Six presidential hopefuls will be in Iowa over the next four days. Today, Illinois Senator Barak Obama will be in western Iowa and Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd will be in eastern Iowa. Both are Democrats. California Congressman Duncan Hunter, a Republican candidate, is to be here as well.
Hunter has served on the House Armed Services Committee for 26 years, and Hunter contends that with all the trouble spots around the world, national security will be the center issue of the 2008 presidential race. Hunter says setting a timeline for getting America’s troops out of Iraq will not work and could prove deadly in the long run.
Duncan’s son, a Marine, has served two tours of duty in Iraq. Duncan says the bill that Democrats are pushing in congress would be "deadly" because some of the fine print would restrict the movement of U.S. troops, making it difficult for the military to move troops in to rescue units pinned down by the enemy. Hunter has pushed to extend the fence along the U.S. border with Mexico and he is critical of U.S. trade deals which he says have done too much damage to America’s manufacturing sector.
"We used to have what I called the arsenal of democracy and that’s the ability of this country to make things…to try our industry to make military equipment to save our freedom in a time of war," Hunter says. "…We really used that industrial strength during the Cold War…the Russians could not match up on an industrial basis."
Hunter will be in Webster City tonight and in Des Moines tomorrow. Next week, Democrats Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Joe Biden will campaign in Iowa. On the Republican side, former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson’s campaigning in Iowa today. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani will kick off his Iowa Caucus effort on Tuesday. GOP Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado will campaign here on Monday.