Demo candidates gang up on Bush, Iraq war in debate

ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Candidates for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination eyed each other politely — even warily — Thursday in their first face-to-face debate, a session that offered little likelihood of dramatically shaking up the young campaign.

The eight candidates differed sharply with President Bush, particularly on Iraq, but seldom with one another. The format did not allow them to directly challenge each other — and none did.

Rather, they mostly agreed in their desire to get U.S. troops out of Iraq, to expand health care to the uninsured while controlling costs for those with insurance, to support abortion rights without qualification, and to bar access to guns for the mentally ill like the gunman who killed 32 at Virginia Tech.

Absent direct challenges — or any pronounced gaffes — the debate probably did nothing to fundamentally change the shape of the contest with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina leading in the polls and the rest trailing well behind.

The debate was the first of a fast-developing campaign in a party desperate to pick a winner who can retake the White House from the Republicans in November 2008 — an eagerness underscored by the thousands who have gathered for unusually early rallies, and the tens of thousands writing checks to finance campaigns.

Sponsored by the South Carolina Democratic Party, the 90-minute debate was moderated by NBC newsman Brian Williams on the campus of South Carolina State University.

Iraq dominated the early questioning, coming just hours after the Senate voted to mandate the withdrawal of U.S. troops starting in October. All four sitting senators running for the nomination voted for the ordered withdrawal.

All candidates said they supported troop removal. Obama stressed that he was proud to have opposed the war from the start when he was a state senator.

Two candidates refused to say whether they agreed with the recent assertion by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Senate majority leader, that the Iraq war is "lost."

Clinton sidestepped the issue but said she was "proud" of Reid's leadership. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware also refused to comment on Reid's assertion. "This is not a game show," he said.

Despite their opposition to the war, none of the candidates would join fellow candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio in urging impeachment of Vice President Dick Cheney.