Democrats to Face Off in Second Debate

Iraq War, Health Care Issues Likely to Dominate Discussion

GOFFSTOWN, N.H., June 3-- The Democratic presidential candidates meet here Sunday night for their second debate of the young campaign season, with Iraq and health care likely to dominate much of the discussion.

The two-hour session on the campus of St. Anselm College just outside Manchester will include questions from journalists and from New Hampshire voters -- Democrats and independents alike. CNN, which is co-sponsoring the debate along with WMUR-TV and the Manchester Union Leader, will air the debate nationally, beginning at 7 p.m.

Republicans will debate here on Tuesday night under the same format.

Much of the focus Sunday night will be on the three leading candidates -- New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina senator John Edwards, and the organizers made sure that the three will be at standing next to one another when the debate opens.

But if there are any fireworks, they could be sparked by some candidates like Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson or Delaware Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., who are seeking to persuade party activists, ere and in other states with early primaries and caucuses, that they deserve a closer look and more support.

Two other Democrats -- Ohio Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich and former Alaska senator Mike Gravel -- will also participate and in the first debate in April, they staked out the left flank on the major issues, but particularly on ending U.S. involvement in Iraq immediately.

Among the leading candidates, Obama may feel the most pressure. His performance in the South Carolina debate in April had some rocky moments and by his own admission -- which he wrote about in his best-selling book, "The Audacity of Hope" -- he was never comfortable in his debates against Republican rival Alan Keyes during the 2004 Senate race in Illinois.

Strategists for the candidates played down the significance of any of the early debates as they made preparations for Sunday night's encounter, suggesting that there is little that can be gained when there are so many candidates on stage at the same time. Their hope is to avoid mistakes and get back to the main priority at this point in the election cycle, which is continuing to raise money, expand their organizations here and in other states.

The first debate did little to alter the overall shape of the Democratic race. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll released Sunday showed Clinton leading the field with 42 percent of the vote, Obama second at 27 and Edwards third at 11. None of the other candidates received more than 2 percent.

When former Vice President Al Gore is added to the mix, the results are: Clinton 35, Obama 23, Gore 17 and Edwards 7. That ties Gore's highest percentage in a Post-ABC News poll this year. In contrast, Edwards hit a low point for the year in the new poll.

Many strategists argue that national polls will become less and less important as the primary season nears later in the year, eclipsed by the candidates' standing in polls of the early states.

In the most recent poll of New Hampshire voters, Clinton held a wide lead over her rivals. The poll, conducted by the American Research Group, showed Clinton with 34 percent, Edwards at 18, Obama at 15 and Richardson at 9 percent.