Edwards' Ad Prompts Spat With Rival

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-IL addresses the crowd at the First AME Church in Los Angeles, Calif., Sunday, April 29, 2007. (AP Photo/Stefano Paltera) (Stefano Paltera - AP)

WASHINGTON -- John Edwards is blending a new television commercial with his online Web message, giving his activist supporters a voice in demanding that Congress stand up to President Bush's veto of a withdrawal timetable for Iraq.

The ad promptly set off a rare public spat between Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina, and one of his Democratic rivals.

"We wish that Senator Edwards was still in the Senate for this important fight," Christy Setzer, spokeswoman for Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said tartly.

The ad, which will air in Washington on broadcast and cable programs, calls on Congress to ignore the veto and to send Bush the "same bill again and again."

Edwards, who is lagging behind Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama in the polls and in fundraising, is seeking to distinguish himself as an anti-war voice.

The timetable for pulling out of Iraq is contained in a bill that provides money to troops in Iraq. Unwilling to risk delays in money for the troops, congressional Democratic leaders are now struggling to adjust the bill to avoid a veto without angering the party's most liberal anti-war members.

It is that tension that Edwards is seeking to exploit with his new commercial.

Setzer, in a statement, noted that Dodd was the first presidential candidate to support a measure by Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., to end the war within one year.

"If we can't get his vote in the Senate, of course we would welcome Senator Edwards' support for Senator Dodd's plan ... rather than the incremental, 18-month approach he has proposed," Setzer said.

Edwards has called for the immediate withdrawal of 40,000-50,000 troops from Iraq and a complete pullout of combat troops within 12 to 18 months. Edwards, like several other Democrats in the race, voted in 2002 to give Bush the authority to use force in Iraq. He is the only Democrat in race who voted against financing the war in 2003.

"John Edwards believes anybody who is running for President of the United States has to take responsibility for whatever position they take," Edwards spokesman Eric Schultz said. "We think the American people sent a clear mandate in this last election that they want a different course on Iraq. And the Congress needs to stand its ground."

The ad will also run on the Edwards' Web site as well as on YouTube, the popular online video site. Edwards wants viewers to post their own personal messages to Congress about Iraq. The campaign will then incorporate those messages into future Web ads.