Clinton: No licenses for illegal immigrants

After two weeks of contorted statements about New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's proposal to give illegal immigrants driver's licenses, Hillary Clinton today said she supported his decision to abandon the plan and would not back such a measure as president.

"As president, I will not support driver's licenses for undocumented people and will press for comprehensive immigration reform that deals with all of the issues around illegal immigration including border security and fixing our broken system," Clinton said in a statement.

Clinton's attempt at clarity on an issue that has dogged her campaign brought swift retorts from her Democratic primary rivals, who noted the different answers she has given since the issue was first raised in the Democratic debate late last month. The topic seems likely to come up in tomorrow night's debate, too.

"When it takes two weeks and six different positions to answer one question on immigration, it's easier to understand why the Clinton campaign would rather plant their questions than answer them," said Barack Obama spokesman Bill Burton, referring to a controversy over Clinton campaign aides planting a question at a recent question-and-answer session in Iowa.

Chris Dodd spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan called it "flip-flopping cubed." "She was for it before she was against it, before she was for it, before she was against it," Flanagan said.