Election Roundup: Pre-New Hampshire Jousting
Candidates of both parties held debates in New Hampshire over the weekend. In the Democratic debate, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), fresh from his Iowa caucus victory, said he stands by his pledge from earlier in the campaign that he would send troops into Pakistan with “actionable intelligence” on al-Qaeda.
In Saturday’s Republican debate, Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee defended his statement in a recent Foreign Affairs essay that the Bush administration follows an “arrogant bunker mentality.”
Huckabee also faced tough questioning on ABC’s This Week and on Fox News Sunday over his comments in early 2007 that seemed to criticize the Bush administration’s troop surge strategy. Huckabee maintained he has favored the surge and his concerns mainly had to do with using the National Guard in Iraq.
Mitt Romney attacked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on immigration on Fox News Sunday, and accused McCain of supporting legislation that he says would have given illegal immigrants Social Security. On Meet the Press, McCain defended his immigration stance, again insisting he does not support amnesty for illegal immigrants.
McCain also said a continued U.S. occupation of Iraq for upwards of 50 years would be “fine” with him, “as long as Americans are not being injured.” McCain also criticized Romney on Iraq in Sunday’s debate. “I never heard him criticize the [Former Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld strategy,” McCain said.
