DES MOINES (Iowa), Dec 28: The focus of the cliffhanger US presidential race zeroed in on terrorism on Friday, as White House hopefuls brandished leadership credentials and Pakistan reeled in crisis.

Six days before first party nominating contests, the killing of Benazir Bhutto sent shockwaves along the campaign trail, and raised the possibility that voters could be swayed by a boiling foreign policy crisis.

Republican Senator John McCain, seizing a chance to project a resolute image in his come-from-behind campaign, called for extreme care in US dealings with Pakistan.

“We want to do everything we can, but it has to be practical and it has to be achievable, and it has to be not opening another front in a war that we are overstressed with today,” McCain said on NBC.

The former Vietnam war hero called for looming Pakistani elections to go forward, though said it would be tough for the opposition to coalesce around any candidate other than Bhutto.

“I’ve been involved in every national security issue for the last 20 years.

And it’s the veteran who is the one that wants to get in wars the least.” One of McCain’s top Republican rivals, Mitt Romney, raised doubts over whether President Pervez Musharraf could keep a lid on political unrest after the ex-prime minister’s murder. “I’m not concerned about the quality of his character, but I am concerned about the quality of his judgment in a setting like this,” former Massachusetts governor Romney said.

“There’s a lot at stake here, and I think we’ve got to handle it with great care,” Romney said, and dismissed suggestions foreign policy fears could bolster rivals with more experience on the international stage. An unanswered question was how events in Pakistan would play out on the ice-bound campaign trail in Iowa, which holds caucuses next Thursday, and New Hampshire, which has a primary election on Jan 8.

Former United Nations ambassador Bill Richardson, a Democratic candidate, was expected on Friday to call for a halt to US aid to Pakistan until Musharraf left office and full democracy was restored.

Several candidates and their surrogates suggested the turmoil sparked in Pakistan, a key US anti-terror ally, raised the bar for the qualities required in the next commander-in-chief.

Breakout Republican Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, dismissed suggestions his lack of experience on national security meant he would be unable to handle crises like that sparked by Bhutto’s murder.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate to respond in a political way,” Huckabee told reporters, warning candidates should not play “political games” over the grave situation in Pakistan.

Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama took pains not to be seen exploiting the killing for unseemly political gain, expressing horror and anguish about Bhutto’s death. But their surrogates were not so reticent.

“We live in a dangerous world, and tragedies like this just remind us that we need someone with the seasoning, the experience and the strength to be commander in chief during uncertain times,” Clinton supporter Senator Evan Bayh was quoted as saying Friday in New Hampshire by NBC News.

Clinton has contrasted what she says is her experience on the international stage, and Obama’s single term in the US Senate, saying she would be ready to lead on “Day One.” But Obama strategist David Axelrod told reporters that Al Qaeda had been emboldened by the Iraq war, which Clinton initially supported.

“That’s a serious difference between these candidates and I’m sure that people will take that into consideration,” Time’s website quoted Axelrod as saying.

Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the hero of the Sept 11 attacks, has seen his electoral hopes dim in recent weeks, as national security issues faded from the agenda.

“(Bhutto’s) death is a reminder that terrorism anywhere — whether in New York, London, Tel Aviv or Rawalpindi — is an enemy of freedom,” Giuliani said.—AFP