Anti-war activists furious with Sen. Hillary Clinton are vowing to bird-dog her everywhere she goes, starting with a swanky Manhattan fund-raiser tonight.Clinton's letter last week clarifying her position on Iraq - which included rejecting a timetable for withdrawal - fanned the anger of some war opponents, who decided to launch a campaign against New York's junior senator.
"We're calling it Bird-Dog Hillary," said Medea Benjamin of the peace group Codepink.
"I'm so mad at her," said Nancy Kricorian, Codepink's New York City coordinator. "We will dog her wherever she goes."Kricorian's group and several others plan to show up tonight at Crobar in Manhattan, where former President Bill Clinton is the top draw at a fund-raiser for his wife.
The idea is to have protesters tail the senator around the state and the country in hopes of persuading her to oppose the war.
Protesters from the group interrupted a Clinton speech Saturday in Chicago and an unrelated group demonstrated at her appearance Friday at a Democratic fund-raiser in Kentucky.
Codepink is also organizing a bigger rally for Dec. 20, when Clinton heads to San Francisco for a bar association benefit and an interview session with Jane Pauley.
Although she criticized President Bush's handling of the war in her letter, her no-timetable stance particularly peeved the activists.
"Stop waffling, and let's work on bringing the troops home," said Bill Dobbs of United for Peace. Dobbs and Benjamin predicted Clinton or any Democrat would lose a White House bid in 2008 if they run on a pro-war platform.
Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf said Clinton has little to fear from anti-war activists, as long as she looks deliberative. "The right wing and the left wing both want to move her to the left. She can't let them do that," Sheinkopf said.
Clinton's office stood by her letter yesterday.
"In her letter, Senator Clinton laid out a thoughtful explanation to her constituents of her position on Iraq," said spokesman Philippe Reines.
