Top priority is 'trying to end the war,' Hillary says

DOVER, N.H. — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton told New Hampshire voters Saturday that ending the war in Iraq is more important than whether she repudiates her 2002 vote authorizing President Bush to use military force there.

The New York senator and party front-runner repeatedly has faced calls for her to say her vote was a mistake. Democrats pressed her on it last weekend in New Hampshire and again on Saturday at a town hall meeting in the early voting state.

One of her rivals, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, has disavowed his vote. Another, Sen. Barack Obama, has opposed the war from the outset. The Illinois senator was not in Congress at the time of the war vote.

On Saturday, Clinton was asked by a University of New Hampshire professor why she refused to apologize for voting to give Bush the authority for the March 2003 invasion.

"I take responsibility for my vote. It was a sincere vote based on the facts and assurances we had at the time. Obviously I would not vote that way again if we knew then what we know now," she said, her oft-repeated explanation.

She then added in a clear reference to her rivals: "I have to say, if the most important thing to any of you is choosing someone who did not cast that vote or said his vote was a mistake, then there are others to choose from. But for me, the most important thing now is trying to end this war."

Clinton also responded to demands from Edwards and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack for Congress to cut off money for U.S. troops. The two-term senator argued that such calls fails to acknowledge the legislative reality that Democrats hold a slim majority in the Senate.

"I understand the politics of this. I could very easily stand up here and say, 'I'm all for cutting off funding,' knowing we don't have the votes," Clinton said. "We have to end this war, and we can't do it without Republican votes."

Clinton introduced legislation late Friday that would require the Pentagon to begin pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq three months after the bill becomes law — an unlikely scenario with the number of Republicans in Congress and Bush's veto power.

"It's time to say the redeployment should start in 90 days or we will revoke authorization for this war," Clinton said in a statement.