by Karen Matthews, Associated Press

Jonathan Tasini, a labor advocate and former president of the National Writers' Union, announced a campaign Tuesday to challenge Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination for Senate, saying her vote to authorize the war in Iraq proves she is out of step with New Yorkers.

 

"People who supported the decision to go to war must be held accountable - and that includes my opponent," Tasini said. "The war in Iraq was a war of choice, not a war of necessity."

 

Clinton, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, voted in 2002 for the congressional resolution authorizing President Bush to use military force in Iraq. Clinton has supported troop-level expansions even while criticizing Bush's handling of the war.

 

Tasini, who led the National Writers' Union, a freelancers' union affiliated with the United Auto Workers, from 1990 to 2003, said that the more than $250 billion that has been spent on the war could have been spent on health care, schools and "job opportunities for many Americans trying to pay their bills."

 

Clinton is up for re-election next year and leads national polls of the party's potential 2008 presidential candidates.

 

Polls show her beating Westchester District Attorney Jeanine Pirro or any other GOP challenger by a wide margin, and Tasini will face an uphill fight even getting on the primary ballot.

 

Tasini is president of the Economic Future Group, a national consulting group. He is the author of two books: "The Edifice Complex: Rebuilding the American Labor Movement to Face the Global Economy" and "They Get Cake, We Eat Crumbs: The Real Story Behind Today's Unfair Economy."

 

A handful of supporters attended his campaign announcement at the W Hotel in Manhattan.

 

A spokesman for Clinton did not immediately return a call seeking comment.