Biden drives Net petition for Iraq bill

Democratic presidential candidate seeks online support

	Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., gestures during an address to the National League of Cities meeting in Washington on Tuesday.
Susan Walsh / AP

AP	Video: In his own words Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., touches upon the primary themes of his presidential campaign.

Interactive

Veepstakes!
Who did msnbc.com readers pick as No. 2 on the GOP and Democratic tickets?

NBC News

Obama: New START Nuke treaty with Russia by end of year

Our turn for Palin book excerpts; From Iran hostage crisis to creationism

Copenhagen climate summit over before it begins? Not quite, but...

updated 3:05 p.m. ET March 14, 2007

NEW YORK - Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has launched an online petition drive to rally support for legislation he co-sponsored to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by next March.

In an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press, the Delaware senator called the Iraq conflict “the big boulder in the road” and said it must be resolved for the U.S. to regain credibility on the world stage.

“I am convinced there is a fundamental disconnect between where the American people are and where the president is on this war,” he said. “What I’m trying to do is to visibly pound away, every single day, to get this president and my Republican colleagues to change course.”

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has scheduled a vote on the resolution sponsored by Biden and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. Only a handful of Republicans are expected to support the bill, which would seek to bring almost all U.S. troops home by March 31, 2008, while leaving a residual force to help train and equip Iraqi troops and participate in counter-terror operations.

Biden is also continuing to push his plan to divide Iraq along ethnic lines, with a central government responsible for border security and allocation of oil.

Biden dismissed his standing in national polls, which show him trailing far behind front-runners Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

“The front-runner status is virtually meaningless at this point,” Biden said, while adding he did not mean to “criticize or denigrate” Clinton or Obama.

The online petition drive is at http://www.endingthewar.com.