ALBANY, N.Y. – A former Green Party member who advocates an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq says he will challenge incumbent Hillary Rodham Clinton for the 2006 Democratic nomination for Senate.
"She's in favor of the war and in favor of continuing the occupation," Steven Greenfield, a professional saxophone player, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his New Paltz home.
A senior adviser to Clinton, Howard Wolfson, declined to comment on Greenfield's declaration.
Clinton voted to give President Bush the power to go to war, and while she has been critical of his conduct of the effort she has stopped short of calling for a troop withdrawal.
Greenfield, 44, who has a degree in economics, switched to the Democratic party just last month so he could challenge Clinton. He says he likely will need 15,000 petition signatures statewide to get on next September's ballot.
In 2002, as a Green Party candidate, Greenfield challenged Democratic U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey. Greenfield got fewer than 3,000 votes to Hinchey's more than 113,000.
Among Republicans, Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro is facing several other candidates for the nomination to oppose Clinton.
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