Jose A Delreal Abby Phillip The Washington Post

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton clashed in unusually personal terms during a taboo-breaking first general-election presidential debate on Monday evening, with Clinton accusing Trump of pushing "racist lies" about President Barack Obama's birthplace, and Trump accusing Clinton of lacking the "stamina" to be president.

The first presidential debate of the 2016 general election campaign has begun in Hempstead, N.Y., where both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are hoping to re-shape a race that - so far - has been a contest about whom voters dislike the least.

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton clashed in unusually personal terms during a taboo-breaking first general-election presidential debate on Monday evening, with Clinton accusing Trump of pushing "racist lies" about President Barack Obama's birthplace, and Trump accusing Clinton of lacking the "stamina" to be president.

The first presidential debate of the 2016 general election campaign has begun in Hempstead, N.Y., where both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are hoping to re-shape a race that - so far - has been a contest about whom voters dislike the least.