Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Senator Richard Durbin predicted that Barack Obama will use a victory in the Iowa caucuses as a ``springboard'' to win the Democratic presidential nomination, while taking issue with his Illinois colleague's criticism of Senator Hillary Clinton's anti-Iran vote.

Durbin, 62, said Obama was wrong to upbraid Clinton for her Sept. 26 vote to label the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization, a nonbinding resolution that Durbin also supported. Obama, who was campaigning in New Hampshire and missed the vote, said the language of the measure could potentially push the U.S. closer to war with Iran.

``It's rare that Barack and I disagree on an issue of this magnitude,'' Durbin, the second-highest ranking Senate Democrat, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television's ``Political Capital with Al Hunt,'' scheduled to air today. ``I have the same concerns that Barack Obama does about this administration and what they might do with the power that they have. But I don't think this resolution gives them a green light to do anything.''

Obama, 46, called the resolution ``reckless'' in an essay published in the New Hampshire Union Leader yesterday, saying it ``could be used by the president as justification to strike Iran under the authority granted to him by the 2002 Iraq war resolution.'' Clinton is ``the only Democratic candidate for president who supports this reckless amendment,'' he wrote.

Obama has repeatedly criticized Clinton for voting to authorize the use of force against Iraq in 2002.

`Pressure'

Clinton, 59, yesterday defended her vote and said a program of ``sanctions and pressure applied to Iran is better than going to war,'' in response to a question in Canterbury, New Hampshire. ``There was nothing in that resolution that gave President Bush or anyone any authority to go to war.''

Obama and Clinton have repeatedly sparred over their foreign policy approaches, especially pertaining to Iran. Clinton criticized Obama as being ``naïve'' and ``irresponsible'' for saying he would meet unconditionally in his first years as president with leaders of adversaries such as Iran and Syria.

Clinton yesterday said she would meet with Iran without preconditions. ``I would engage in negotiations with Iran, with no conditions, because we don't really understand how Iran works,'' she said.

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards today accused Clinton of reversing her positions. ``Senator Clinton needs to be honest with the American people about her plans, but on everything from Iran to Iraq to Social Security it seems she's trying to have it both ways,'' he said in a statement.

Government Meetings

Clinton was referring to meetings between the U.S. and Iranian governments, not personal meetings with the president, according to Howard Wolfson, a top adviser to Clinton. ``She was striking a contrast with President Bush, who has refused to allow the U.S. government to talk to Iran about its nuclear weapons program,'' Wolfson said.

Durbin said Obama is in a ``strong position'' to win the presidential nomination and ``Iowa is gong to be the springboard for that.''

``On the ground, he has the best operation in Iowa by far,'' Durbin said.

While Clinton leads Obama by more than 20 points in national polls, a Sept. 29 Newsweek poll shows him ahead with 28 percent to Clinton's 24 percent among likely Democratic caucus voters in Iowa. Other polls show Clinton slightly ahead in Iowa.

Obama is running ``second to Senator Clinton, who has run a masterful campaign,'' yet he ``brings to the race something we've never seen in presidential politics in almost 40 years,'' Durbin said. ``He not only has more contributors than any other presidential candidate by a factor of two or three, he also has raised as much money as the former first lady and senator from New York.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Julianna Goldman in Washington at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 12, 2007 14:15 EDT