(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-04-18 08:54

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania  - Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama set off Thursday on a five-day dash towards the Pennsylvania primary, as the endgame opens in their gruelling Democratic White House tussle.

Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton (R) and Barack Obama participate in the Philadelphia Democratic Primary Debate at the Kimmel Theater in the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 16, 2008. Clinton and Obama set off Thursday on a five-day dash towards the Pennsylvania primary, as the endgame opens in their gruelling Democratic White House tussle. [Agencies]

Campaign aides for each White House hopeful claimed victory after the senators clashed in a tense and grim debate here late Wednesday, both arguing their candidate was best placed to beat Republican John McCain in November.

Obama was already looking past next Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary to a knockout win in North Carolina, which along with Indiana votes on May 6 in the closing stages of the arduous nominating epic.

"North Carolina is going to be critically important. If we can win in North Carolina, I think we can wrap up this nomination," he said at a campaign stop in the southern state before heading back to Pennsylvania.

"And if we can win this nomination then I think we can beat John McCain," the Illinois senator said.

All three contenders got a chance to burnish their foreign policy credentials in Washington talks with Britain's visiting Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who said the historic Anglo-US alliance would remain in safe hands.

"What I was convinced of, after talking to each of them ... is that the relationship between America and Britain will remain strong, remain steadfast," Brown told a news conference with President George W. Bush.

In the run-up to Tuesday's primary, Obama was blanketing the airwaves in the gritty northeastern state with millions of dollars in campaign advertising.

He was also due to launch a five-day trek Friday through Pennsylvania by road, rail and air, even as his campaign downplayed expectations for him in a state where Clinton is favored to win.

Obama lashed the format of the debate on ABC television, after he was put on the defensive over his fiery former pastor, comments that some working Americans were "bitter" and his reluctance to wear a US flag lapel pin.

Decrying the moderators, he said it was "45 minutes before we heard about health care, 45 minutes before we heard about Iraq, 45 minutes before we heard about jobs, 45 minutes before we heard about gas (gasoline) prices."

Clinton was also planning to criss-cross the state, the gateway to the intense closing weeks of the punishing Democratic race, which has now lasted 15 months.

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