Candidates were at each other's throats early on in the November Democratic debate. In one instance, it started with Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard taking another swipe at the Clintons.

It ended with a broader debate about the future of Democratic foreign policy and whether, as Gabbard claims, the party needs to break with the past.

Asked to explain a Twitter firestorm between Gabbard and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton last month, Gabbard said that the party needs to break away from the “Bush-Clinton-Trump” foreign policy that she described as being driven by “greedy corporate interests.”

That drew a response from California Sen. Kamala Harris, who accused of Gabbard of spending “four years on Fox News criticizing Obama.”

“What we need on this stage,” Harris said, “is someone who has the ability to win.”

More:Tulsi Gabbard's lawyers sent a letter to Hillary Clinton demanding she retract Russia comments

Gabbard said that Harris continued to “traffic in lies and smears and innuendos because she cannot challenge the substance of the argument that I'm making, the leadership and the change that I am seeking to bring.”

What started it? Clinton’s comments to a podcast last month were initially erroneously reported as her saying Russians appeared to be "grooming" Gabbard. Clinton had actually said it was the Republicans who were "grooming" Gabbard, according to an aide.

But Clinton also said in the podcast that "She's a favorite of the Russians" and continued to also talk about former Green Party candidate Jill Stein. 

Gabbard shot back on Twitter, calling Clinton the "queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that has sickened the Democratic Party for so long."

More:Follow USA TODAY's live coverage of the November debate