this campaign is to make sure that we're getting accurate information to voters about people's respective records."

As if in response to that, the Clinton campaign released a statement Tuesday saying that "with the fireworks now receding, it's time to focus on the substance."

The release continued: "From questions about his commitment to fiscal responsibility to his relationship with a donor currently under indictment to his consistency on key issues, last night raised new issues that the Obama campaign must confront today."

While Hillary Clinton raises money and organizes in Super Tuesday states this week, Bill Clinton continues to campaign for his wife in South Carolina. The New York senator was flying to California Tuesday to accept the backing of the United Farm Workers Union, a senior campaign official said on condition of anonymity because the endorsement had not yet been publicly announced.Founded by famed labor activist Cesar Chavez, the union represents a heavily Hispanic work force. Clinton won Nevada's presidential caucuses Saturday in part because of a strong showing among Hispanic voters -- a central part of her strategy to win several states holding contests Feb. 5, including California, Arizona and New Mexico.

FOX News' Major Garrett and Sharon Kehnemui Liss and The Associated Press contributed to this report.