Spitzer nominated, Clinton ready to take stage
Party to renominate senator without anti-war statement
By PHIL FAIRBANKS
News Staff Reporter
Buffalo News
5/31/2006

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will arrive in Buffalo today, assured of the Democratic nomination and free of an anti-war statement by party faithful that threatened to darken her big day.
But the war and its critics are not going away, and together they may provide the one hiccup in Clinton's strategy for winning re-election to the Senate and, ultimately, a run for the White House.

A new statewide survey of voters, released Tuesday by Zogby International, found Clinton vulnerable to a challenge from a strong anti-war candidate for U.S. Senate.

"A credible challenge from the left could embarrass Hillary," said pollster John Zogby of Utica. Zogby says the anti-war backlash probably won't be enough to derail Clinton's re-election, but it could cast doubt on her credibility as a presidential candidate.

The potential for embarrassment was on full display Tuesday in Buffalo when about 40 anti-war protesters gathered outside the State Democratic Convention to publicly chastise Clinton for her vote authorizing the war.

"I held my nose and voted for her last time," said Vicki Ryder of Rochester, a member of the Raging Grannies, a national peace group. "This year, we have a clear choice."

Ryder and two other grannies showed up outside Hyatt Regency Buffalo on Tuesday to sing songs critical of Clinton's early support for the war in Iraq.

And they promised to keep the heat on.

One of the reasons, of course, is that Clinton's position on the war is considered out of step with mainstream Democrats in New York.

"It's not just us crazy peace-
niks anymore," said Geoffrey Millard of Lockport, an Army National Guard veteran who served 13 months in Iraq and is now part of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Millard, speaking at the anti-war rally outside the Hyatt, called Clinton a Republican in Democratic clothing and said her position on the war runs contrary to what the overwhelming percentage of Americans want.

New York's freshman senator voted to authorize the war in 2002 but has since voiced opposition to the way it is being conducted.

"The party opposes the war, and she opposes the war," State Democratic Chairman Herman Farrell said Tuesday when asked about the pitfalls facing Clinton.

What Clinton hasn't done is call for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, a position other Democrats have advocated.

Farrell said Clinton has been vigilant in her criticism of the Bush administration and its handling of the war, and that it is difficult for her, as a senator, to suggest that we simply leave Iraq now.

"We know that how we end the war is the difficult part," he said.

Others might suggest that Clinton's stance on the war could benefit her nationally, especially if she's seen as an independent thinker - a liberal on some issues but a hawk on national security.

"Some people want Hillary to say, "I'm sorry, I was wrong about the war,' " said Bob Kunst, president of "Hillarynow.com," a Web site dedicated to promoting Clinton as a presidential hopeful.

Kunst said that would be a mistake and voters need to realize that everyone wants "our troops home," the question is how we do it.

For the 40 or so protesters who held signs outside the Hyatt that read, "End the War" and "Honor the Dead. Bring the troops home," that's not good enough.

"The Democratic Party in this hotel does not want a debate about the war," said Jonathan Tasini, an anti-war and labor activist running against Clinton.

Tasini tried to get the party to debate and eventually adopt a resolution opposing the war, but the effort failed. He thinks Clinton was behind the opposition.

"We must bring our troops home now," Tasini said at the rally. "End the war. Stop the death and destruction. We want peace now."

Clinton will address the party faithful this morning with the help of a biographical video that, according to Democrats, neither mentions her support of the war nor her presidential aspirations.

Once vilified by conservatives as a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, Clinton has taken some recent positions that analysts see as a move to the political center, one more sign she plans to make a run for the White House in 2008.

They point to her recent sponsorship of a bill to make flag burning a crime, as well as her newfound alliance with conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Zogby said the "tension between her national positioning and her position with New Yorkers is something" he plans to watch with interest this election year.

"New York Democrats tend to be liberal Democrats, and she fit in perfectly six years ago," he said. "Now, she's clearly positioning herself nationally and in the center."

Zogby's survey of 704 voters, about half of them Democrats, found Clinton with the backing of three out of every four Democrats. But the poll also revealed a large number - about 21 percent - of undecided Democrats.

The survey also asked voters, Democrats and Republicans, if the election were between Clinton and a challenger opposed to the war, who would they support.

Of those surveyed, 38 percent said they would vote for Clinton while 32 percent said they would back the unnamed anti-war candidate. Another 31 percent said they would support someone else or were not sure.

e-mail: pfairbanks
@buffnews.com