June 7: I spoke with several people at Johns Hopkins Center On Politics and Foreign Relations early this morning to get details on the exclusive Democratic candidate debate on Iraq held last night in Washington, DC. The event was by invitation only, although about 20 members of the press were able to get in for media coverage.
The three candidates participating were Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Sen. Joe Biden and former senator Mike Gravel.
More on the flip...
Of note, the three Democratic candidate front-runners, Senator Clinton, Senator Obama and former senator Edwards, did not participate. I don't know if it's more of a question of priorities as opposed to scheduling problems, because none of the three sent in a proxy/stand-in, as they usually do on other event occasions, to represent their views.
Over 400 attendees at the Center compared the views on the Iraq War among three Democratic presidential candidates who did show up, for a debate officially titled "Democratic Debate on Iraq: Presidential Candidates Present Their Views."
VIDEO: click HERE for Senator Biden's remarks at the Iraq Debate.
"Every Democrat running for president agrees the war in Iraq has to end, but it matters profoundly how we end it," Sen. Biden said.
"Instead of escalating this war as the President wants to do," Sen. Biden commented, "we should start bringing our troops home. Now."
Now if surveys show Americans think we need to get out of Iraq, and the candidates are obligated to tell us how they intend to do it, why on Earth wouldn't the other five get involved here?
Podcasts will be available shortly. You can also view the responses of the other two candidates. More VIDEOS: For Rep. Kucinich, click HERE. For former senator Gravel, click HERE.
While I'm collecting other Iraq debate coverage items from CNN, you can browse the Johns Hopkins Center website HERE.