The 2008 presidential race is already heating up. On Tuesday Senator John McCain responded to his potential rival Senator Hillary Clinton’s suggestion that George W. Bush bears some responsibility for North Korea’s nuclear status by turning the blame back on her husband.

According to the Washington Post, in a campaign speech in Michigan McCain said:

“I would remind Senator Clinton and other Democrats critical of Bush administration policies that the framework agreement her husband’s administration negotiated [with North Korea] was a failure. Every single time the Clinton administration warned the Koreans not to do something—not to kick out the IAEA inspectors, not to remove the fuel rods from their reactor—they did it. And they were rewarded every single time by the Clinton administration with further talks.”

According to Slate’s Fred Kaplan, McCain’s claim is just plain false.

And according to the conservative siteWorld Net Daily, YouTube people were acting in agreement when they limited access to a political ad that mocks the Clinton Administrations policies on North Korea.

Why would McCain draw Clinton into a public brawl? The Washington Post’s political blog The Fix sees McCain’s goals as twofold: 1) to impress conservative voters and 2) to elevate himself to Clinton’s level by creating a situation where they’re opponents.

The real question: Are these two just out of the gate or well into the first stretch?