Porter, Heller in cross hairs of new anti-war blitz

By Lisa Mascaro

Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Anti-war groups are reasserting their presence in Washington after last year’s setbacks with a vast new campaign targeting Iraq war supporters in Congress from now until the fall election.

Nevada Republican Rep. Jon Porter is being singled out in the $20 million blitz launched by a coalition of

liberal groups that includes former Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, Moveon.org and the Service Employees International Union.

The effort will attempt to link the $500 billion price tag for the Iraq war with the economic downturn in the United States.

Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Americans United for Change, said the campaign will target candidates who have “supported a legacy of failure in Iraq and a legacy of failure in the economy.”

The timing comes as Congress returns this week to consider bills to withdraw troops and require the president to report to Congress on his strategy for fighting al-Qaida.

Anti-war groups expect to spend most of their money on ads and community organizing, including public events next month on the fifth anniversary of the invasion.

Throughout 2007 the anti-war lobby pushed Porter, Nevada Republican Rep. Dean Heller and other war supporters nationwide to rethink their position.

Most Americans oppose the war and want the troops to come home. But Republicans have stood firmly behind the president.

As conditions on the ground improved, Democrats never achieved a wide enough majority to override President Bush’s veto of legislation Congress passed to withdraw troops, and Democrats were unwilling to simply cut off war funds.

Porter, who faces a tough reelection fight this fall as Democrats outnumber Republicans in his district, is perhaps most vulnerable on his war record.

Although the congressman has voted with Democrats on some domestic policy issues over the past year, he has refused to join them in changing course on Iraq.

The congressman has toured the Middle East several times and thinks military leaders on the ground, not Congress, should choose the best policy in Iraq.

“Our men and women in uniform have made dramatic progress over the past year and our constituents recognize those gains,” Porter spokesman Matt Leffingwell said. “Repackaging the same old message of retreat will continue to have a negligible impact on the congressman’s position.”

Heller has also remained supportive of the war. He also faces a potentially difficult reelection fight. His office did not respond to a request for comment.

Ed Patru, a spokesman for Freedom’s Watch, a coalition backed by Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson that formed last year to back lawmakers who support the war, said Americans will not be swayed by the false choice of homeland security versus economic security.

Patru said anti-war groups “ought to tell the public which of those two goals ought to be sacrificed. Should we abandon economic growth to fight terror? Or should we ignore the threat of terrorism in order to focus on the economy?”

Even as pocketbook issues dominate voters’ concerns, both Democrats and Republicans think the war will continue to be a top issue among voters this fall.