And while union IAFF President Harold Schaitberger urged them to tackle other issues, most of the 11 ignored that. One, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) stuck almost solely to the war. Another who is still deciding, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) talked philosophically. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) stressed national security dangers in trade with China and how we depend on it for war material, and advocated a complete immigration fence.

IAFF invited everyone seeking the presidency in 2008, from both parties, to address the 1,000 delegates to its annual legislative/political conference in Washington. Other candidate forums have been partisan events, unlike IAFF\'s. The union itself is bipartisan, with a plurality of its members being registered Republicans.

But voters from the 288,000-member union went by almost 2-to-1 in 2004 for Democratic Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), to whom IAFF gave an early and key endorsement months before the 2004 Iowa caucuses. That impact led candidates to appear for what may well be the only bipartisan forum of the campaign.

Democrats call for withdrawal from Iraq
Each hopeful addressed the war in Iraq, and most of the Democrats called for a withdrawal. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) said we should "end the war in Iraq the right way," including ending the recent escalation by President George W. Bush. "I hope the president ends this war before he leaves office. But if he doesn\'t, I will," she declared.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said he authored a plan that calls for gradual withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops starting May 1 and ending by March. "We cannot do" domestic programs, such as "universal health care by the end of the next presidential term--my term--until we bring this war to a close." he said.

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) said all Iraq plans, except his, don\'t answer the question "What next?" after either Bush\'s escalation or a mandated withdrawal. Biden again proposed a weaker Iraqi central government with semi-autonomous regions for its warring Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. That would force the Iraqis "to change and fight for themselves," he said.

The only hopeful who barely mentioned the war was the leadoff speaker, former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.). He linked spending on the war -- in his few remarks on that issue -- to lack of spending on health care and lack of attention to other issues.

Biden made the same spending linkage, and added Bush\'s tax cuts for the wealthy also take away money that could be spent on child health, education, communications for first responders in terrorist attacks, and other priorities.

Edwards also concentrated the most on the right to organize. That right was backed by the other Democrats, except Obama. He did not mention the right to organize or the labor-backed Employee Free Choice Act, which would aid organizing. He backed high-er wages for Fire Fighters, when Iowans -- in the first caucus state -- revealed low pay.

Support for Employee Free Choice Act
None of the Republicans mentioned the right to organize or EFCA, which Bush vowed to veto. EFCA is pending before the Senate, where GOP senators plan to kill it through a filibuster.

"Anybody who comes before you and asks for your support ought to be able to say the word \'union,\' proudly," declared Edwards, the Democrats\' vice presidential nominee in 2004. "Since that election, I\'ve been all over the country organizing workers, because if we want to grow the middle class, we have to grow the union movement," he stated.

As for EFCA, "If someone can join the Republican or Democratic Party by signing a card, then someone ought to be able to join a union by signing a card," Edwards said. Writing majority card-check recognition of unions into labor law is a key part of EFCA.

Similar strong endorsements of the right to organize came from Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), Biden, Clinton and Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.). Biden declared that Bush is waging two wars, with the other one being on the nation\'s unions -- and said sometimes unions forget that.

"The days of George Bush thinking the union bug is something he needs to squash are over," Clinton said of her endorsement of the right to organize and of giving public safety workers the right in each state to bargain.

Richardson reminded the crowd that while the others "give great speeches…governors actually do things." He pointed out that two weeks after he took office for his first term just over four years ago, he pushed a law through the New Mexico legislature recognizing the right to organize and bargain for public workers.

Richardson endorsed the same law -- which IAFF is pushing -- at the federal level, along with EFCA. "And when we raised the living wage, we made it the prevailing wage," he added. Richardson also noted he\'s the only Democratic hopeful "who\'s pro-gun owners\' rights," a cause which is popular in IAFF and among many other unionists.

McCain focuses on Iraq
At the other end of the speech spectrum was McCain, a former and famed Vietnam POW. He stuck solely to the war, and said that unless we win it, the U.S. would find the battle against terrorism returnng to our shores, as it did in al-Qaeda\'s 2001 attacks.

"As we know, it is not going well, though American soldiers have fought well," the former naval aviator said of the war. "We early on failed to make changes in our tactics to prevent it going into bloodshed" now. The new U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, a counterterrorism expert, is making those changes, McCain said.

"The probable consequences of defeat there include genocide and a wider Middle East war" drawing in Iraq\'s neighbors, McCain warned. He admitted the chances for success are as yet unknown with the changes in strategy Petraeus has implemented. "But we are gaining the initiative because he (the Iraqi enemies) is beginning to react to us, and not the other way around," he declared.

McCain also took one of the few potshots at other politicians during the forum. The U.S. troops in Iraq deserve "something more than doubts, criticism or no-confidence motions," he remarked, referring to a nonbinding resolution against Bush\'s "surge" the Democratic-run House approved last month. A Senate GOP filibuster derailed it.

"Nations lose wars and nations suffer consequences--consequences far more than lost elections," McCain warned.

Former Gov. James Gilmore (R-Va.) also addressed the conference.

Giuliani opts out
IAFF\'s bipartisan record led six Democrats and five Republicans to address the conference, the first step in IAFF\'s endorsement process. Not attending were former Govs. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.), Tommy Thompson (R-Wis.) and Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio).

Former New York City GOP Mayor Rudy Giuliani, famed for his role the day of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, accepted the invitation to address the crowd, then declined just days ago. Inviting him was controversial, Schaitberger said. In a letter to local unions, he said that two months after the attacks destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center, Giuliani ordered the site bulldozed over, stopping the search for undiscovered remains of the 343 Fire Fighters who died when the towers collapsed. Before his order, remains or bodies of 101 had been found.

The mayor "instituted a scoop-and-dump operation" to quicken the cleanup, he added. Over protests from union leaders and victims\' families -- topped by arrests -- Giuliani ordered everything "removed like so much garbage and deposited at the Fresh Kills landfill" in Staten Island.

Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.

For more information
Video of the candidates\' speeches is posted on the IAFF website. Go to http://www.iaff.org/2007LegCon/forum.htm