The biggest roadblock to regaining credibility abroad and flexibility at home is the war in Iraq, presidential candidate Joe Biden told voters at a Concord house party and Laconia town hall meeting yesterday. Biden, a six-term senator from Delaware, disputed the idea that he is a single-issue candidate but said Iraq remains the biggest impediment to addressing other issues, including health care, education, energy independence and the economy.

Still, voters pressed Biden for his stance on the separation of church and state, nuclear disarmament, the war in Afghanistan and compulsory civil service, and demanded an explanation for his vote to authorize a war in Iraq.

At Bill and Hansi Glahn's house on Coventry Road, a group of about 30 voters squeezed onto couches and sat on rugs around the fireplace yesterday afternoon, patiently listening as Biden outlined his plan to pull troops out of Iraq by 2008.

His appearance in Laconia three hours later sparked livelier debate, as the senator stood in the middle of a circle of about 150 people who challenged him with questions and comments that tested his experience as a foreign policy maker and his ideas about domestic problems.

Biden said he is a staunch defender of separation of church and state but said he was disappointed that many Democrats today are refusing to acknowledge their own spirituality. Biden said he would not reauthorize Bush administration tax cuts if elected president, and would use the billions spent each year in Iraq on revamping education, fighting crime, fully funding a Violence Against Women Act and tripling investments in alternative energy sources.

"With $85 billion a year, I can reduce the deficit, and I can transform this nation," he said, to rousing applause.

But after more than an hour and a half, the exchange heated up between Biden and two meeting attendees who rejected his stance that the United States government has done more to help foreign nations than to harm them. Biden defended the Congress's efforts to provide billions of dollars in aid to struggling nations, particularly in South America and the Sudan.

"The U.S. government has not aided democracy, they've prevented it," Meredith resident Tim Golden said.

"Well, okay, this is a good time to stop," Biden said, smiling.

For the most part, however, his answers were received with nods, applause and even approval from the more outspoken audience members.

"I didn't agree with his answers, but I was impressed with the strength of his answers and I do feel that I respect him," Golden said after the meeting.

Bob Otis, a self-described conservative Republican, came to the meeting with two liberal friends and said he liked Biden's approach, but thought his plan for withdrawing from Iraq is too vague. He said Biden's demeanor was too aggressive, and his long answers suggest he was hiding behind the questions.

"I may consider voting for him, but he's got to consider lightening up a little bit," Otis said.

The afternoon house party may have provided the lighter atmosphere. Biden patted the Glahns's yellow Labradors, sipped coffee and joked with the intimate group that centered around the oversized easy chair in which he sat (with a voter perched on one arm). The Glahns hosted students from Franklin Pierce Law School, old family friends, co-workers from McLane, Graf, Raulerson and Middleton, where Bill Glahn works, and neighbors from their Coventry Road cul-de-sac. The group was collectively referred to as "man" by the senator more than once.

Voters weren't shy about offering suggestions to the candidate. Molly Wheeler, a New Hampshire native who lives in Connecticut, attended the house party at the Glahns's with her mother, Trudy. Wheeler, who said she supports Dennis Kucinich, asked Biden to consider adopting Kucinich's plan for a Department of Peace.

Single page