DFLers put pressure on Sen. Coleman

2007-07-11

Source: Star Tribune

An antiwar surge targeting Sen. Norm Coleman continued Tuesday as DFL hopefuls Al Franken and Mike Ciresi pressed the Republican to break with President Bush on the war in Iraq.

While both decry Bush's policies, subtle differences are evident in the DFLers' approach.

Ciresi is pushing for withdrawal of combat troops by March, while Franken says troop withdrawal should begin as soon as possible, but could conclude sometime in the middle of next year.

The candidates' statements and letters come as two separate ad campaigns attacking Coleman's continued support of the war hit the Minnesota airwaves, part of a Democratic effort nationwide to turn up the heat on pro-war Republicans.

Ciresi said Tuesday that he would seek a revocation of the original war resolution. "That would take away the authority of the president to go to war," Ciresi said, forcing the president to "find a way to withdraw troops and redeploy them."

Congress is debating various anti-war resolutions this week. In an open letter to Coleman, Franken said "there simply aren't enough Democratic senators to do this alone. Republican Senators have to do the right thing and force the President to end this war."

Franken said he wasn't sure he was comfortable with the April 30 date proposed by some congressional Democrats.

"We need to put a lot of thought and planning into how we get out. We need to put more thought into how we get out than they (the Bush administration) put into how we went in. ... The first thing we need to do is make a commitment to leaving."

Coleman has supported the war in the past and has been sharply critical of opponents, but in recent months has expressed his own concerns about the war's lack of progress.

Coleman was unavailable for comment on Tuesday, but released a statement that suggested a further softening of his once solid support.

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