US:JOHN McCAIN has stepped up his criticism of Barack Obama's Iraq policy, describing the Democrat's approach as "not logical" in a dispute that could prefigure the general election campaign if the two men win their parties' nominations, writes Denis Stauntonin Cleveland, Ohio
Speaking in Houston yesterday, Mr McCain complained that, instead of embracing a plausible strategy to safeguard US interests in the region, Mr Obama remained focused on mistakes made in Iraq by the Bush administration. "That's history, that's the past," Mr McCain said. "What we should be talking about is what we are going to do now."
The two senators have been exchanging barbs over Iraq since last Tuesday's Democratic debate, when Mr Obama said he would consider reinvading Iraq after a US withdrawal if al-Qaeda appeared to be establishing a base there. Mr McCain mocked Mr Obama's remarks, pointing out that a group called al-Qaeda in Iraq was already established. Mr Obama responded by declaring that al-Qaeda were not in Iraq until the US invaded in 2003, an intervention he had opposed.
Mr McCain said yesterday that his remark last month that US troops might have to stay in Iraq for 100 years had been distorted, insisting that he was referring to a postwar troop presence.
"No American argues against our military presence in Korea or Japan or Germany or Kuwait or other places, or Turkey, because America is not receiving casualties," Mr McCain said.
"I think, generally speaking, we have a more secure world thanks to American presence, particularly in Asia, by the way, as we see the rising influence of China. But the key to it is American casualties, America's most precious asset, and that is American blood."
Campaigning in Austin yesterday, Mr Obama all but ignored Democratic rival Hillary Clinton but targeted Mr McCain for his support of President George Bush's economic policies.
"We are not standing on the brink of recession because of forces beyond our control," Mr Obama said. "This was not an inevitable part of the business cycle. It was a failure of leadership in Washington - a Washington where George Bush hands out billions of tax cuts to the wealthiest few for eight long years, and John McCain promises to make those same tax cuts permanent, embracing the central principle of the Bush economic programme."
The exchange between Mr McCain and Mr Obama came as Mrs Clinton's campaign received a fresh blow with the defection of veteran civil rights campaigner John Lewis. Mr Lewis, a congressman from Georgia, had been one of Mrs Clinton's most prominent black supporters but he announced this week he was switching to Mr Obama.
"Something is happening in America, something some of us did not see coming," Mr Lewis said, adding that Mr Obama was eliciting a political spirit not seen since Robert Kennedy's campaign in the 1960s. "I want to be on the side of the people, on the side of the spirit of history."
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday ended months of speculation about a independent candidacy, writing in the New York Times that he would not run but might endorse one of the candidates.
"I will continue to work to steer the national conversation away from partisanship and toward unity; away from ideology and toward common sense; away from sound bites and toward substance," Mr Bloomberg wrote.
"And while I have always said I am not running for president, the race is too important to sit on the sidelines, and so I have changed my mind in one area. If a candidate takes an independent, nonpartisan approach - and embraces practical solutions that challenge party orthodoxy - I'll join others in helping that candidate win the White House."
The emergence of Mr McCain and Mr Obama as their parties' frontrunners appears to have persuaded Mr Bloomberg that there will be no room in the political centre for an independent.
Veteran consumer rights activist Ralph Nader, who launched an independent presidential campaign this week, yesterday named Matt Gonzalez, a former San Francisco city official, as his running mate.