Iraq Vet Duckworth Ready for Tough Political Race

March 19, 2006 — -- Tammy Duckworth is pounding the political pavement -- despite having had both her legs blown off when a grenade hit the Blackhawk helicopter she was piloting over Iraq.

While recovering in Walter Reade Hospital in Washington, D.C., Maj. Duckworth, Ret., decided to run for a traditionally Republican House of Representatives seat in Illinois.

"Our policy makers have not lived up to the sacrifices that our troops are making every single day," she said. "Those are my buddies over there, that are getting blown up and are getting killed. It's not somebody else's son or somebody else's daughter. Those are people I know."

On Tuesday, Duckworth, who says she is still getting used to her two prosthetic legs, will compete in the Illinois Democratic primary. If she wins, she'll face a tough general election in a traditionally Republican district. She'll also have to walk a fine line as someone who supports the troops but not the war.

"I think that they will understand that you can love the warrior," she said, "you can support the warrior, but you can certainly question the bad policy decisions of this administrations in sending our warriors someplace."

Duckworth is one of nine Iraq veterans running for Congress this year. Most of them are like Duckworth -- Democrat and anti-war, as is Capt. Patrick Murphy, Ret., who served seven months in Iraq.

"I wouldn't have wrote a blank check to the president," said Murphy, who is campaigning to represent Pennsylvania's eighth district in Congress. "I would have made sure that the intelligence was accurate and wasn't a slam dunk like some people in this administration said it was."

These candidates, especially Duckworth, are receiving a lot of attention because of their war records. But that alone won't win them the race, says Stuart Rothenberg, editor and publisher of The Rothenberg Political Report, a Washington-based non-partisan political newsletter.

"Being an Iraq war veteran is a nice credential," Rothenberg said. "But I think voters are gonna demand more. They demand well-rounded candidates."