NYT: War Handicaps Senators (over Governors) in '08 White House Race

War Handicaps Senators in '08 White House Race
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: June 2, 2006

With Iraq looming yet again over an American presidential campaign, senators considering a White House race are at a disadvantage over governors who might run, forced to explain their votes — and in some cases, alter their views — on an increasingly unpopular war.

Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, both prospective 2008 candidates, have encountered hecklers protesting their support for the Iraq war. Both responded with hints of recalibrations in the way they discussed the issue, with Mrs. Clinton telling Democrats who nominated her on Wednesday for a second term to "stand with me" in pressing the White House and Iraqis to develop a plan that would permit American troops to come home.

Two other prospective Democratic presidential candidates, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, say they regret voting for the war. Both have called for setting a deadline to withdraw American troops, a position that analysts say enjoys strong support among Democrats who are active in primaries and who were wary of both men for their pro-war votes in 2004.

"I think I was wrong to vote for the war," Mr. Edwards said in an interview. "Bush made this mess that we are in now. My view is what America needs to do now is make it clear that we are going to get out."

By contrast, governors are finding considerable maneuvering room when it comes to Iraq. And they are taking advantage of it for now, while realizing that their lack of foreign policy experience is a disadvantage in an election that could focus on international affairs....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/02/washington/02senators.html