Iraq has been one of the hottest issues facing the nation since before the war began in 2003.
But according to George Stephanopoulos, it will cease to be an issue in the upcoming presidential election.
"If the military progress you see in Iraq…continues into the next year and General Petraeus's plan which would bring [it down to] 100,000 troops maybe even a little bit below, around a year from today, if it continues apace you could see a sit where Iraq recedes, continues to recede, as an election issue and the economy comes to the fore," he said.
Since no Democratic candidate has promised immediate or complete withdrawal from Iraq there is not much of a difference between the two parties on the issue. Therefore, according to Stephanopoulos, it will become less important on the campaign trail.
He discussed most of the leading presidential hopefuls. As a former staffer in the Clinton White House, it was to be expected that he spoke the most about the former first lady and her campaign.
"It has been a ruthlessly competent campaign," he said. "The one thing she needs to do is to prove, largely because she is a woman, that she has the strength to be commander in chief really. And that's the one thing she has to communicate over the course of this campaign. And if she does that, she'll win."
He also spoke of former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Senator John McCain and even current New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He admitted he would be surprised if Bloomberg ran. He later refused to pick his favorite for the Republican nomination.
He pointed out that in November of 1991, Bill Clinton placed fifth for the Democratic nomination.
"This is the first wide open presidential race depending on how you count either since 1928 or 1952. There is no sitting vice president, no incumbent president running for the office," he said. "It comes at a time when we know the challenges the country faces - a war on at least two fronts, a global war against Islamic militancy, economic challenges. It is a big election with big stakes. The presidency the next time around is going to be both an incredible challenge and a big opportunity."
Stephanopoulos, ABC's chief Washington correspondent and former Communications Director during President Clinton's administration, is the consummate D.C. insider. He began working for the Dukakis campaign in 1988 and then shifted over to the Clinton campaign. In 1991, he was the first outside paid staff member working to get him into the White House.
After 12 years working as a Washington insider, he decided to switch gears from politics and become a journalist.
"When I left the White House… I didn't know what I wanted to do," he said. "I guess I was 35 and after two years, even though I felt very old when I left the White House…I felt I had to start something new. Challenge myself in a new way. ABC started in 1999 and said, 'Ok you want to learn how to be a reporter and a correspondent, we'll give you the chance.'"
Though Stephanopoulos became a professional journalist after leaving the White House, he had worked on a documentary during his graduate career in Oxford. He spent eight weeks as a foreign correspondent. He was in the Sudan for eight weeks in 1984-1985 covering a famine going on there. While he was there, a coup occurred.
Kraushaar Auditorium was filled to capacity and a little over; people were standing in the back of the hall. Despite the crowd, there were few students in the audience. Most people were from the surrounding area, who found out about the event through ads placed in community newspapers.
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