4. In your opinion, what should the U.S. now do in the Iraqi war? (Please be specific: Should we withdraw immediately, set a time line for withdrawal, stay the course as President Bush advocates, etc.)

We should continue to support the government of Iraq long term with logistics, air cover, help with intelligence and training, etc. — but it's now time for Iraqis to take over the direct role of patrolling their streets and defending their country, and time for the Iraqi government to make the hard compromises to ensure peace between the different ethnic groups. Our military, both manpower and equipment, has been worn down by this war, and our reserves have been exhausted. America's enemies see this. A long extension of the Iraq occupation without massive new infusions of manpower and money puts America at risk.

5. Should Democrats take control of the U.S. House (U.S. Senate in the Hatch/Ashdown race) after the November elections, predict three things that will happen over the next two years because of the power shift.

1. Congress will take steps to break the stranglehold of powerful special interest lobbyists on Capitol Hill.

2. A real plan, rather than one using fantasy math, will be developed to balance the budget and deal with the looming fiscal crisis.

3. Congress will force the administration to refocus America's war on terror, concentrating our resources on the destruction of al-Qaida and start the long process of winning hearts and minds in the Islamic world.

6. Considering that the U.S. budget will be in deficit again, do you favor or oppose making the current tax cuts permanent?

As stated in Question No. 2 above, there have been no tax cuts, only transfer of the tax burden to the grandchild tax. It would be nice to be able to eliminate the estate tax and have lower rates on capital gains, but the Republican Congress has dug such a deep hole with their reckless borrow-and-spend policies the last six years that this is probably not feasible.

7. Please give your specific stands on the following issues, which some term as moral issues:

— Stem cell research. I am in favor of federal funding of research on embryonic stem cells as long as it is tightly regulated and only uses excess embryos from fertility clinics that would be destroyed anyway (basically the same position as Sen. Hatch).

— Cloning of human cells. I am strongly opposed to any experimentation with cloning of human cells.