Iraq Figures In Prominently in a Weekend of Campaigning

Feb. 12, 2007 — -- This weekend witnessed a dizzying nonstop parade of presidential hopefuls in New Hampshire. Contenders canvassed the state, leaving footprints they hope will be remembered by voters come primary season.

Presidential hopefuls Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., just missed each other in the Granite State. She left Sunday night, he arrived Monday.

For Clinton, it was her first trip to New Hampshire in more than a decade.

The war in Iraq cast a heavy shadow on Clinton's weekend trip northeast, indicative both of the weight of Iraq on the national conscience and an empowered Democratic voting bloc.

Amid rallies, house parties and question-and-answer sessions, the Democratic front-runner faced critics and questions about her vote to authorize force in Iraq.

The spotlight elicited a new, pointed response from the New York senator, who acknowledged "vital security interests in Iraq."

"It is not good to send our troops into a place where they do not know who is shooting at them. I would take our troops out of that," Clinton said late Sunday afternoon at a town hall in Keene, N.H. "We will not be there to baby-sit this multipronged civil war."

Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, wasn't in attendance but was never far from thought or rhetoric.

In Berlin, N.H., a supporter remarked she'd waited in line for five hours for him to sign a copy of his autobiography.

"I've waited for him a lot myself," Sen. Clinton quipped.

Later that afternoon, at a house party in Nashua, N.H., Clinton also referenced her Republican adversaries.

"I know what Gingrich tells people privately, I know what DeLay tells people privately, I know what Karl Rove tells people privately," Clinton said.

"I'm the one person they are most afraid of," Clinton said. "Bill and I have beaten them before and we will again."

In the Midwest, Obama faced his fair share of cheers and jeers as well.

With the Old State Capitol behind him, Obama began on the ground in Abe Lincoln's hometown of Springfield, Ill., in near-zero temperatures with a big announcement to a crowd of 16,000.