This Won't Be the Iraq Election

Zakaria, Fareed, Newsweek

Byline: Fareed Zakaria

Petraeus's new strategy is working, though not exactly for the reasons initially advertised.

The Presidential campaign has jostled this way and that, contenders have risen and fallen, but the one fixture in the political firmament has been Iraq. Polls have consistently said Iraq would be the central issue of the 2008 campaign. The candidates have developed elaborately studied and rehearsed positions on the war. But what if the subject moves off center stage? In the new NEWSWEEK Poll, the economy now tops Iraq as the issue that voters say will most influence their choice for president, 22 percent to 19 percent. For two years, Iraq dominated these kinds of surveys. Only a month ago, in a CBS News poll, 28 percent of respondents wanted Iraq to be the campaign's most-discussed issue, while the …

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Publication information: Article title: This Won't Be the Iraq Election. Contributors: Zakaria, Fareed - Author. Magazine title: Newsweek. Volume: 150. Issue: 20 Publication date: November 12, 2007. Page number: 58. © 2009 Newsweek, Inc. All rights reserved. Any reuse, distribution or alteration without express written permission of Newsweek is prohibited. For permission: www.newsweek.com. COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale Group.

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