Ex-Governor Cuomo Says Close Democratic Race Could Be `Ruinous'
By Lorraine Woellert
March 14 (Bloomberg) -- Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo said the presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama could be ``ruinous'' for the Democratic Party if the contest isn't resolved before the August nominating convention.
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Candidates should be grilled on their Iraq war positions and how they would improve the economy, said Cuomo, 75.
The Iraq War, for example, is ``illegal,'' and candidates should be questioned on it in depth as a measure of whether they're ready to be commander-in-chief, Cuomo said.
``The law is that the Congress has to declare war. It didn't in Vietnam and it didn't here,'' he said.
``It's relevant because the next president might feel like starting a war against Iran,'' Cuomo said.
The lack of detailed debate on substantive issues has created an opening for rhetoric on ``incendiary'' subjects such as race and gender, Cuomo said.
``When you don't deal with what I'm asking you to deal with, which is the specifics of these hard issues in an intelligent and understandable way,'' Cuomo said, ``you fill the space with this stupidity about race and gender.''
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