Clinton campaign takes aim at 'pettiness'

"Frankly, focusing on women's bodies instead of their ideas is insulting," Lewis wrote in an e-mail to supporters, seeking donations. "Take a stand against this kind of coarseness and pettiness in American culture."

MARCELLA BOMBARDIERI

A shift toward Afghanistan MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Richardson said yesterday that the US should shift its antiterrorism focus from Iraq to Afghanistan and make the defeat of Al Qaeda the top priority.

Without such a shift, US allies will hold back support, Richardson told members of the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire.

"We urgently must redirect our military effort away from Iraq -- where Al Qaeda's leadership is not located -- and toward the Afghanistan-Pakistan border -- where they are located," Richardson said.

"When our allies see that we finally have gotten our priorities straight and that we've revived our commitment to going after the Al Qaeda leadership, . . . only then will they provide enough troops to overwhelm the enemy."

The New Mexico governor outlined what he called a grand strategy for defeating Al Qaeda, mixing baseball and boxing metaphors in criticizing President Bush's approach.

"If only the president had kept his eye on the ball and finished the job when he had the chance," he said. "Al Qaeda was on the ropes in 2002, cornered in the badlands between Afghanistan and Pakistan. If our troops had been given the resources they needed, we could have finished them off."

In addition to a complete withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and redirecting them to Afghanistan, Richardson calls for encouraging nations such as Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia to send troops to stabilize Afghanistan.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Romney raps Edwards plan ADEL, Iowa -- Mitt Romney said yesterday that the country is angry over the lack of progress in the Iraq war, a stinging assessment of the Bush administration's handling of the conflict from a Republican candidate.