DOVER, N.H. (AP) – Democratic presidential candidate Senator Clinton of New York told New Hampshire voters Saturday that ending the war in Iraq is more important than whether she repudiates her 2002 vote authorizing President Bush to use military force there.

The senator and party front-runner repeatedly has faced calls for her to say her vote was a mistake. Democrats pressed her on it last weekend in New Hampshire and again on Saturday at a town hall meeting in the early voting state.

One of her rivals, former Senator Edwards of North Carolina, has disavowed his vote. Another, Senator Obama of Illinois, has opposed the war from the outset. The Illinois senator was not in Congress at the time of the war vote.

On Saturday, Mrs. Clinton was asked by a University of New Hampshire professor why she refused to apologize for voting to give Bush the authority for the March 2003 invasion.

“I take responsibility for my vote. It was a sincere vote based on the facts and assurances we had at the time. Obviously I would not vote that way again if we knew then what we know now,” she said, her oft-repeated explanation.

She then added in a clear reference to her rivals: “I have to say, if the most important thing to any of you is choosing someone who did not cast that vote or said his vote was a mistake, then there are others to choose from. But for me, the most important thing now is trying to end this war.”

Mrs.Clinton also responded to demands from Mr. Edwards and former Governor Vilsack of Iowa for Congress to cut off money for American troops. The two-term senator argued that such calls fails to acknowledge the legislative reality that Democrats hold a slim majority in the Senate.

“I understand the politics of this. I could very easily stand up here and say, ‘I’m all for cutting off funding,’ knowing we don’t have the votes,” Mrs. Clinton said. “We have to end this war and we can’t do it without Republican votes.”

Mrs.Clinton introduced legislation late Friday that would require the Pentagon to begin pulling American forces out of Iraq three months after the bill becomes law – an unlikely scenario with the number of Republicans in Congress and Bush’s veto power.

“It’s time to say the redeployment should start in 90 days or we will revoke authorization for this war,” Mrs. Clinton said in a statement.

Mrs. Clinton previously said her legislation would cap the number of American troops at around 130,000, cut off money for Iraqi forces unless they show progress in defending themselves and convene an international conference aimed at stabilizing the Middle East.

In explaining her conference idea, Mrs. Clinton took a shot at Mr. Bush, saying, “What we need is a president who will reach out to the rest of the world and make it very clear – the cowboys are gone.”

At the town hall meeting, she also stressed a diplomatic approach. “You don’t refuse to talk to bad people. I think life is filled with uncomfortable situations where you have to deal with people you might not like,” she said, pausing when the audience began to laugh. “I’m sort of an expert on that. I have consistently urged the president to talk to Iran and talk to Syria. I think it’s a sign of strength, not weakness.”

Mrs. Clinton had to cut short her New Hampshire visit for a Senate vote on Iraq. She reminded the crowd that it was in Dover that her husband, the former two-term president, made one of the most famous speeches of his 1992 campaign.

“Some of you might remember that during the 1992 campaign when my husband came to Dover and said, ‘If you’ll stick with me, I’ll stick with you until the last dog dies.’ Well, imagine how I felt when I heard on Thursday afternoon that we were going to have this important vote in the Senate on Saturday,” she said.
“My staff said, ‘Well, you’re going have to cancel New Hampshire.’ I said, ‘Cancel Dover?’ I said, ‘Has the last dog died?’ Of course, the last dog has not died, and I thank you for being here this morning.”
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Associated Press writer Devlin Barrett in Washington contributed to this report.