Fight for US Congress puts veterans in trenches

CHICAGO, Oct 13 (Reuters) A political war of attrition has reduced a band of military veterans to about eight candidates who might help Democrats seize control of the US House of Representatives.

Four weeks before a November seven election that Democrats hope will return them to power in Congress, they're the only ones seen as possible contenders of the 50 ''fighting Dems'' first urged by the party to help storm Capitol Hill.

Rival Republicans, led by a self-declared ''war president,'' have portrayed Democrats as soft on defense and less able to protect the United States, whether in Iraq, Afghanistan or on the home front.

Significantly, many of the veterans were waylaid by the rigors of fund-raising and campaigning, and butted up against the advantages of incumbency, said Rothenberg Political Report editor Nathan Gonzales.

''The war is an issue, but a candidate's stand on the war may be more important than a candidate's direct involvement in the war,'' he said.

Democratic officials do not say they had a formal strategy to recruit candidates with military backgrounds to challenge Republican incumbents and gain the 15 additional seats needed to capture the House.

But the party encouraged and promoted those who came along, many of them political novices facing stiff odds against established incumbents.

Of all the ''fighting Dems,'' Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, who lost both legs in Iraq, appeared to have the best chance. A Reuters-Zogby poll showed her favored to win. Other political analysts called her race a toss-up.

At least nine veterans of the Iraq war were candidates at one time and two of them, Patrick Murphy and Joe Sestak, are in close races to replace Republican congressmen in Pennsylvania.

Republicans too had about 40 veterans seeking office, although only one of them was from the Iraq war.

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