AP News, April 2nd, 2007
Casting himself as the candidate best positioned to end the Iraq war, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden has launched a new Web site, http://www.headtohead08.com , to contrast his statements on the Iraq conflict to those of his opponents for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
The Biden campaign scoured YouTube and assembled videos of each candidate speaking about the war, including Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich. The campaign said the videos they selected were those that best represented each lawmaker's views on the war.
The Web site posts each clip next to a video showing Biden, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, delivering a detailed speech on the war from the Senate floor.
"It is important for voters to start focusing on the distinctions between the candidates regarding how they would deal with the mess we inherit in Iraq," Biden said in a statement from Iowa, where is was campaigning Monday.
"During my recent travels to Iowa and South Carolina, it is obvious to me that the American people are looking to answer the question, 'What next?'" he said. "They know that every candidate wants to get us out of Iraq. What they don't know is if we have a plan to do it without leaving a worse mess behind than we found."
Biden voted in 2002 to authorize military action in Iraq but has become a leading critic of the war since then. He has advocated a plan to divide the country along ethnic lines, with a central government responsible for border security and allocation of oil resources.
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PETERBOROUGH, N.H. (AP) _ He ordered a slice of chocolate cream pie to go and ate a few bites of blueberry for the cameras, but there was one thing on the menu at the Peterborough Diner that Barack Obama wouldn't touch.
"We've got a sandwich called 'The Hillary,'" owner Pat Healey told the Democratic presidential hopeful Monday afternoon.
"Is that true?" Obama said.
"It's called the Hillary wrap," Healey joked. "She's got it all wrapped up, right?"
Obama didn't answer, just smiled and started making his way through the tiny restaurant. He stopped to wipe a spot of frosting off a little girl's nose and joked that he also is a messy eater, much to his wife's chagrin.
He struck a more serious note when an adult customer asked what Congress would do if President Bush vetoes the Iraq war spending bill because it includes a timetable for withdrawing American troops.
Obama said Congress should continue to put pressure on the president but said the troops must be given the proper support to carry out their mission.
"What we might do is look at a bill giving a short-term appropriation," Obama said. "And keep the president on a shorter leash."
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Associated Press writer Holly Ramer in Peterborough contributed to this report.
