DENMARK, S.C. -- The fight for black voters turned into a tug-of-war over President Barack Obama's legacy Friday as the two Democratic presidential hopefuls looked for an edge in South Carolina.

Republicans, meanwhile, crisscrossed the state in search of a path around Donald Trump's campaign.

Hillary Clinton stepped up her hammering of rival Bernie Sanders for what she said are his false claims on Obama's legacy. Prominent black leaders echoed the theme -- an effort to use the first black president as a wedge between Sanders and black voters.

"He has called the president weak, a disappointment," Clinton said of Sanders at a town hall Friday. "He does not support, the way I do, building on the progress the president has made."

Coming off a bruising rout in New Hampshire, the former secretary of state hopes the first-in-the-South primary will showcase her strength with at least one core segment of the Democratic coalition.

For Republicans, South Carolina provides another chance to emerge as an alternative to the billionaire businessman who has run a loud race so far.

As his rivals hustled through rare snowfall Friday, Trump showed he won't make it easy, taking to Twitter once again to attack his fellow candidates.

"If TedCruz doesn't clean up his act, stop cheating, & doing negative ads, I have standing to sue him for not being a natural born citizen," Trump wrote.

Trump's broadside was a response to cutting new ads the Cruz campaign is airing in South Carolina.

One spot is set in a children's playroom. "Look, I've got the Trump action figure!" a boy says.

"What does he do?" another asks.

"He pretends to be a Republican."

(A Cruz attempt to go after U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida was cut short when his campaign pulled the ad upon learning it featured an actress also known for her pornography work.)

Jeb Bush's team also is taking closer aim at Trump.

Right To Rise USA, the super political action committee supporting Bush, released an attack ad blasting Trump for supporting partial-birth abortion, allegedly defrauding students of Trump University and trying "to seize private property to line his own pockets."

Bush has embraced his family's network in the state. He's inviting his brother, former President George W. Bush, to campaign with him. On Friday, he picked up the endorsement of former South Carolina first lady Iris Campbell, a longtime Bush family ally.

John Kasich, the surprise second-place finisher in New Hampshire, picked up his own endorsements from several black community organizers in Columbia, S.C.

Gerald Hameed, who runs an umbrella organization for a number of black community groups in the city, said the groups are backing the Ohio governor's bid for the GOP nomination.

He says Kasich is "the only candidate that's actually speaking to all the people. He speaks to the middle class, upper class, the lower class, the poor. He understands the needs of the people."

Trump was the only Republican to bypass South Carolina on Friday, redirecting his campaign to Florida, where he planned to hold a rally in Tampa.

Meanwhile, the GOP field shrank again on Friday, with former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore ending his campaign, which had struggled to gain traction among the higher profile candidates. The Republican said he would support the party's eventual nominee.

On the Democratic side, Clinton's slams on Sanders were backed up by the Congressional Black Caucus political action committee. Caucus chairman U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks said Sanders wants to "undo" Obama's accomplishments, pointing to Sanders' past criticism of Obama and his suggestion in 2011 that Democrats should mount a primary challenge to the president. Sanders was a independent at the time.

"I believe Sen. Sanders' disparaging comments towards the president are misplaced, misguided, and do not give credit where credit is due," the New York Democrat said.

Sanders says he's been largely supportive of Obama, despite his occasional critique.

"Last I heard, a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who has done such an extraordinary job," Sanders said in Thursday night's debate.

Clinton on Friday significantly bulked up her campaign advertising plan, reaching well beyond the next two states to vote with an eye on the March 1 "Super Tuesday" contests. She now plans to air ads in 17 additional states, including Arkansas, which is one of several Southern states to vote on Super Tuesday.

Yet her $27.7 million ad buy -- a figure that includes what's already been on the air -- still falls a bit short of Sanders' spending on television and radio commercials, advertising tracker Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group shows. His $28.4 million ad buy is more concentrated, spanning six states in addition to upcoming Nevada and South Carolina.

Information for this article was contributed by Meg Kinnard, Bill Barrow, Julie Bykowicz and Julie Pace of The Associated Press.

A Section on 02/13/2016