Tension is rising between Governor George Bush and Senator John McCain in the closing days of the crucial South Carolina Republican primary as they campaign for the vital votes that will mean victory or defeat.
They clashed repeatedly in the televised debate in Columbia on Tuesday night over each other's attack ads. The local newspaper, The State commented that "they bickered like an old married couple in a therapy session as underdog Alan Keyes played social worker".
The latest opinion polls show Mr Bush with a slight lead but Mr McCain is drawing strong support from independents and Democrats who are allowed to vote in the primary under the local rules. Mr Keyes, a former ambassador in the Reagan administration is far behind but may do well among religious conservatives and damage Mr Bush.
Saturday's election is seen by political observers as possibly deciding who will eventually get the Republican nomination. Mr Bush who was once seen as unstoppable with his $70 million war chest and support of most of the Republican establishment badly needs to beat Mr McCain who trounced him in the New Hampshire primary two weeks ago.
Mr McCain needs to prove that New Hampshire was not a flash in the pan. A win in South Carolina would leave him poised for further victories next week in his home state of Arizona and the important industrial state of Michigan.
No clear winner emerged from Tuesday night's debate in a restaurant in Columbia, the capital of South Carolina. Mr Bush looked more energised than in previous encounters and hotly contested Mr McCain's claim to be a "reformer" of the political system after his 17 years in the Senate.
Mr McCain kept his notorious temper under tight control and tried to appear more presidential while he emphasised his experience in foreign policy.
Both men denounced each other's "negative advertising" which breached their earlier highly publicised agreement to avoid personal attacks.
Mr Bush was especially pained by a McCain ad which compared him to President Clinton for being untrustworthy. "That's about as low a blow as you can give in the Republican primary," Mr Bush complained in the debate.
But Mr McCain, who was tortured in North Vietnam as a prisoner of war, hit back at Mr Bush's refusal to apologise when a supporter at one of his meetings accused Mr McCain of "abandoning" Vietnam veterans. "I don't know if you can understand this George but that really hurts," Mr McCain said. "You should be ashamed."
Mr Keyes drew applause when he accused them of "pointless squabbling" in front of a national audience. "They get into this spitting match over who did what to whom as a distraction from the lack of substance in their own campaign."
Mr Keyes also succeeded in embarrassing the two main rivals over the contradictions in their anti-abortion policies which he claimed would be exploited by the eventual Democratic candidate. Both Mr Bush and Mr McCain oppose abortion except in cases of rape, incest and danger to life of the mother but the Republican Party official policy does not mention any exceptions.
Northern Ireland was mentioned briefly at the end. Mr McCain paid tribute to the efforts of Senator George Mitchell, in the peace process.
Mr Bush said that it was unfortunate that the peace process was apparently falling apart but said that it was not the role of the US in foreign policy to "dictate" terms in international disputes but to encourage opposing parties to come together.
Mr McCain received a boost yesterday when he was endorsed by Mr Gary Bauer who dropped out of the contest for the Republican nomination. Mr Bauer would have influence with Christian conservatives for his strongly anti-abortion stance, a constituency which Mr Bush has been cultivating in South Carolina such as when he spoke at the Bob Jones University which bans inter-racial dating among its 6,000 students.
Mr Bush holds a narrow three-point lead over Mr McCain among voters likely to participate in Saturday's crucial Republican primary in South Carolina, according to a poll on Wednesday.
The poll found Mr Bush leading with 43 per cent over Mr McCain with 40 per cent and Mr Keyes with 4 per cent. Thirteen per cent were undecided.