The DNC Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C set the stage for the Iraq war to shape the debates for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, with 10 candidates giving speeches over the two day winter meeting. Once again, the Iraq war has proved “to be the central point of differentiation among the party’s presidential contenders.”

What emerged was a division over how to stop the war, one likely to intensify as Congress debates measures ranging from a nonbinding resolution condemning President Bush’s proposal to send more troops to Iraq to more controversial legislation that would restrict or cut off funds for the military mission.

The 10 speeches are available on the DNC website. It’s worth taking the time to watch them all. At this point, Dan Balz reports in the WaPo, “everyone running opposes the war, but the self-styled outsiders in the race — those not in the Senate — see political gain in pressing for a speedy end to the war, and in the process they are putting pressure on prominent candidates such as Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) to follow suit.”

“As someone who served in Congress for 14 years, I know the power they hold, should they choose to wield it,” New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson told the DNC yesterday at the Hilton Washington hotel. “The Congress passed a resolution authorizing war. They need to pass another one that overturns that authorization and brings our troops home by the end of the calendar year.”

Former senator John Edwards (N.C.) was equally adamant on Friday that members of Congress stand up against the president. “It is a betrayal not to stop this president’s plan to escalate the war when we have the responsibility, the power and the ability to stop it,” he said. “We cannot be satisfied with passing nonbinding resolutions that we know this president will ignore.”

Edwards favors an immediate withdrawal of up to 50,000 troops, with the rest brought home within 18 months.

Former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack was just as pointed in calling for congressional Democrats to act boldly to stop the war. “I think Congress has a constitutional responsibility and a moral obligation to do it now,” he said yesterday. “Not a cap, an end. Not eventually, immediately. Those who voted for the war, those who voted to continue to support the war, those who voted to continue funding the war can surely vote to stop the war.”

Clinton on Friday defended her support for a nonbinding resolution expressing disapproval of the plan to send more troops to Iraq, but she made a point to say that she is now ready to press for tougher action.

“I want to go further,” she told the audience of Democrats who will be delegates at the party’s national convention in 2008. She outlined other steps she has proposed to cap the number of U.S. troops in Iraq and pressure the Iraqi government. But she has so far resisted embracing any timetable for bringing home the troops.

Obama, who is to formally launch his candidacy Saturday in Illinois, opposed the war initially and last week moved past Clinton with a proposal to withdraw virtually all U.S. forces by March 31, 2008.

But in his speech on Friday, Obama was less explicit than other Democrats about the way forward. Calling the war “a tragic mistake,” he said, “We all have a responsibility now to put forth a plan that offers the best chance of ending the bloodshed and bringing the troops home.”

Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, condemned Bush in harsh language yesterday. “Mr. President,” he said, “the majority of Americans who oppose you in Iraq are not the ones emboldening the enemy. That’s the one mission you have accomplished.”

Biden said he would do “everything in my power” to block the president’s decision to deploy more troops. His broader proposal calls for a political solution that would provide regional autonomy for Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds and guarantees by the central government that Sunnis would share in the country’s oil revenues. He wants to draw down U.S. forces.

Personally, I’m holding out to see how the candidates evolve on the other issues as well. As much as a Iraq is biggie, a candidate’s position on it is not enough to sway me at this point. When I supported John Kerry in ‘04 and jumped into the blogosphere headlong to do so, 4 years ago, I knew that Kerry’s position on all the issues that matter to me, mirrored mine the most. It was a given, to hold out on judgement towards the ‘08 race for Kerry’s decision. I’m free-wheeling now and I’ll be studying them all before I lend my support to one.

AP News has more on the DNC Winter Meeting and Hillary Clinton’s speech here: Clinton promises to end war if elected.

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