Democrats wavering on Hillary for president in 2008
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-06-22 09:41
Some US Democrats are having second thoughts about Hillary Clinton as their
2008 presidential candidate, wracked by doubts about her cross-party appeal, and
disappointed by her position on US troops in Iraq.
Those reservations were given expression last week at a forum in Washington
of liberal Democrats, where the New York senator was roundly booed when she
expressed her opposition to setting a date for withdrawing US troops from Iraq.
US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Democrat
from New York, is pictured in this file photo.
[AFP] | "I do not agree that that is in the best interest of our troops or our
country," she said in remarks that prompted a chorus of cat calls at the "Take
Back America" gathering of liberal Democratic activists.
"Her being booed last week had everything to do with Iraq," said political
analyst Larry Sabato.
"The Democrats clearly have moved further to the left on Iraq, and she's not
moving with them," said Sabato, who runs the University of Virginia's Center for
Politics.
Early polls have given the former first lady a wide lead for the presidential
nomination over several would-be Democratic rivals, and more than two years
before the November 2008 balloting, Clinton has amassed an enormous campaign war
chest.
But she also has a major liability not faced by the other Democrats: the
disdain of many Republicans and Independents who say they would never vote for
her because of their disgruntlement over husband Bill Clinton's presidency.
Hillary Clinton, who has worked carefully to maintain a middle ground
position on Iraq, has criticized Republican President George W. Bush's
"open-ended commitment" to a military victory.
But to the chagrin of many, she also opposes against
setting a "date certain" to pull US troops, even as some of her party's leading
lights in the US Senate this week press for a phased withdrawal.
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