Print
Jul 8, 2007 12:17 pm US/Central
Antiwar Ad Campaign Criticizes Coleman
Minneapolis (AP) ―
-
-
Sen. Norm Coleman is facing reelection next year. (File)
AP
An anti-Iraq war group is launching a weeklong, $100,000-plus television ad campaign aimed at turning up the political heat on Sen. Norm Coleman as the U.S. Senate prepares to again debate Iraq policy.
Donald McFarland, the Minnesota director of Americans United for Change, said Coleman and other moderate Republicans up for reelection next year are being targeted for continuing to support President Bush's Iraq policy with their Senate votes.
In recent weeks, several senior Republican senators have called for a new strategy in Iraq that will begin to decrease U.S. troop levels there. One of the most recent, Sen. Pete Domeneci of New Mexico, said last week that it "should be clear to the president that there needs to be a new strategy."
So far, Coleman hasn't joined that group, although his spokesman Tom Steward said the senator has "been quite vocal in expressing his concerns to the President regarding the direction of our policy in Iraq."
Steward said Coleman "respects and shares the frustrations of those who are concerned about the continuing violence and political stalemate in Iraq."
With U.S. casualties continuing to mount and sectarian violence raging in Iraq, the ad campaign takes its inspiration from several popular anti-war images: Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech, followed by footage of exploding Humvees, returning coffins, and folded flags.
It ends with a shot of Coleman next to Bush: "Norm Coleman is still standing with President Bush on Iraq."
The group said it's acting independently of Coleman's Democratic challengers, which the law requires. But the ad could set the tone for next year's Senate election, where the Democrats are certain to bash Coleman's votes on Iraq at every turn as public opinion against the war continues to mount.
Senate Democrats are also keeping up the pressure, with more floor votes likely this week aimed at Bush's policy. One Democratic amendment will call for most U.S. troops to be out of Iraq by next April 1, following the recommendations of last year's bipartisan Iraq Study Group.
Coleman hasn't indicated yet how he'd vote on that measure, though even some Republican critics of the Iraq policy like Domenici have indicated that's too rapid a withdrawal. But the Democratic measures are designed to put Coleman and other Republicans in a corner.
Coleman supported the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and he's voted against efforts to set a timetable for troop withdrawal. But he's also criticized as "insufficient" the administration's overall strategy for defusing sectarian violence and holding Iraqi political leaders accountable.
Coleman has spoken of a "new specific path" for U.S. policy in Iraq, but said it shouldn't come before September when U.S. Gen. David Petraeus has promised a comprehensive assessment of the increase in troop strength around Baghdad.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
