Presidential hopefuls field questions about Iraq at forum

CARSON CITY, Nev. – Democratic presidential hopefuls launched serial attacks against President Bush’s Iraq war policy on Wednesday and generally steered clear of criticizing one another in the first joint appearance of the young 2008 campaign for the White House.\n“Time has run out on what President Bush has tried to do in Iraq,” said New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who touted her legislation to begin a troop withdrawal within 90 days of her bill becoming law but declined to apologize for her vote to authorize the war in 2002.\nSen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut brushed aside a suggestion from some administration allies that the withdrawal of troops from Iraq would create chaos. “How much more chaos could there be in Baghdad than exists today?” he asked to applause from the audience at a union-sponsored event near the Nevada state capitol.\nDodd said it was foolish to believe that “17,000 troops in a city of 6 million are going to sort out” the situation. Bush has announced a buildup in combat forces, with about 17,000 additional Army troops deploying to Baghdad to try and clamp down on sectarian violence.\nFormer Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack struck a similar note. “I want to challenge every single one of you and ask a simple question, what have you done today? What have you done today to end this war in Iraq?\n“It needs to be ended now. Not six days from now, not six months from now. Not six years from now. It needs to be ended now, and it is up to you,” he said.\nDodd was the first candidate to speak at the event, which was sponsored by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union.\nEight candidates attended – only Illinois Sen. Barack Obama skipped the event – underscoring Nevada’s newfound importance in the 2008 nominating campaign. The state will hold caucuses on Jan. 19, five days after the lead-off Iowa caucuses and presumably only a few days before New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary.\nIn addition to Clinton, Dodd and Vilsack, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel vied for support.\nThe program called for each contenders to make brief opening comments, then field three questions from moderator George Stephanopoulus of ABC News – a former aide in Bill Clinton’s White House.\nThe Republican National Committee used the forum to try to put its own spin on the candidates, releasing “research documents” containing unflattering critiques of each of the Democrats hours before the event.\nIn recent years, Democrats have sensed political opportunity in the mountain West, a fast-growing region long dominated by Republicans. Nevada, with its large Hispanic population and influential labor unions, was considered a battleground state in 2004, and President Bush won the state by just 3 percentage points.\nWednesday’s forum – the first major candidates forum of the election – was promoted by the state’s senior senator, Majority Leader Harry Reid, to draw attention to the state’s early caucus.\nThe party’s 2008 nominating convention will be in Denver, the capital of a mountain state where Democrats won the governor’s office and picked up a congressional seat in 2006.\nBy boosting Nevada’s role, Democrats also hoped to add some ethnic diversity to a nominating process that for years has heavily favored Iowa and New Hampshire, both of which are overwhelmingly white.\n“We are really excited about Nevada playing such a big part, and it will be great to have all the candidates here,” said state Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, who narrowly lost her race for governor last year. Titus was hosting several of the candidates Wednesday morning at her office in the state Capitol for meet-and-greet sessions with other legislators.\nReid, who helped push for Nevada’s new prominence in the 2008 calendar, said he hasn’t decided to endorse anyone in a field that features several of his Senate colleagues. But his son, former state Democratic Chairman Rory Reid, has signed on as Clinton’s Nevada chairman.\nIn an interview with The Associated Press, Sen. Reid acknowledged that his son’s role is “not the easiest thing to say” to the other candidates.\n“I can’t put numbers on who’s No. 1, No. 2, who’s going to win. I’m going to stay neutral on this,” Reid said.\n–Associated Press Writer Brendan Riley in Carson City, Nev., contributed to this story.