Election concerns alter Senate debate; Vulnerable Republicans are heeding the call for change of course.(Main)

Byline: ERIC ROSENBERG and JENNIFER A. DLOUHY - Times Union Washington bureau

WASHINGTON - The fierce debate over the war in Iraq has sent shivers through Republican senators facing reelection next year, leading those incumbents most vulnerable to ease away from President Bush's Iraq policies in an effort to shore up voter support at home.

Twenty-one Republican Senators face reelection in 2008. Of those lawmakers, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Norm Coleman of Minnesota are locked in the most competitive races, according to the Cook Political Report, a respected election analysis.

The next most vulnerable are Sens. Ted Stevens of Alaska, John …