The reviews are out, and the analysts are giving Hillary Clinton a win, or at least a tie, in Wednesday night's debate with Barack Obama.

It was the Democratic candidates' final face-to-face meeting ahead of Tuesday's presidential primary in Pennsylvania, and Clinton needed to hit hard against Obama, who has been under fire for his ties to Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Weather Underground leader William Ayers, as well as remarks he made saying Americans cling to guns and religion to express their frustration with Washington.

If hitting hard was Clinton's goal, she achieved that objective, said Democratic strategist Doug Schoen.

"Hillary began a process that has to continue of raising questions about the Illinois senator's ties," Schoen told FOX News. "Barack Obama didn't have a lot of good answers."

Sparks flew so much that media analysts questioned the debate moderators. Liberal bloggers on the Huffington Post called it the worst debate ever. Others described the first Democratic debate in nearly two months as a "gotcha" confrontation.

"When Barack Obama met Hillary Clinton for another televised Democratic candidates' debate last night, it was more than a step forward in the 2008 presidential election. It was another step downward for network news," media critic Tom Shales wrote in The Washington Post.

"Viewers were also treated to another, less common spectacle: the veiled ties and tensions between news media stars and political figures that sometimes make voters bitter, leading them to cling to political satire by the likes of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert as a way to explain their frustration," wrote New York Times analyst Alessandra Stanley.

The Times called Obama's debate performance his weakest yet. But the Illinois senator undeniably came armed for combat, offering sharp responses to Clinton's repeated attacks. His performance won him a Philadelphia Daily News endorsement on Thursday, and Time magazine writer Mark Halperin reported the Obama campaign was going to announce that three Pennsylvania superdelegates were switching from Clinton to Obama because of the negative tone of the debate.

While both candidates advocated targeted tax cuts and pledged to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq even if top military commanders advise against it, each also sought to exploit the other's recent gaffes.

Obama urged voters not to become obsessed with the politics of the race, but managed to bring up a Clinton remark from her husband's first presidential race in 1992 in which she said she could have given up her career to stay home and bake cookies.

"I remember watching that on TV and saying, 'Well, that's not who she is. That's not what she believes. That's not what she meant.' And I'm sure that that's how she felt, as well. But the problem is that that's the kind of politics that we've been accustomed to. And I think Senator Clinton learned the wrong lesson from it because she's adopting the same tactics," he said.

Clinton looked angered at times but delivered soft rebukes, often with a smile. She seized a different moment in the debate to raise fresh questions abut Obama's refusal to break ties with Wright, who has delivered several angry sermons denouncing the U.S. and Israel.

"It wasn't only the specific remarks but some of the relationships with Reverend Farrakhan, with giving the church bulletin over to the leader of Hamas, to put a message in. You know, these are problems. And they raise questions in people's minds. And, so, this is a legitimate area," she said.

Clinton also chided Obama once more for his statement at a San Francisco fundraiser that critics said belittled small-town America.

"People don't cling to their traditions on hunting and guns" out of frustration with their government, Clinton said. She added that Obama had a fundamental misunderstanding on the role of religion and faith.

The former first lady argued the Ayers issue makes Obama vulnerable to Republicans, but Obama shot back that former President Clinton actually pardoned members of Ayers' group, the Weather Underground, making Clinton a victim of her own "vetting standards."

"This kind of game in which anybody who I know, regardless of how flimsy the relationship is, that somehow their ideas could be attributed to me -- I think the American people are smarter than that," said Obama. He pointed out that he was 8 years old when Ayers, now a university professor in Chicago, was setting bombs.

A few minutes later, it was Clinton's turn to explain a mistake. Asked about her erroneous statement that she had braved sniper fire during a landing in Bosnia as first lady in 1996, Clinton issued a first-ever public apology for the error.

"I may be a lot of things, but I am not dumb," she said, adding that she had written in her book that there had been no gunfire during the episode. She said she was embarrassed by her error. "I'm sorry I said it," she added.

Obama argued that Clinton's attacks on him are the politics of the past.

"The problem is that's the kind of politics we've been accustomed to, and I think Sen. Clinton's ... adopting the same tactics," he said.

Obama erred at one point by saying he had never favored a ban on handguns, even though as a state Senate candidate in 1996 he filled out a questionnaire from an Illinois voter group saying he would support such a ban.

"My writing wasn't on that particular questionnaire ... as I said, I have never favored an all-out ban on handguns," Obama said, even though his handwritten notes did appear on its front page. The response to the question about guns was typed.

Clinton is hanging on to a slight lead in Pennsylvania with five days remaining until the  primary,  though Obama leads in national polls. The Keystone State has 158 convention delegates at stake, the largest prize remaining before the primaries end on June 3. Obama leads Clinton in the delegate chase 1,644-1,504. The candidates need 2,025 delegates to win the nomination. Democratic primaries are not winner-take-all; the delegates will be selected in proportion to the vote.

Clinton conceded that Obama can win the White House this fall, undercutting her ongoing efforts to deny him the nomination by suggesting he would lead the party to defeat.

Schoen said the debate began a process of questioning Obama's credibility, and Clinton did her best to keep herself in the game.

"It wasn't always pretty, it wasn't a knockout," Schoen said. "I think the American people are coming to doubt the inclusive rhetoric of Barack Obama."

Click here to see photos from the Philadelphia debate.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.