On the Campaign Trail with Ed Tibbetts

The early jousting between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York, and Barack Obama, D-Ill., over the Iraq War continued today.

Thus far, the language is fairly tame. But it also comes a year before the Iowa caucuses, a time when candidates of the same party are usually loath to offer direct contrasts between one another.

That it’s happening this early shows how competitive the campaign is — and how volatile the war is as a political issue.

The Clinton campaign engaged Obama this morning by sending out a news release claiming the Illinois senator was distorting her position on redeploying troops.
In New Hampshire yesterday, Obama compared his approach to the war with Clinton’s, saying Clinton calls for a cap on troop levels but doesn’t begin a phased redeployment.

He called that a “pretty substantial” difference.

The Clinton campaign responded with what it called a fact check. It said Obama made a mistake. “Sen. Clinton has long been on record in favor of a phased redeployment of our troops,” said Howard Wolfson, a Clinton spokesman.

The campaign cited several statements and a pair of votes, one of which was on a June 22, 2006, measure that said President Bush should submit to Congress a plan by the end of the year that included “estimated dates for the continued phased redeployment of United States forces from Iraq.”

Obama’s campaign responded the real difference is that he’s clearly set specific dates for redeployment. “Only Barack Obama has legislation that would, by force of law, begin a redeployment by May 1, 2007 and have all combat forces out of Iraq by March 31, 2008,” Bill Burton, a spokesman said today.

Clinton has rejected a timetable.

Since Clinton announced her candidacy and hit the campaign trail in Iowa she’s been grilled about the war. She’s been faulted for failing to concede she made a mistake by voting to authorize the war in 2002. She’s also been criticized for the explanations she’s offered for the vote.

Obama, who was in the Illinois Senate at the time of the resolution, opposed the measure, which he notes frequently — and which his campaign did again today.

The war has proved a touchy subject for both candidates. In Ames on Sunday, Obama criticized the administration’s prosecution of the war, which he said “wasted” the lives of 3,000 American troops. He apologized for the remark, but has been taking heat for it since.

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