IMPEACH BUSH

Anti-war activists vowed they will have long memories about the deal Democratic leaders struck with the Bush administration this week on Iraq war funding, warning that they will exact retribution from lawmakers in both parties in 2008.

Enraged by what they considered capitulation by Democrats, anti-war leaders vowed to redouble their efforts at defeating the next funding request when it comes up as expected in September. The group MoveOn.org, which previously had been an ally of the Democratic leadership on the war issue, in a statement raised the specter of "in-district advertising and recruitment of primary challengers" as punishment for Democrats who supported the deal.

The group called on its 3 million members to help in a last-ditch effort to defeat the bill -- a campaign virtually no one on Capitol Hill expects to succeed. MoveOn circulated a flier among lawmakers' offices reading "Congress: Have some backbone. Vote No on the supplemental."

Others said they were surprised that politicians they had hoped would be allies did not show more spine in the showdown with President Bush. "Some of us were just stunned that the Democrats would go this far" in compromising with the White House, observed former Rep. Tom Andrews (D-Maine). "We were expecting more of a fight," said Andrews, who now serves as national director of Win Without War, a coalition of groups against the Iraq war. "It's as if the election never happened."

Rep. James P. McGovern (D-Mass.), a prominent opponent of the war, was similarly disappointed with the compromise House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) made with Republicans.

"I wasn't ready to fold," he said. "I'm upset that we're where we are on this."

Anti-war groups had been in daily contact with Democratic leaders over the war funding measure. Some had supported earlier versions of the bill that placed more constraints on the president.

The issue will also echo on the presidential campaign trail, where Senate Democrats such as Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) will be forced to cast votes on the funding measure -- potentially setting themselves up for the same attacks now being rained on House leaders.

Some activists had privately feared that Democratic leaders were losing their resolve to stage a protracted fight with the White House over wartime funding. Pelosi had announced earlier that the House would not leave for the Memorial Day recess without a new funding bill, a signal to some of a looming defeat.

"When they put out that deadline, people realized that we were going to lose," said an aide to an anti-war lawmaker. "Everything after that seemed like posturing."