Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) National Security Director Lee Feinstein yesterday said the new Intelligence Estimate on Iran “vindicates the policy Senator Clinton will pursue as President: vigorous American-led diplomacy, close international cooperation, and effective economic pressure, with the prospect of carefully calibrated incentives if Iran addresses our concerns.”

In an apparent shot at Clinton’s vote for the Kyl-Lieberman bill, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) said the NIE findings “make a strong case for pursuing robust diplomacy to resolve our differences with Iran and for an end to the reckless talk by the administration and reckless votes by some members of Congress.” John Edwards also said the NIE’s conclusion on Iran “is exactly the reason that we must avoid radical steps like the Kyl-Lieberman bill.”

In his economic blueprint released yesterday, Republican Mitt Romney called for the creation of a “Reagan Zone of Economic Freedom,” an international economic bloc of countries “committed to open markets.” The zone would include the European Union, and would challenge China.

Republican Fred Thompson yesterday commended the Venezuelan electorate, calling Chavez an “autocrat who has successfully sought to intimidate and terrorize his own people as he rolls back democracy.”