Clinton Debates As Front-Runner — and Target

By Martha T. Moore

HANOVER, N.H. — She stood near one end of the lineup of eight Democratic hopefuls in a debate Wednesday, but Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was center stage all evening.

Faced with Clinton’s wide lead in national and New Hampshire polls, the former first lady’s rivals tried to portray her as weak on ending the war in Iraq, too cautious on overhauling Social Security, and unable to achieve reform on her signature issue, health care.

Former North Carolina senator John Edwards, who polls show nearly tied with Clinton in the early voting state of Iowa, criticized her for saying that though she would withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, she would continue combat missions. “To me, that is a continuation of the war,” he said. Edwards advocated withdrawing all but a single brigade to protect the U.S. Embassy.

Clinton responded that she would maintain combat troops only for counterterrorism purposes. “The vast majority of our combat troops should be out,” she said.

Only Sen. Chris Dodd and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said they could promise to have all U.S. troops out of Iraq by the end of their first term in 2013.

“It’s hard to project four years from now, and I think it would be irresponsible,” Sen. Barack Obama said. “We don’t know what contingency will be out there.”

Edwards also criticized Clinton’s Senate vote Wednesday to declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization. Dodd and Sen. Joseph Biden voted against the Iran resolution; Clinton voted for it. Obama did not vote.

Edwards and Clinton both voted to authorize war with Iraq in 2002, but Edwards says Clinton hasn’t learned from the mistake. “We learned a very different lesson from that” vote, Edwards said. “I have no intention of giving George Bush the authority to take the first step on a road to war with Iran.”

All the candidates except Clinton and Richardson said they would likely raise the cap on the amount of earnings that are taxed for Social Security. “I think lifting the cap is probably the best option,” Obama said.

Clinton insisted “fiscal responsibility” — that is, reducing the federal deficit — came first. Until then, “everything is off the table,” she said.

Clinton unveiled her health care proposal last week. It would require all Americans to have coverage through private insurance or a government program. Biden said Clinton would find it more difficult than other Democrats to win Republican support for health care reform.

“I think it’s more difficult for Hillary,” the Delaware senator said. “Because there’s a lot of very good things that come with all the great things that President Clinton did, but there’s also a lot of the old (policy) stuff that comes back.”

After Clinton referred to her 1993 efforts to overhaul health care as a “lonely fight,” Obama shot back: “Part of the reason it was lonely, Hillary, was because you closed the door to a lot of potential allies in that process.”

Clinton found herself at odds with her husband, former president Bill Clinton. Asked whether she would ever approve torture of a terrorism suspect with knowledge of an imminent attack, she said no.

Torture “cannot be American policy, period,” she said.

Moderator Tim Russert then revealed President Clinton had said it might be appropriate. “Well, he’s not standing here right now,” Clinton said.

In a 2006 interview, however, Clinton said the president should be allowed to make exceptions on torture. “The decision to depart from standard international practices must be made by the president, and the president must be held accountable,” she told the New York Daily News.

Former senator Mike Gravel and Rep. Dennis Kucinich also participated in the debate, which was held at Dartmouth College. (c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.