Tag: Hillary Clinton (page 34)

On Hillary Clinton's website today, she unveils a new message on Iraq.

U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the early front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, has called for a 90-day deadline to start pulling American troops from Iraq.

"Now it's time to say the redeployment should start in 90 days or the Congress will revoke authorization for this war," the New York senator said in a video on her campaign Web site, repeating a point included in a bill she introduced on Friday.

As to Hillary's bill, introduced yesterday:

Clinton's bill would cap the number of troops in Iraq at the January 1 level, prior to Bush's decision to add 21,500 to the approximately 130,000 soldiers already there.... [and] would require congressional authorization to exceed her proposed cap on U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

Hillary also has a clear message for President Bush:

"If George Bush doesn't end the war before he leaves office, when I'm president, I will," Clinton said in the video.

More...

Raw Story reports that Hillary Clinton gave a speech at an event by the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC Friday night in which she refused to rule out using miltary force with Iran.

Clinton told some 1,700 AIPAC supporters that the US must take any step to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

"U.S. policy must be clear and unequivocal: We cannot, we should not, we must not permit Iran to build or acquire nuclear weapons," she said. "In dealing with this threat ... no option can be taken off the table."

"To deny the Holocaust places Iran's leadership in company with the most despicable bigots and historical revisionists," she added. Clinton excoriated the Iranian administration's "pro-terrorist, anti-American, anti-Israeli rhetoric."

"We need to use every tool at our disposal, including diplomatic and economic in addition to the threat and use of military force," she added.

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Sen. John Kerry has decided not to run for President in 2008. Smart move. The field is already over-crowded.

In the latest CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll, 5 percent of Democrats said Kerry was their top choice for the 2008 nomination, and a little more than half -- 51 percent -- did not want him to be the 2008 nominee.

Kerry trailed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who led the field of Democratic preferences with 34 percent; Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, with 18 percent; his 2004 running mate, former Sen. John Edwards, who got 15 percent; and former Vice President Al Gore, the party's 2000 presidential nominee, with 10 percent.

I'm close to concluding that Hillary will be the nominee. She's going to get the big bucks from contributors. She's got a team that is honed to the 9th degree. And, she has Bill.

It's looking even more likely today that Hillary Clinton is going to put her hat in the 2008 presidential ring. She's hired a veteran national political fundraiser.

Phil Singer, a veteran of Sen. John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign who most recently was spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, will join the Clinton communications team, her senior adviser Howard Wolfson said.

Wolfson cautioned that Clinton may still decide against a run but that Singer would play a senior role if she becomes a candidate, as expected. "I called him the day after the election," Wolfson acknowledged.

More new hires:

Karen Hicks, a veteran field organizer who served as New Hampshire director for Howard Dean's upstart 2004 campaign...The campaign has also signed a national finance director, veteran Democratic fundraiser Jonathan Mantz.

Update: Arianna thinks Obama is going to upset the Hillary cart.