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    Democrats Juggle Iraq, Economy
    By Manu Raju
    The Hill

    Monday 25 February 2008

    Senate Democrats have scheduled a vote Tuesday on a measure to end the Iraq war, interrupting their plans to emphasize their party's response to the housing crisis.

    Instead of turning immediately to the economy, the issue now dominating the presidential campaign, the Senate on Tuesday will hold procedural votes on a pair of bills by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) that would yank the military's funding in Iraq in 120 days and require the administration to send Congress a status report on the war against al Qaeda.

    Even though Democrats are not shy about pointing to March 19, the five-year anniversary of the start of the war, they are not eager about holding this week's votes on Iraq because they know they could be used by Republicans looking for more ammunition against their candidates, aides say. As soon as the votes end, the chamber will immediately turn to a bill aimed at easing the housing crunch, which - unlike the Iraq measures - Democrats plan to talk about at length this week, including after their policy luncheon Tuesday afternoon.

    Despite the unpopularity of the war, the votes will give Republicans and their presumptive nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the opportunity to accuse Senate Democrats of trying to choke off funding when there are signs of military progress in Baghdad. McCain is making his support for the war a centerpiece of his presidential platform heading into November.

    The withdrawal measure is certain to fail Tuesday, and would mark the fifth time it has been rejected by the Senate in the 110th Congress.

    The hesitation in talking about Iraq marks a dramatic shift from last year, when Democrats held continual Iraq votes to put pressure on centrist Republicans to distance themselves from President Bush's sagging popularity and back troops withdrawals.

    Now they are less likely to defect because doing so would show that Republicans are breaking from McCain, a stalwart supporter of the war, Democrats say. With violence down and the economy the dominant issue on voters' minds, there is also less pressure on them to back a withdrawal from Iraq, Republicans say.

    While Democrats say they plan to keep the pressure on the Bush administration to change course in Iraq, they are now emphasizing the economic impacts resulting from the war's costs. Their base appears to be resigned to the fact that Congress won't be able to force a change in military strategy this year and is instead planning a series of ads to make Republicans pay for their war support at the polls.

    With the support of ex-senator and -presidential candidate John Edwards (D-N.C.), anti-war groups announced on Monday a $20 million campaign to go after McCain and other war supporters in Congress with television advertising campaigns and voter mobilization programs.

    The coalition, which calls itself the Iraq/Recession Campaign, is seeking to tie the downturn in the economy to the war costs, and plans also to target Republican senators up for reelection, including Susan Collins (Maine), John Sununu (N.H.), Norm Coleman (Minn.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.). The coalition includes MoveOn.org, the Service Employees International Union and the Center for American Progress.

    But members of the coalition would not commit to a strategy calling on Democrats in Congress to block any further war funding. Instead, they spoke generally about how lawmakers should have a role on the issue.

    "We absolutely agree that Congress has that power, needs to exercise that power and we'll work with them to do so," said Jeff Blum, executive director of USAction, a grassroots liberal advocacy group.

    The fact that groups loyal to the Democratic Party announced a big Iraq push just as Senate Democrats plan to move quickly away from the war this week is another indication that uncertainty over who will be the Democratic presidential nominee is having an impact on who will set the party's agenda. Messages will likely continue to be mixed until either Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) or Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) secures the nod, analysts say.

    Despite the expected defeat of the Democratic Iraq measures Tuesday, anti-war activists say Republicans are in the tougher position. And Democratic leadership aides say that the votes will again portray the stark difference between the two parties on the issue.

    "Their base still thinks the war should be supported, and they're reluctant to break from the president, but they're facing an electorate that's more diverse and more independent," said John Isaacs, executive director for the anti-war group Council for a Livable World. "In 2008, the strategy from the Democratic leadership seems to be to force the Republicans to go on record for the war, or break with their president and presidential nominee."

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    J. Taylor Rushing and Walter Alarkon contributed to this story.