Democratic rivals assail Hillary on Iran vote
Thursday, 6 December 2007
DES MOINES, Iowa, Dec 05 (AP): Democratic rivals assailed front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton Tuesday for a vote against Iran that they portrayed as misguided and dangerous in light of a new intelligence report that says the Iranians stopped pursuing a nuclear weapon years ago.
One month before Iowa's leadoff caucuses - in a debate broadcast only on radio - the presidential candidates stood together in welcoming the report's assessment and criticising President Bush's assertion that 'nothing's changed' because of it. They divided on the three-month-old Senate vote to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organisation - a resolution that only Clinton supported among the Democratic candidates. She said her vote was meant to encourage diplomacy, but several of her foes were having none of that and John Edwards said it sounded like war.
Broadcast on NPR, the debate was limited to three subjects: Iran, China and immigration. The Democrats, unlike the campaign's Republican contenders, proposed no drastic crackdown on illegal immigrants. On China, they said more should be done to put US companies on equal footing with Chinese imports, but again they proposed no radical new remedies.
The candidates sat in front of large radio microphones at a V-shaped table at the Iowa State Historical Museum. With no audience to see them in person or via video, they dressed more casually than in previous debates. Ohio Republican Dennis Kucinich was the only one to keep on his jacket and tie.
Their interaction with each other was relatively civil compared with the sniping between the campaigns of Clinton and rivals Barack Obama and Edwards in recent days.
Edwards did confront Clinton on her characterisation of her September Iran vote.
The seven candidates participating in the debate began by agreeing that the United States should shift its focus in dealing with Iran to diplomatic engagement.
Clinton said immigrants are part of the US community and probably made the hotel beds that some of the candidates stayed in.
One month before Iowa's leadoff caucuses - in a debate broadcast only on radio - the presidential candidates stood together in welcoming the report's assessment and criticising President Bush's assertion that 'nothing's changed' because of it. They divided on the three-month-old Senate vote to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organisation - a resolution that only Clinton supported among the Democratic candidates. She said her vote was meant to encourage diplomacy, but several of her foes were having none of that and John Edwards said it sounded like war.
Broadcast on NPR, the debate was limited to three subjects: Iran, China and immigration. The Democrats, unlike the campaign's Republican contenders, proposed no drastic crackdown on illegal immigrants. On China, they said more should be done to put US companies on equal footing with Chinese imports, but again they proposed no radical new remedies.
The candidates sat in front of large radio microphones at a V-shaped table at the Iowa State Historical Museum. With no audience to see them in person or via video, they dressed more casually than in previous debates. Ohio Republican Dennis Kucinich was the only one to keep on his jacket and tie.
Their interaction with each other was relatively civil compared with the sniping between the campaigns of Clinton and rivals Barack Obama and Edwards in recent days.
Edwards did confront Clinton on her characterisation of her September Iran vote.
The seven candidates participating in the debate began by agreeing that the United States should shift its focus in dealing with Iran to diplomatic engagement.
Clinton said immigrants are part of the US community and probably made the hotel beds that some of the candidates stayed in.