Biden and Brownback unite to push antiwar plan

CAMPAIGN NOTEBOOK
Biden and Brownback unite to push antiwar plan
October 13, 2007

DES MOINES - Presidential candidates from opposing parties, Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Sam Brownback, took the unusual step yesterday of holding a joint event to tout their proposal for a political solution to the war in Iraq.

Biden, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been the most prominent advocate of a plan in Congress that would limit the power of Iraq's central government and give more control to three ethnically divided states.

Brownback and Biden sponsored a nonbinding resolution laying out the plan that won Senate approval last month on a 75-23 vote.

Brownback, a Kansas senator, said that reaching across party lines to find a solution in Iraq marks the first time in recent history that opposing parties campaigning for president shed their political labels and came together.

ASSOCIATED PRESS


Clinton called flip-flopper
Hillary Clinton's Democratic rivals accused her yesterday of flip-flopping on negotiating with Iran, but her campaign said she has been consistent.

Clinton has called Senator Barack Obama of Illinois naive for saying that in his first year in office, he would personally negotiate with notorious world leaders including Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

So when Clinton, of New York, said in New Hampshire, "I would engage in negotiations with Iran, with no conditions because we don't really understand how Iran works," Obama and fellow Democratic contender John Edwards jumped.

"The American people deserve a president who will tell them the truth and offer straight answers, not flip-flops and political double-speak," Edwards communications director Chris Kofinis said in a statement.

However, Clinton's aides said she meant that her administration would negotiate with Iran, not that she would sit down with Ahmadinejad.

"Senator Clinton was clearly referring to diplomacy between nations as she has repeatedly and consistently done for months," communications director Howard Wolfson said in a statement.

MARCELLA BOMBARDIERI


Romney ad touts military
Mitt Romney returned yesterday to a call for a robust military in his newest TV ad, in a week when he has been on the defensive for saying he would consult lawyers on presidential authority to launch military attacks.

In the ad, which began airing in Iowa, the Republican presidential contender says the United States must confront radical Islamists, and he vows to strengthen US intelligence services, add 100,000 members to the military, and stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

"It's this century's nightmare, Jihadism - violent, radical Islamic fundamentalism," Romney says in the spot. "Their goal is to unite the world under a single Jihadist caliphate. To do that, they must collapse freedom-loving nations like us."

Romney has been criticized for saying during Tuesday's Republican presidential debate that he would seek counsel from lawyers about whether he would need congressional approval to attack Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program.

FOON RHEE