Clinton, Lazio tone it down for second debate, emphasize differences.(Chicago Tribune)

NEW YORK _ Meeting in their second debate, U.S. Senate candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and her GOP rival, Rep. Rick Lazio, on Sunday emphasized sharp contrasts in their positions, while Clinton grappled with sensitive questions over her personal and political differences with her husband, President Bill Clinton.

The major political disagreement between the Clintons came on a foreign policy question on which she and her opponent were in accord. An issue of vital concern to New York's large bloc of Jewish voters, both candidates strongly disapproved of the U.S. decision to abstain from voting Saturday on a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the current violence in the Middle East and criticizing Israeli use of force.

Clinton's condemnation of the U.S. abstention put her, not for the first time, at odds with her husband's administration, as she seeks to become the only sitting first lady to be elected to public office.

Later, Clinton, 52, also was asked why she had stayed with her husband after the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Appearing slightly surprised, she answered calmly: "The choices that I've made in my life are right for me. I can't talk about anybody else's choices. I …