Except for Lieberman, they seem intent on deomnstrating just who would be the most irresponsible candidate to run for the Oval Office:

DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) -- Democratic presidential hopefuls attacked President Bush on the Iraq war in Sunday's debate in the critical state of Iowa, where caucuses will be held in two weeks.

In response to questions by Paul Anger, editor of The Des Moines Register, the candidates pointed out that American troops are still in danger in Iraq.

Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina said the war removed Saddam Hussein from power but hasn't made the United States safer.

"The reality of protecting the American people is, there's a still great deal of work to be done," Edwards said.

Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts the Bush administration "misled the American people, abused the power that they were given, and has run an ineffective war on terror."

Kerry noted why he thought the war in Iraq was misguided.

"Saddam Hussein was way down the list, with respect to the targets, even on the Pentagon's own list of targets," Kerry said. "And what they did was supplant Iraq for the real war on terror, which is Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, and terror across the world."

Prior to the debate, the candidates made the rounds of Sunday talk shows and focused less on the war than on front-runner Howard Dean.

Kerry, Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut portrayed the former Vermont governor as an inexperienced candidate who is weak on national security, misspeaks too often and is not able to defeat Bush.

Gephardt, a Midwesterner considered as Dean's most serious challenger in Iowa, told CNN's "Late Edition" that Dean "takes positions, then says he didn't take that position, and then says that we're all lying about his position. It makes him in a bad place to take on George Bush and win this race."

Lieberman, who is not campaigning for the Iowa caucuses, told ABC's "This Week" that Dean represents "extreme anger" and could not win an election against President Bush.

And Kerry, discussing Dean on CBS's "Face the Nation," said Democrats need a nominee "about whom there are no questions on national security."

Dean campaign manager Steve Grossman struck back, telling "Fox News Sunday" the candidate "built his credibility on directness and honesty and integrity" and avoids "the kind of doublespeak that you get so often out of Washington."

Seven of the nine Democratic contenders attended the debate in Des Moines, Iowa. In addition to Dean, Gephardt, Kerry, Edwards and Lieberman, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois are at the debate.

Retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark and New York civil rights activist Al Sharpton did not take part in the debate, just two weeks ahead of Iowa's January 19 caucuses.

Like Lieberman, Clark also has decided against campaigning for the Iowa caucuses to focus on the January 27 New Hampshire Primary. He told NBC's "Meet the Press" that Bush shifted the focus from the war on terrorism to Iraq, a move he called "reckless."

Bush, he said, did not have a "thoughtful plan to deal with the threat of terror, and this administration still doesn't."

Asked about Dean, Clark said the former governor lacks foreign policy expertise and that "at this time" the Democratic party could not afford "to field a candidate who can only deal with the [domestic] challenges" facing the nation.

Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, on "Fox News Sunday," said the RNC is "preparing for a close contest in 2004" no matter who wins the Democratic nomination. The country, Gillespie said, is "evenly divided."

Gillespie also called the bickering among Democratic candidates "vile."

Gephardt said voters are beginning to learn more about Dean's positions on issues such as Medicare, trade and energy.

"I just don't think Howard Dean can win this race against George Bush, and I think a lot of Democrats are beginning to understand that," he said.

Gephardt insisted he would win in Iowa, despite raising less than a third of the money Dean raised in the fourth quarter of 2003.

Lieberman criticized Dean about two recent comments: that the world is not safer now that Saddam Hussein has been captured and that Osama bin Laden should not be prejudged as guilty if brought to a trial. Dean later amended the latter statement, saying bin Laden had admitted his guilt.

"I understood that people could take different positions on the war, but once the war was over and Saddam was captured, how could you possibly think that we weren't safer?" Lieberman asked.

"How could you possibly wonder whether it was right to prejudge Osama bin Laden, who boasted that he killed 3,000 Americans?"

But Grossman said Dean's occasional missteps are a byproduct of his off-the-cuff style.

"Look, in the heat of the moment, a variety of things are said, and a candidate who is direct and blunt and straightforward and credible to the American people is occasionally going to say something that he corrects a little bit later on," Grossman said.

Kerry said Dean would raise taxes on the middle class by rolling back the Bush tax cuts, and accused him of trying to turn Vermont into "a snowy Bermuda" as a corporate tax haven while Kerry and other congressional Democrats tried to close corporate tax loopholes.

Kerry also brushed off concerns that Democratic attacks on Dean could hurt the party's chances for victory if Dean becomes the nominee.

The race to unseat Bush "is going to be a tough race," Kerry said, and Democrats "need to choose the strongest nominee possible to go up against him."