Front-Runner Clinton Target of Debate Rivals : Democrats: Five candidates square off in New Hampshire, devote most time to reciting policy positions.

Five Democratic presidential candidates competed for New Hampshire votes Sunday night in a televised debate, during which apparent front-runner Bill Clinton was criticized by his rivals and challenged by the moderator about rumors of womanizing.

The Arkansas governor was asked by National Public Radio’s Cokie Roberts about the political impact of rumors that he had had affairs with several women.

Clinton laid the blame for the rumors at the feet of Republicans from his home state. “This last episode was a pack of lies,” he said. “I think the American people are sick and tired of that kind of negative politics. They want somebody who can lead.”

Clinton added that it was “highly unlikely” that his nomination would be affected by the charges, which have been raised by a disgruntled former Arkansas employee.

Most of the debate was taken up with recitations of the candidates’ policy positions, including strong appeals for health care by Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, demands for a comprehensive economic policy by former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas, and pleadings from Clinton that the party move to embrace the concerns of moderates and by Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin that the party’s liberal traditions be renewed.

In one of the few new proposals of the evening, former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. pledged to scrap the current income tax system in favor of a flat tax rate that would be assessed on all Americans.

That earned a stiff rejoinder from Harkin: “Sounds like something proposed by believers of the Flat Earth Society--and about as regressive too.”

In contrast to his argumentative antics during a nationally televised debate in December, Brown was fairly docile, emphasizing his experience as governor for most of the debate.

Harkin, in contrast, actively took on his opponents, chastising Clinton for “buying into Reaganomics” and for raising taxes--which Clinton said was supported by Arkansas voters--and accusing Kerrey of a late conversion on the issue of trade.

Referring to Kerrey’s commercials, in which he stands at a hockey net and tells voters he will talk tough with the Japanese, Harkin noted that the Nebraska senator had approved a fast-track trade agreement with Mexico. Opponents had said that agreement would cost Americans jobs.

“You’re skating on thin ice,” Harkin told Kerrey.

Tsongas, taking aim with economic issues at Kerrey and Clinton, said that the middle-class tax cut both have supported was “coming from the media consultants.”

It was the first televised New Hampshire confrontation of all the major contestants for the Democratic nomination, and it was broadcast nationwide on the cable television network C-SPAN.

State Democratic Party officials who sponsored the debate invited only the five major candidates, prompting about 400 supporters of lesser-known presidential hopefuls to stage a loud protest in bitterly cold temperatures outside the Manchester studio.

Supporters of former Irvine, Calif., Mayor Larry Agran and New York psychologist Lenora Fulani carried signs and chanted: “Don’t scab on democracy.”

State Party Chairman Chris Spirou said it was impossible to accommodate all 36 Democrats on the ballot for the leadoff Feb. 18 primary.

On the subject of crime, which along with the economy and education were the topics discussed at length Sunday, the Democrats presented a more conservative picture than they have in past years, with three of the candidates--Clinton, Harkin and Kerrey--supporting the death penalty in specific cases.

Harkin also suggested using the military against nations that supply drugs to customers in the United States.

“Let’s face it, we’re at war,” Harkin said. “We have to confront it like a war.”

Earlier in the day, as the candidates went through their final drills and briefings in preparation for the debate, a new poll of New Hampshire voters published by the Boston Globe pointed up the political realities governing the Democratic presidential campaign here in the Granite State.

Probably the most striking reality is the continued decline in the political strength of President Bush, who less than a year ago seemed all but invincible. His slippage has made the Democratic nomination a much richer prize than it seemed when they entered the race. The descent in the President’s poll standings has been particularly dramatic here in New Hampshire, because the recession that has taken its toll on Bush’s popularity everywhere has hit this state especially hard.

The poll, sponsored by the Globe and Boston’s WBZ-TV, showed that Bush’s approval rating had tumbled to 36%, a drop of 6 percentage points since December. Last spring, when Tsongas became the first Democrat to declare his candidacy, Bush’s approval rating was in the 90% range. And when voters were asked in interviews early last week to pick the next President by choosing between Bush and an unnamed Democrat, the result amounted to a dead heat. Bush got 39%, the Democrat, 38%, with 22% undecided.

Another reality that the poll underlined is the uncertainty of the electorate. When asked if they had decided on a choice for President, without being shown a list of the candidates, fully 79% of those interviewed said no. Such a response, giving underdogs reason for hope and leaders cause for anxiety, is considered normal for a primary campaign this far before the election, other pollsters said.

But despite all the caveats about voter volatility, the Globe poll, like previous recent soundings in the state, did provide evidence for another political reality: Clinton’s emergence as the apparent front-runner. When prompted with a list of candidate names, 29% of those interviewed picked Clinton as their choice for President.

In second place was Tsongas with 17%, followed by Kerrey with 16%, Brown with 7% and Harkin last with 3%. Twenty-eight percent were undecided. The margin of error was 5 percentage points, meaning the results could vary up to 5 points in either direction.

The results compared to a survey also taken last week by the American Research Group, which showed Clinton in first with 32%, followed by Tsongas with 20%, Kerrey with 11%, Harkin with 4% and Brown with 2%. The undecided tally was 30%. The margin of error was 5.7 percentage points.

Another poll, by CNN/Time magazine, had slightly better news for Bush. He beat every Democratic candidate who is running for the nomination. Clinton ran strongest among those, but he would lose the Nov. 3 presidential election to Bush, 47% to 31%, the poll found.

But the CNN/Time poll had bad news overall for Bush, whose approval ratings have plunged since he received 91% approval after the Gulf War. The poll showed only 46% think he should be reelected while 44% said he should not. The rest were unsure. The poll had a margin of error of 5.9 percentage points.

The ranking of the candidates as measured by the polls, along with the beliefs and positions they advocate, helps explain some of the campaign skirmishing in the days leading up to Sunday’s debate.

As the leader of the pack, Clinton sought to underline the contrast between himself and the two candidates tied most directly to the Washington political Establishment, Kerrey and Harkin, by running a television commercial criticizing the pay raise the Senate voted for itself last summer.

Kerrey’s campaign replied to that thrust by pointing out that as a governor Clinton benefited from such perquisites as a rent-free government mansion, which senators do not have.

Meanwhile, Harkin sought to bolster his cause and his appeal to party liberals by describing himself as the only “real Democrat” in the race. He warned voters against being deceived by unidentified “microwave Democrats,” who he explained were warm on the outside but cold on the inside.

For his part, Tsongas, though he is competing with Clinton for moderate voters, limited his attacks to the two more liberal candidates pursuing him, Harkin and Kerrey. He accused both of them of advocating protectionist tactics on trade that would send the United States “over the economic cliff.”