Chellie Pingree, who's in a six-way race for the Democratic nomination in Maine's 1st Congressional District, finds herself under fire this week for her position on the Iraq War. And today, her campaign released an ad that doesn't respond directly to the criticism she's facing, but does tout her anti-Iraq War credentials.

The Iraq discussion heated up on Saturday, when the Press Herald published a
letter about Pingree and Iraq from retired Army Maj. General Paul Eaton. A few weeks earlier, Pingree and Eaton had co-authored an op-ed article in the Press Herald about Iraq; the op-ed piece touted their support for a document called "The Responsible Plan To End The War In War."

The "Responsible Plan" does not call for cutting off funding for the war; Pingree does. To explain her support for the plan, Pingree's campaign has stated that nothing in the "Responsible Plan" prevents a candidate who endorses it from going beyond its recommendations.

But Eaton, of Fox Island, Wash., does not support cutting off funding for the Iraq War. After he learned that Pingree does, he decided to retract the op-ed article that they co-wrote and instead endorse the candidacy of Democrat Adam Cote, who opposes cutting off war funding.

Cote's campaign quickly released a statement that read, in part, "Like General Eaton, our difference with Chellie Pingree is based on her campaign having multiple positions on an issue so critical to the lives of those serving and our economy here at home."

Yesterday, Democrat Ethan Strimling's campaign also weighed in. Strimling favors cutting off war funding, and he too accused Pingree of sending mixed messages. “It’s clear that Adam Cote’s position will only prolong the war, while it’s not clear what Chellie Pingree’s position is today,” Strimling said in a press release.

Willy Ritch, spokesman for the Pingree campaign, responded today with a statement that read, in part: "Chellie's position has been consistent from the beginning – she was against the war since 2002 and throughout this campaign has said she would vote to defund the war."

This morning, the Pingree campaign released its first TV ad, which focuses on Iraq.

Back in 2002, shortly before the U.S. Senate election between Pingree and Republican Sen. Susan Collins, Pingree repeatedly said she opposed going to war with Iraq unilaterally.

Following an October 2002 speech on Iraq by President Bush, the Press Herald quoted Pingree as saying, "I don't think the president did anything tonight to convince me ... that we don't have time to deliberate and take all diplomatic and U.N.-related actions to enforce the U.N. resolution before we support going to war."

Some of the nuance of that position is lost in the new TV ad. Pingree drops the references to diplomacy and unilateral action and simply states that she opposed the war from the beginning.

Here's an excerpt from the ad's script:

"NARRATOR: 'It was uncommon. Chellie Pingree had the courage to oppose the war in Iraq from the beginning, even when other Democrats supported George Bush.'

PINGREE: 'I stood up against the war, and what it would cost our country. It's time to invest the $400 million we spend each day in Iraq here at home...'"

One other note about the $400-million-per-day figure cited in the ad: Pingree's campaign says that its source for that figure is Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize-winning economist who recently co-authored a book about the cost of the war.

– Kevin Wack

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