Biden spoke to Iowa Democrats about how he would have handled 9/11.
DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) - Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Saturday that, had he been the president during the attacks of 9/11, he would have reacted differently than President Bush and would have "called a meeting of the world's major powers."
"Just imagine what would have happened if on September 15, four days after September 11, I had addressed you and the world," the senator from Delaware told a crowd of about 9,000 at the Iowa Democratic Party's Jefferson Jackson dinner.
Biden said that the first thing he would have done was call "a meeting of the world's major powers to meet in Geneva, Switzerland on October the 1st, so we can begin to jointly plan the demise of the rise of Islamic fundamentalism."
"What nation in the world would not have shown up?" Biden asked. "What nation in the world would have said 'no, no, no, I don't want to be a part of that'?"
Biden implied that the United States would have been better off had the nation moved into the post-9/11 era by consulting more with the rest of the world .
He added that President Bush "is going to be judged very harshly by history for the opportunities he squandered."
-CNN Iowa Producer Chris Welch
DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) - Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson said Saturday that he differs from the leading candidates on one key issue: how the U.S. ends the war in Iraq.
Speaking to approximately 9,000 Iowa Democrats at the Iowa Democratic Party's Jefferson Jackson Dinner in Des Moines, the New Mexico governor said, "The leading candidates are talking about keeping troops [in Iraq] until 2013. Here's my position–I will bring troops back within one year."
Richardson said he'd do it in part by using a Muslim peacekeeping force and diplomacy.
But in his prepared remarks–sent to the media by the campaign almost simultaneously–Richardson went even further than he did in front of the crowd and called out the leading candidates by name.
"Barack [Obama], Hillary [Clinton], and John [Edwards] were asked to pledge to have all of our troops out of Iraq by 2013, and they refused to do so. I have made that pledge," Richardson said in the statement.
Asked why Richardson did not name any names during the live speech, a spokesman with the campaign said, "He was caught up in the great reception from the crowd and simply left them out. The fact that we differ on Iraq was nonetheless clear to the caucus goers in attendance."
-CNN Iowa Producer Chris Welch
Sen. Barack Obama invoked his hometown Chicago Bulls on Saturday night.
(CNN) - Sen. Barack Obama took a page from his hometown playbook Saturday night before his speech at the annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Iowa, coming on stage to the famous starting lineup music used by the Chicago Bulls.
For most sports fans, the music instantly calls to mind Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and the dominant Bulls teams that won six NBA titles in the 1990s.
Obama was even introduced by the voice of Ray Clay, the former Bulls announcer who riled up the crowd at Bulls home games during the team's heyday.
During his playing days, Jordan's intro went like this: "From North Carolina, at guard, six-foot-six ... Michael Jordan!"
In this case, Clay tweaked the intro for Obama: "From our neighboring state of Illinois, a six-foot, two-inch force for change ... senator Barack Obama!"
For the record, the actual intro music is a sample from the song "Sirius," by the Alan Parsons Project.
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From CNN Politics
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