IRAQ dominated a debate of eight US Democratic presidential hopefuls in New Hampshire on Sunday as candidates were questioned about foreign policy, immigration reform, gays in the military, health care and the role of Bill Clinton in the next administration.

US Democratic presidential contenders in Congress will cast a critical vote on the Iraq war this week, when politicians decide on a $120bn (€88bn) bill to keep military operations afloat.

JOHN KERRY, with only pushovers left in the Democratic race, easily won four Southern primaries on Tuesday to bring him within striking distance of the presidential nomination.

FIGHTING against time and his inability to move to the top of polls in Super Tuesday states, John Edwards sharply attacked front-runner John Kerry as a Washington practitioner of politics as usual.

US Senator John Kerry squeezed past John Edwards to win the Wisconsin primary for the Democratic nomination to challenge George W Bush for the White House, leaving former front-runner Howard Dean considering backing one of his rivals.

A confident-sounding Senator John Kerry wrapped up his campaign for today’s pivotal Wisconsin presidential primary by aiming barbs at President George W Bush and ignoring his Democratic opponents.

HIS front-runner status, bolstered by dual Southern victories, John Kerry is looking to Wisconsin to dispatch the dwindling field of Democratic presidential rivals still clinging to hope.

US Senator John Kerry coasted to victory in the Maine caucuses, wrapping up a three-state weekend sweep that pushed the Democratic front-runner closer to the party nomination than any of his vanquished rivals.

JOHN KERRY’S shock victory in the Iowa Caucuses on Monday has thrust him to the front in the Democratic race for the presidency.

Democrats challenged the buoyant picture of the US presented in President George W Bush’s State of the Union address, saying it belied a darker reality of lost jobs, rising deficits and mounting casualties in Iraq.

DEMOCRATIC presidential candidates opened their sprint to the New Hampshire primary yesterday with newly minted front-runner John Kerry pitching his experience and John Edwards laying claim to electricity in a contest thrown wide open by the leadoff Iowa caucuses.

FOUR Democrats were locked in a tight race last night on the eve of Iowa’s presidential caucuses, with John Kerry clinging to a narrow lead, according to a poll released yesterday (Pic: Howard Dean).

President George Bush prodded Congress today to “act now” and give him the go-ahead to confront the threat from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.