Biden Airs Ad In Iowa About Plan To End War In Iraq

Sunday, August 19th 2007, 2:13 pm

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden aired his first campaign advertisement Sunday, casting himself as the only candidate with a viable strategy for a sustainable peace in Iraq.

In the 30-second spot airing in Iowa, Biden describes how a soldier's remains accompanied him on the flight back after Biden's latest trip to Iraq.

``As I climbed into the C-130, strapped into the middle of that cargo bay was a flag-draped coffin,'' Biden says. ``It turned that cargo bay into a cathedral. And all I could think of was the parents waiting at the other end.

``We must end this war in a way that doesn't require us to send their grandchild back.''

``Joe Biden is the only candidate with a plan to get us out of Iraq and keep us out,'' the ad states as Biden's image fades.

The ad does not specify the plan. But Biden has called for partitioning Iraq into three semiautonomous regions for Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis under a central government.

The ad, scheduled to run for three days, is a modest purchase of air time compared with those running for rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson.

But Biden got an added boost Sunday when ABC's George Stephanopoulos, the moderator of the latest Democratic debate, used a clip of the ad to introduce a question on Iraq.

Biden's son Beau, a judge advocate general in the Delaware National Guard and the state's attorney general, is preparing to deploy to Iraq next year.

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WASHINGTON (AP) _ Sen. John McCain said Sunday his support for immigration changes hurt his presidential candidacy because people were not convinced that it would secure the border.

``The immigration issue has caused me some difficulties with our base,'' the Arizona Republican said.

The failed immigration bill supported by McCain included border security measures and a guest worker program and would have legalized many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S.

McCain has since endorsed a plan that would tighten the borders, but not include a guest worker provision.

But he said his campaign, which has been weakened by multiple resignations and poor fundraising, is regaining its footing.

``We are back on town hall meetings, and enthusiasm is there. And we're going to be just fine in my campaign,'' he said. ``Every campaign has its ups and downs.''

He said it is critical to convince the public that the borders can be controlled by setting up a system that would provide a tamperproof document about an immigrant's legal status.

``And anybody who doesn't have that, then the employer who hired them would be prosecuted,'' he said.

McCain said his campaign should recover strength because he is the most qualified of all the candidates in either party to take on radical Islamic extremism.

McCain spoke on ``Face the Nation'' on CBS.