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.

Taking Heat for Iraq

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."

The Former President

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."

Cheering and Jeering Obama

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.

Obama entered stage right with U2's "City of Blinding Lights" playing, announced his candidacy for president and promised "a future of endless possibility."

The junior senator's weekend ended with a national audience on CBS News where he talked about race and his identity.

"I am rooted in the African-American community. But I'm not defined by it," Obama told CBS News' Steve Kroft. "I am comfortable in my racial identity. But that's not all I am."

Obama's Critics

The weekend wasn't a complete lovefest for the junior senator from Illinois.

On Sunday, he was heckled during a rally in his hometown of Chicago by anti-war protestors who unfurled a banner and twice interrupted his speech demanding that he cut funding for the war.

Later in the speech he used the protestors as a springboard to remind supporters that he's been against the war from the beginning.

Still harsher criticism for Obama came from the other side of the world.

The prime minister of Australia, a longtime Bush ally, criticized Obama for saying U.S. troops should be out of Iraq by March 31, 2008.

"If I were running al Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and pray as many times as possible for a victory, not only for Obama but also for the Democrats," said Prime Minister John Howard.

Obama said he was flattered to be singled out by one of the president's closest allies but challenged Howard's commitment to the Iraq conflict.

"If he is ginned up to fight the good fight in Iraq, I would suggest that he calls up another 20,000 Australians and sends them to Iraq," Obama said. "Otherwise it's just a bunch of empty rhetoric."

The GOP's Weekend

In California, at the state GOP convention, talk turned to Sept. 11, and one potential candidate touted the experience he gained that day, subtly underscoring his allegiance to the current president.

"Presidents can't do nonbinding resolutions. Presidents have to make decisions and move the country forward," former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said during his keynote address.

"And that's the kind of president I would like to be: a president who makes decisions," said Giuliani.

Known as "America's Mayor" since the Sept. 11 attacks, Giuliani gave his first major address since he established his exploratory committee.

But Giuliani faces competition from within his own party, too.

On Tuesday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney officially jumps in with a four-day, six-state tour.

Romney Addresses His Changed Positions

Romney made Saturday stops in Missouri and Michigan.

At Michigan's state GOP convention, Romney, who has come under recent fire for changing his stance on defining social issues, said, "Well, I've changed my view on life, there's no question."

Romney said that as Massachusetts debated embryonic stem cell research a few years ago, he wrote a piece that said, "I want to make it very clear: I'm firmly pro-life. That is my view."

This coming weekend Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., heads to Chicago, then Iowa, for an entire week filled with rallies, town halls and, of course, fundraisers.

With primary season 11 months away, the presidential candidates will now begin in earnest: appealing to fundraisers, making appearances in states with early nominating contests and dancing the delicate waltz of defining themselves both inside and outside the party, each hoping their chosen path leads them to the Oval Office.