In Nevada, Democratic 2008 hopefuls spar on Iraq war

By Willie Albright

CARSON CITY, Nevada (Reuters) - Eight Democratic presidential contenders sparred gently on Wednesday on how to end the Iraq war, and Hillary Rodham Clinton decried "the politics of personal destruction" during the first joint appearance of an already heated 2008 campaign.

At a union-sponsored forum for Democratic White House hopefuls in Nevada, Clinton again sidestepped a question about why she will not call her 2002 Senate vote authorizing the war a mistake, but said "I have taken responsibility for my vote."

Rival John Edwards, a former senator who also voted to authorize the war but has called that a mistake, did not name Clinton but drew an indirect comparison between her stance and President George W. Bush's reluctance to admit mistakes in Iraq.

"We've had ... six years of a president who is incapable of admitting that he was wrong, incapable of admitting that he's made a mistake. It's time for a different kind of leadership in this country," Edwards said.

"We need a leader who will be open and honest with you and with the American people, who will tell the truth, who will tell the truth when they've made a mistake."

Clinton, a New York senator who leads the Democratic field in early national polls, has been criticized for her failure to renounce her 2002 vote although she now harshly condemns the war and has promised to end it immediately if she is elected.

The forum, sponsored by the nation's largest public employees union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, was attended by all Democratic presidential hopefuls except Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who campaigned in Iowa instead.

It came as the Clinton and Obama camps traded shots over criticism aimed at her and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, by Obama donor David Geffen, a Hollywood mogul.