Before I could get my Permanent Bases Project off the ground, and start visiting candidate town halls, MoveOn.org did its own virtual town hall Tuesday night, and got some questions answered.

Most notably, Sen. Hillary Clinton flatly stated she does not support permanent bases in Iraq:

...we do envision a vastly reduced residual force to remain for some limited period of time to train Iraqi troops ... to provide logistical support for counter-terrorism missions [and] to protect the Kurds if necessary...

...that does not mean we would have a permanent force. I am absolutely clear, we do not plan a permanent occupation or permanent bases.

Sen. Joe Biden made his case as a leader in opposing permanent bases:

I'm against building permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq, and I've led the fight to make sure we don't do that.

Last year, I introduced a law barring permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq. In fact, I introduced it three different times -- because although it passed in the Senate each time, it got kicked out by the House. We finally got it put in the appropriation.

I'm dong the same thing this year. Just two weeks ago, the same provision got through, banning permanent military bases in Iraq by the United States...

...We have to knock down the belief that we're there for oil, and we have to knock down the ability of anyone in this Administration who is misguided enough to believe that our mission actually has anything to do with oil or permanent military bases in Iraq.

Absent that, we'll never be able to get it right.

No one else was asked the question directly, though both Sen. John Edwards and Gov. Bill Richardson now have language on their websites opposing permanent occupation.

The Edwards plan states:

Require a complete withdrawal of combat troops in Iraq in about a year without leaving behind any permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq.

Richardson's language is a little less specific, but taken at face value, is on point:

Once Iraq's leaders understand that our military presence in Iraq is neither permanent nor unconditional [, t]hey are far more likely to take the political steps necessary to deal with their political crisis.

(UPDATE: MyDD notes that Richardson said at yesterday's event: "if I were President today, I would withdraw American troops by the end of this calendar year. I would have no residual force whatsoever.")

Rep. Dennis Kucinich had already stated his desire to "end the occupation [and] close the bases".

We still need to fill in the blanks with Sens. Chris Dodd and Barack Obama.