Democratic candidates show differences on Cuba
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and other Democratic presidential candidates disagreed Saturday during a debate in Iowa on whether the United States should immediately end a 4-decade-old embargo on Cuba.
At a "black and brown" debate focused on issues of interest to minority voters, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd backed an immediate end to the U.S. embargo but other candidates differed on how quickly it could be ended without changes in the Caribbean island nation's government or human rights policies.
"I think we make a huge mistake by not normalizing relations with Cuba," Dodd said, adding the embargo had benefited the communist government established in 1959 by Fidel Castro.
The polite debate, which featured few policy disagreements or confrontations, came barely one month before Iowa kicks off the state-by-state battle to pick the Democratic and Republican nominees for the November 2008 general election.
Clinton, the front-runner among Democrats in national polls, and rivals Obama, John Edwards and Joseph Biden said relations could not be normalized without a significant change in Cuba.
"I think that has to be a precondition," Clinton said of an improvement in Cuban human rights policies. She said there was "a tremendous pent-up desire" for fundamental democratic reforms among the Cuban people.
Obama said he would favor immediately loosening some aspects of the embargo, including restrictions on visits to Cuba and remittances to families. "Those two shifts in policy would send a signal that we can build on," Obama said.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who is Hispanic, said, "The embargo has not worked" but that lifting it would require some immediate democratic reforms in Cuba.
President Bush has rejected any easing of sanctions against Cuba without a transition to democracy there, saying it would bolster the government's grip on power. His administration has tightened the embargo, including restrictions on visits to Cuba and remittances to families.
The 81-year-old Castro is recovering from a series of intestinal operations that forced him to temporarily hand over power to his brother Raul in July 2006.
TIGHT THREE-WAY RACE
Clinton is locked in a tight three-way race in Iowa with Obama and Edwards, a former North Carolina senator. All the candidates spent much of the day battling an ice storm that disrupted several events and closed the Des Moines airport until late afternoon.
Biden, a senator from Delaware, made it to only half of the debate after driving from Chicago.
Clinton, delayed in arriving in Des Moines until late in the day, spoke to an afternoon candidate forum by telephone and heard scattered boos from the crowd of 5,000 during an exchange on immigration policy.
After stating her support for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, Clinton made reference to the difficult process of getting a bill through Congress.
"You've got to get the Congress to pass the legislation. The president can do as much as possible, which I will do," Clinton said as some in the crowd began to boo.
Clinton opened the evening debate with a brief reference to the hostage situation at one of her campaign offices in New Hampshire Friday, which ended peacefully, and noted all her rivals had called to offer support and encouragement.
"We were very relieved at the way it turned out," she said.
(Additional reporting by Kay Henderson; Editing by Peter Cooney)
(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/)
REUTERS