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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- After facing relentless attacks from the right for supporting a bailout of the nation's financial system, GOP U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett is trying to regain ground from his Republican opponents by focusing on the war in Afghanistan.
Bennett is hoping to win a fourth term in November, but his ability to win the GOP nomination this spring is in doubt with seven challengers attacking him from his right.
Bennett said Monday he would take the unusual step of airing commercials criticizing Alpine attorney Mike Lee, considered one of Bennett's biggest threats, for his position on Afghanistan.
Television commercials are exceedingly rare in Utah at this point in a campaign because candidates are only trying to win the votes of 3,500 delegates, who candidates often speak to directly in their homes or over a meal. Only if any one candidate fails to get 60 percent of delegate votes after several rounds of voting at the May 8 convention would the top two candidates be forced into a June primary where commercials are more common.
Lee is being criticized by Bennett and other GOP challengers because he contends U.S. troops should leave Afghanistan after eliminating specific military targets.
"We can't be overseas subjecting our young men and women to danger if the purpose is simply nation building, if we're there for the purpose of bringing meals on wheels to foreign governments or building self-esteem in foreign governments. That's why we're there," Lee said in a March debate.
Lee contends his comments are being taken out of context and that he doesn't think American troops in Afghanistan are only serving "meals on wheels."
"Every statement that I've ever made on this, including that one, has been made in order to make clear my point that we owe it to those who protect us while serving in harm's way to outline clear military objectives," Lee said.
He said the commercials and criticisms only show that Bennett recognizes he's vulnerable, while Bennett contends Lee's comments show he's naive about foreign policy.
"The idea that all we're doing is providing meals on wheels to foreign governments, that's a quick sound bite, but what in the world does it really mean about our NATO position in Afghanistan? We're not in Afghanistan alone. Al-Qaida has attacked other nations as well, and other nations recognize the importance of standing firm in Afghanistan," Bennett said. "He is trivializing that whole thing by saying it's meals on wheels."
On Friday, former U.S. Sen. Jake Garn and several former members of the military held a news conference at Bennett's behest denouncing Lee's comments. Video from that news conference will be included in Bennett's commercial, he said.
Over the weekend, fellow challengers Tim Bridgewater and Cherilyn Eagar also released statements saying Lee's comments show he lacks a full understanding of the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
