WP,pg1: Running for Senate, and Against the War

[DeepModem Mom]

Running for Senate, and Against the War
Area's Democratic Candidates Find Support in Calling for U.S. to Leave Iraq
By Robert Barnes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 28, 2006; Page A01

From a cocktail party of liberal contributors in Baltimore to the ball-cap-wearing crowd in a conservative town in southwest Virginia, wherever Democratic loyalists gather, there are five words sure to prompt applause for a Senate candidate:

End the war in Iraq.

Virginia Democrat James H. Webb Jr.'s early warnings about invading Iraq are the main reason he has been so embraced by the liberal bloggers who started a draft movement to get him into the race. Maryland candidate Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin was one of 133 House members who voted against the original resolution authorizing President Bush to take action -- and he might be the most conservative on the issue among Democrats seeking to replace retiring Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D).

And Webb's Democratic opponent in the June 13 primary, Harris Miller, called on Bush yesterday to fire Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and mocked Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) for saying on a talk show that "important progress" is being made in Iraq....
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At this point, the Democratic candidates in Maryland and Virginia are speaking mostly to the kinds of party activists who take an early interest in campaigns and who are sharply suspicious of the Bush administration.

But the most recent Washington Post poll showed that only 37 percent of the country approved of Bush's handling of the Iraq situation, and respondents said it will be among the key issues in deciding their votes in congressional elections this fall....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/27/AR2006042702302.html