Battle Lines Drawn Over Iraq

With stinging attacks, the campaigns of President Bush and Sen. John Kerry are making the Iraq war the centerpiece of the race for the White House so far.

Nearly a year after the U.S.-led invasion, and as a bomb destroyed a hotel in central Baghdad, Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday accused the presumptive nominee of an unreliable record on national security, while Kerry lambasted the White House's handling of Iraq.

The tone of the exchanges seem surprisingly hostile, even to seasoned hands.

"It's the most bitter and partisan campaign that I've ever observed," Arizona Sen. John McCain told the CBS News Early Show.

"The Democrats did start it," columnist Craig Crawford told the Early Show. "They spent a year bashing George Bush and I think he decided he wanted to respond."

In a speech at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on Wednesday, Cheney questioned whether Kerry can be a steady leader in standing by Iraq and pursuing the war on terror.

Citing a series of Kerry votes on foreign policy, military weapons and other military programs, Cheney said "it is not an impressive record for someone who aspires to become commander in chief in this time of testing for our country."

Cheney said Kerry "has been one vote of 100 in the United States Senate and fortunately on matters of national security he was very often in the minority.

"But the presidency is an entirely different proposition. The president always casts the deciding vote and the senator from Massachusetts has given us ample doubts about his judgment and the attitude he brings to bear on vital issues of national security."

The vice president specifically cited Kerry's vote against the 1991 Gulf War, and his opposition to the war in 2003 despite voting for the bill that authorized force.

Cheney is seen as the Bush campaign's most effective advocate on security and foreign policy issues, the area in which Mr. Bush gets his highest poll ratings.

And this speech was a targeted effort to present the president as the safer choice on national security in the coming election, while criticizing Kerry's record of voting against a long list of military programs, reports CBS News Correspondent Bill Plante.

Kerry, who knew the attack was coming, appeared with national security heavyweights from the Clinton administration to mount his own offensive. He charged the administration with failed and arrogant policies in Iraq.

"Today we know that the mission is not finished, hostilities have not ended, and our men and women in uniform fight on almost alone with the target squarely on their backs," Kerry said at George Washington University. "Every day they face danger and death from suicide bombers, roadside bombers, and now, ironically, from the very Iraqi police they are training."

"We are still bogged down in Iraq and the administration stubbornly holds to failed policies that drive potential allies away. What we have seen is a steady loss of lives and mounting cost in dollars with no end in sight," he said. "The lesson here is fundamental: At times, conflict comes, and the decision must be made. For a president, the decision may be lonely, but that does not mean that America should go it alone."

On Thursday, McCain said Mr. Bush "has led this nation with clarity since Sept. 11th." But he found fault with some aspects of the Iraq mission.

"I think mistakes were made in following the very rapid victory that we had, we didn't have sufficient people that were Arab-speaking, special forces, intelligence types. But mistakes are always made in combat and in conflicts," he said.

Since the Vietnam War, presidential campaigns have rarely centered on foreign affairs. But Crawford does not expect that focus to shift.

"I think this election will turn on Iraq," Crawford told the Early Show. "There's the economy, I know that's out there. But this president has made the war in Iraq his emblem of his presidency. And if people decide that war has gone well and was worth having, he'll probably be reelected."

McCain attributed the sharp tone of the campaign so far to both parties aiming for their core members rather than centrists.

"I regret it. I think there are serious challenges facing America in the form of Medicare, Social Security, healthcare, deficit spending," McCain told the Early Show, "and I think we ought to have open and honest debates on those issues."

Crawford said the Bush campaign is trying to capture undecided voters well ahead of what is shaping up to be another very close election.

"I think one reason is they look at some numbers showing that a lot of people don't know much about John Kerry, and George Bush is sitting on a lot of money. He's got the money t get out there and define John Kerry now," Crawford said. "This is early but there's a chance that this election could, much of it, get settled in the next month or two because they need to define Kerry on their terms, as a weak liberal."

"Kerry needs to define himself in his terms but doesn't have the money to do it in ads," Crawford said.