Mark Halperin ’87 (left) moderates the discussion “Campaign 2008: Looking Ahead,” which included Rick Davis (middle), senior campaign adviser for John McCain, and Chris Henick (right), senior campaign adviser for Rudy Giuliani. (right). RICK DAVIS, Seni

The campaign advisers of three Republican presidential nominee hopefuls agreed yesterday at the Institute of Politics that the war in Iraq would be one of the defining issues of the presidential campaign.

The three men—senior campaign advisers for Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Mitt Romney—also discussed some of the issues surrounding their candidates in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum.

“The idea that somehow people can go out and win the Republican nomination by talking about other issues and... not making [the Iraq war] the central theme of this debate is naive,” said Rick Davis, CEO and senior adviser for the McCain campaign.

“You’re either there fighting to win or you get out, and you don’t really try to have it both ways,” he added.

Chris Henick, Giuliani’s senior adviser, agreed that security and leadership were important factors in the race.

“America has got to remain a leader in the world, a force for peace and security,” Henick said. “Who’s going to lead a stronger country in the future?”

While the advisers agreed on Iraq, moderator Mark Halperin ’87, the political director of ABC News, pushed them to discuss other issues.

In particular, Halperin challenged the advisers to explain some of the negative attention their candidates have received in the past.

While Henick remained mum on the recent attacks against Giuliani’s family life. Guiliani’s divorce from Donna Hanover was public and bitter, and his relationship with his son Andrew, a sophomore at Duke, is strained, according to media reports.

Davis said that McCain’s “very consistent voting record” would disprove any accusations of wavering.

Davis added that it was the media that created these characterizations.

“There’s an expectation the media creates,” he said. “They try to define you as their expectation and not as who you are.”

Alex Castellanos, the senior adviser to Romney’s campaign fielded several questions about his candidate’s religion—the former Massachusetts governor is a Mormon.

Castellanos said that he didn’t think Romney’s religion should be an important issue, and that he would advise his candidate to stay true to himself and his values.

None of the three advisers present last night were willing to predict the Democratic presidential candidate.

“I wish them as much attention as possible in figuring that out,” Castellanos said.

Harvard Republican Club President Jeffrey Kwong ’09, who attended last night’s IOP event said he felt energized both by the speakers at the forum and by the “hundreds of students” who were volunteering to get involved in campaign efforts.

“I think what they said alerted us to the fact that there is so much we need to do from now until the primary season,” Kwong said. “This is a great booster going into 2008.”

Another member of the audience, though, said he was disappointed at the lack of substantive policy discussion.

“For now, I guess we’re going to have to live with these fluffy answers,” said Luke M. Messac ’08.

Yesterday’s event was the first in a series. A second forum featuring advisers for the democratic candidates will be held later this month.

—Staff writer Brenda C. Maldonado can be reached at bmaldon@fas.harvard.edu.