Edwards consultant Joe Trippi - he of Howard Dean fame - isn't mincing words about the anitwar strategies of two top rivals. Greg Sargent of TPM Cafe interviewed him:

Joe Trippi -- the former Howard Dean Web guru and now top Web adviser to John Edwards -- doesn't think much of the things Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are doing in the Senate to end the war -- he calls those efforts "baloney, and everybody knows it."

Nor does Trippi think much of Hillary's proposal to deauthorize the war. "Like we didn't do that in Vietnam?" he says scathingly. "I mean, come on."

Trippi made the comments in a long interview I did with him yesterday. When I asked him if it was really fair to say that Edwards was more antiwar than his Presidential rivals, Trippi unloaded:

"Not by a long shot. It's not even a close call. I mean, they are sitting around wondering how they're going to find sixteen Republican Senators to override the President's veto. That's baloney and everyone knows it. But that's what they're working to do. You have deauthorization of the war. Like we didn't do that in Vietnam? I mean, come on."

"There's only one candidate who's saying, `Send the President the same bill again and again, he's the one who's not funding the troops," Trippi continued, in a reference to Edwards.

Read the entire interview at the link above. Trippi's disdain hasn't deterred Obama from using his "16 Senators" scheme in Iowa, as Mike Glover of the Associated Press reports:

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama stepped up his pressure on Republican Sen. Charles Grassley on Thursday, arguing voters should urge the Iowa lawmaker to help override President Bush's veto of a bill that would set a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

Obama addressed the issue during the eighth campaign swing through Iowa since he declared his candidacy for president.

"It isn't personal," Obama told about 300 people at a town hall meeting at Simpson College. "I respect him greatly. But I said then and I say now that he needs to hear from you and people across Iowa who understand that it's time to change course."

The full story is at the above link. Issue advocacy groups typically urge supporters to "call Senator X" about their concerns. I can't recall a Senator doing it, especially targeting a single colleague by name.

I have to agree with Trippi on the narrow point that this is baloney. There is no way on earth Obama or Democrats are going to convert enough Republican Senators to override a veto. It's a complete waste of time. Obama is either engaging in a crass political stunt or he just isn't as bright as some claim.