DHAKA: Hillary Clinton wants Bernie Sanders to know she's got President Barack Obama's back.

Much of the debate lacked the bitterness of earlier forums as Clinton and Sanders laid out differences on policy questions, reports the CNN.

But the confrontation during the PBS "NewsHour" Democratic debate simulcast on CNN flared into open anger in the final moments.

Hillary Clinton said Sanders had called Obama "weak" and a "disappointment" in the past and she warned "the kind of criticism that we heard from Sen. Sanders about our president, I expect from Republicans. I do not expect (it) from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama."

Sanders was furious: "Madam Secretary, that is a low blow."

He insisted Obama was his friend, but that did not mean that a senator had to agree with the president on everything.

"One of us ran against President Obama," Sanders said, responding to Clinton's 2008 showdown against the then-Illinois senator. "I was not that candidate."

One of the biggest moments of the night came when Sanders warned Clinton: "You are not in the White House yet."

The debate was the first time the rivals met since Sanders won the New Hampshire primary in a 20-point victory on Tuesday.

BDST:  1157 HRS, Feb 12, 2016
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