At labor debate, sparks fly over foreign policy

There's nothing like a stadium full of union activists to get Democratic presidential candidates to claim the labor mantle. As they debated tonight at Soldier Field in Chicago, the candidates fell all over themselves to persuade those on union rolls that they've been with them for years.

John Edwards, who has made numerous appeals to labor during the primary campaign, argued he had been the most committed. That prompted Barack Obama to remind people that he started out as an organizer working with laid-off workers on Chicago's South Side. And then Joe Biden couldn't resist taking a shot at Edwards, accusing Edwards of only taking on labor's cause for the sake of politics. "Where were you those six years you were in the Senate?" he said.

The sharpest exchanges of the debate, though, had little to do with labor, but with foreign policy. The candidates were asked about Obama's remark last week that he would consider a unilateral strike against terrorist targets inside Pakistan. Chris Dodd called the remark "irresponsible," prompting Obama to retort pointedly that what was irresponsible was voting in 2002, as Dodd and Hillary Clinton did, to authorize President Bush to invade Iraq. And then Clinton chimed in to chide Obama, calling his comments a "mistake" that could destabilize Pakistan's government. "You can think big, but remember, you shouldn't always say everything you're thinking if you're running for president," Clinton said.

The most poignant moment of the night: when a man on crutches stood up and tearfully said that after working for years, he couldn't afford to pay for his wife's health care. The whole place stood up and applauded him.

The weirdest dodge: when Obama refused to say whether he would honor Barry Bonds at the White House when he surpasses Hank Aaron as the all-time home run leader.

The most improved player: Dennis Kucinich, who stole some of Edwards's thunder tonight with his passionate appeals to workers, including a call to end the North American Free Trade Agreement, which labor believes has hurt American workers.