Anti-War Groups Seek to Make War Costs a Campaign Issue

from CQ politics

Anti-war groups announced Monday that they will kick off a campaign to tie the costs of the war in Iraq with domestic economic issues in a bid to build opposition to the president’s war policy before the November election.

In coming months, the groups plan to spend more than $20 million on grass-roots efforts and advertising targeting Republicans who have supported President Bush’s war policy and to make the cost of the war a central issue.

The move comes at a time when polls consistently show the economy, not the war, topping the list of voters’ concerns.

“People don’t understand why we’re spending $500 billion and counting in Iraq at the some time we’ve got 40 million plus Americans who don’t have any health care coverage, 37 million living in poverty, people terrified about being able to paying their bills,” said former Sen. John Edwards , D-N.C., who joined the groups in a conference call.

Among the groups involved in the new campaign effort are MoveOn.org, USAction, Americans United for Change, VoteVets.org, the Service Employees International Union and the Center for American Progress.

The leaders of the coalition said they plan to highlight Sen. John McCain ’s strong support for the war. The Arizona Republican has all but wrapped up the GOP’s presidential nomination.

The groups last year pushed congressional Democrats to advance legislation that would force an end to the war in Iraq but those efforts were unsuccessful. Similar legislation is expected to run aground in the Senate this week.