Mother's Day Is 'Super Sunday' for '08 Candidates

May 13, 2007 — -- For the first time since announcing their presidential candidacies, leading '08 White House contenders made their debut appearances on Sunday morning talk shows — fielding questions on everything from the Iraq war to abortion to the role that race will play in the election.

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, R-N.Y., sat down for their first Sunday morning interviews since formally entering the 2008 race. Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., also sat down to talk about why American troops need to stay the course in Iraq.

And former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., spoke at length about his religion on a "60 Minutes" interview to be broadcast Sunday night.

Obama: 'If I Don't Win, It's Not Going to Be Because of My Race'

Obama spoke with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on "This Week" for a broad discussion about his candidacy. When asked about his qualifications to be president, Obama emphasized his ability to build consensus on tough issues.

"I'm not naïve enough to think that if we all hold hands and sing 'Kumbaya' that somehow health care gets solved, or education gets solved ... I have the ability to make people get beyond some of the divisions that plague our society and to focus on common sense and reason," he said.

Obama said Democrats should "ratchet up pressure" on Republicans to vote for a Democratic war-funding bill and deliver a veto-proof majority to the president.

Voicing support for withdrawing troops from Iraq by the end of March, Obama said he would back a bill with benchmarks, but not necessarily a timetable.

"This has been, if not the biggest, then one of the biggest foreign policy blunders in history," he said. "I want to make sure that our troops who are on the ground, who have performed magnificently, aren't caught in the political crossfire in Washington."

Drawing a distinction between his Iraq position and that of his '08 Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Obama said he opposed the war from the start.

"I have the capacity, I think, to make strong decisions, even if they're unpopular, even if they're uncomfortable," he said.

For the first time, Obama spoke about getting used to his new Secret Service detail. "I'm not an entourage guy," he said. "Up until recently, I was still taking my wife Michelle's grocery list and going to the grocery store once in a while."

Obama said he believed some people wouldn't vote for him because he is African-American. However, he said his race would not be an issue to most Americans. "If I don't win, it's not going to be because of my race," he said, "it's going to be because I didn't project a vision of leadership that gave people confidence."

Giuliani Defends His Abortion Position

Giuliani, on "Fox News Sunday," answered questions about social conservative policy, and indicated he believed Republicans would vote for him despite his position on abortion.

"I personally oppose (abortion) but I believe that that should be a choice that somebody else gets to make ... I am open and will continue to be open to ways to limit abortion; what I am not open to is to removing the right," he said.

Giuliani suggested his abortion position, coupled with his conservative stance on terrorism and the economy, could bring others into the GOP tent in 2008.

"My attempt is to try to broaden the base of the Republican Party," he said. "I think the issues that we face about terrorism, about our economy, about the growth of our economy, are so important that we have to have the biggest outreach possible.

"In a society like ours, you have to respect the right of other people who are of equally good conscience, are equally religious, maybe more, that are equally committed to making this deeply personal choice themselves," he said.

Giuliani said he supports appointing strict constructionist judges, without a litmus test on abortion.

When asked if a frozen embryo has life, Giuliani replied, "I don't think it's for me to decide. I can't decide when life begins."

On the topic of his divorce while he was mayor, Giuliani said it's time that Americans acknowledge public figures make mistakes in their personal lives.

"We're all imperfect ... I've made mistakes in my life, I've prayed about them," he said. "I can perform, irrespective of the fact that I've made mistakes in my personal life."

McCain: 'Gross Mismanagement of the War'

On NBC's "Meet the Press," McCain continued to defend President Bush's troop surge policy as 4,000 U.S. soldiers searched for three American troops who went missing after their patrol was ambushed on Saturday in Iraq.

"Americans are frustrated and saddened by the enormous sacrifice we have made and the gross mismanagement of the war," said McCain.

McCain added he supported the rationale for going to war with Iraq but blamed former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for "badly mismanaging the conflict."

McCain acknowledged that his support for the Iraq war policy may prevent him from winning the GOP nomination. "I did not embrace the policy for a number of years. I was one of the severest critics," he said. "But life isn't fair." He reasserted that his political ambitions would not affect his position on the Iraq war.

Romney on '60 Minutes'

Meanwhile, Romney, seeking to become America's first Mormon president, talked about religion to "60 Minutes'" Mike Wallace. "What's at the heart of my faith is a belief that there's a creator, that we're all children of the same God."

Romney also defended his opposition to gay marriage. "We're people that are designed to live together as male and female, and we're gonna have families," he said.

Romney is also on the cover of the latest edition of Time magazine in which he talks about the guilt he felt when he decided to go on a religious mission instead of serving in Vietnam.