Leading Dems Fight Over Who Planned on Running for President Longest

ABC’s Eloise Harper and Sunlen Miller Report:  In a battle putting Sen. Hillary Clinton on the offensive line, the two leading Democratic candidates are duking it out over who planned on running for President the longest.

And in this case both contenders are painting the picture that dreaming big at an early age is a negative, as it could be something viewed as having a long-held ambition or an intentionally strategic climb to the top.

Today at a press conference in Des Moines, Iowa, Sen. Barack Obama claimed, "I have not been planning to run for president for however number of years some of the other candidates have been planning for."

The Clinton camp was quick to hit back.

"Senator Obama’s comment today is fundamentally at offs with what his teachers, family, classmates and staff have said about his plans to run for President," Clinton spokesperson Phil Singer said, "Senator Obama’s campaign rhetoric is getting in the way of his reality."

The Obama campaign was equally quick to defend themselves.

"I’m sure tomorrow they’ll attack him for being a flip-flopper because he told his second grade teacher he wanted to be an astronaut," Obama spokesman Bill Burton responded, calling he attack something from "kindergarten."