Democratic Party presidential candidates, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are scheduled to hold another televised debate Tuesday in Cleveland, Ohio, after two days of increasingly harsh rhetoric on the campaign trail.
Obama's campaign accused Clinton's Monday of using smear tactics following the publication of a photograph showing Obama in traditional African clothes during a 2006 trip to Kenya.
The web site that published the photo, said Clinton campaign staffers circulated it. Obama's campaign manager said the Clinton campaign was engaging in "shameful, offensive fear-mongering" for distributing the photograph.
Clinton's communications chief said, to his knowledge, Clinton aides did not circulate the picture.
The developments come just more than a week before important primary contests take place in Texas and Ohio, which could decide the fate of either the Clinton or Obama campaign.
New surveys released Monday show Obama making gains in both states.
The CNN poll showed Obama with a four point lead in Texas with 50 percent compared to Clinton's 46 percent. Last week the same poll showed Clinton leading by two points.
In Ohio, a survey by Quinnipiac University showed Clinton leading 51 percent to Obama's 40 percent. Clinton's 11-point lead is down from a 21 point advantage in the same poll taken 11 days before.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
