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Politics

Trying to stake ground on Iraq

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 4, 2007

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Democratic presidential candidates clashed Sunday on Iraq and over the security of the country since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, trailing both New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in national polls, criticized their cautious approach in forcing President Bush to withdraw troops from Iraq.

While some members of Congress spoke out "loudly and clearly" last month against legislation to pay for the war through September but without a withdrawal timetable, "others did not, " Edwards said.

"There is a difference between leadership and legislating, " Edwards said.

Clinton and Obama voted against the bill - which passed - but without making a strong case against the legislation.

Clinton disagreed with Edwards, both in his comments on her role on Iraq and in his characterization of Bush's global war on terrorism as a "political slogan, a bumper sticker."

As a New Yorker, "I have seen first hand the terrible damage that can be inflicted on our country by a small band of terrorists, " Clinton said.

Still, she said, "I believe we are safer than we were."

The candidates sought to highlight their differences on the war in Iraq.

Obama told Edwards, who voted in October 2002 to authorize the war in Iraq but now says that the vote was a mistake: "John, you're about four-and-a-half years late on leadership on this issue."

Obama was not in the Senate at the time of the vote but had voiced opposition to the war resolution at the time.

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich said the war on Iraq should not just be blamed on Bush, but on the Congress that authorized it.

Rather than debate timetables and benchmarks, the Democratic-controlled Congress should "just say no money, the war's over, " he said.

The candidates squared off as a new national poll found Clinton maintaining a significant lead over her rivals. The Washington Post/ABC News poll found the former first lady leading the field with 42 percent support, compared with 27 percent for Obama and 11 percent for Edwards. The phone poll on Tuesday through Friday of 1, 205 adults had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

MIKE GRAVEL: Remind congressional leaders they can end the war in Iraq now.

CHRIS DODD: "Restore constitutional rights in this country."

JOHN EDWARDS: "Travel the world" and "re-establish America's moral authority."

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: Bring home U.S. troops from Iraq.

BARACK OBAMA: Bring home U.S. troops and push for national health care.

BILL RICHARDSON: Upgrade U.S. schools and push a $40, 000-a-year minimum wage for teachers.

JOSEPH BIDEN: End the war in Iraq and defuse tensions with Iran and North Korea.

DENNIS KUCINICH: Help "reshape the world for peace" and end all nuclear weapons.

[Last modified June 4, 2007, 01:52:44]