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Iraq Will Make or Break My Campaign: McCain

Says he'll lose if surge fails—then back pedals

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 26, 2008 5:40 AM CST
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(Newser) – John McCain flatly told reporters yesterday that if US policy in Iraq doesn't work, "I'll lose."  But then he quickly asked to "retract" his "stark" pronouncement, adding that he hoped voters would also back him for his ability to run the economy as well as his positions on national security, reports the New York Times.

Still, he conceded, "I don’t think there’s any doubt" that voters' judgment of the Iraq war "will have a direct relation to their judgment of me.” McCain said that most Americans now believe that the surge "is succeeding." However, the poll he was apparently referring to found that only 43% of Americans believe the surge is "making the situation better."

Republican Senator John McCain addresses troops during a ceremony at Camp Victory, Baghdad, Iraq, on Independence Day, July 4, 2007, at which soldiers reenlisted and some were naturalized as United States citizens. The turning point in Republican presidential candidate's rise-and-fall-and-rise-again quest for the White House began that day, when after...
Republican Senator John McCain addresses troops during a ceremony at Camp Victory, Baghdad, Iraq, on Independence Day, July 4, 2007, at which soldiers reenlisted and some were naturalized as United States...   (Associated Press)
** Newly naturalized U.S. Marines raise their hands during a ceremony at Camp Victory, Baghdad, Iraq, July 4, 2007. Sen. John McCain, his presidential campaign unraveling back home, spoke to the troops, and watched in the heat as 588 U.S. troops re-enlisted. The turning point in his rise-and-fall-and-rise-again...
** Newly naturalized U.S. Marines raise their hands during a ceremony at Camp Victory, Baghdad, Iraq, July 4, 2007. Sen. John McCain, his presidential campaign unraveling back home, spoke to the troops,...   (Associated Press)
Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., listens to and embraces an unidentified soldier during a campaign rally in San Diego, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., listens to and embraces an unidentified soldier during a campaign rally in San Diego, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)   (Associated Press)
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, greets Sharon Fitzgerald, right, the mother of Almar Fitzgerald, a soldier killed in Iraq, on Feb. 21, 2006, following a memorial service at White Knoll High School, in Lexington, S.C., Friday, Nov. 2, 2007, for three alumni who have been killed in combat. (AP...
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, greets Sharon Fitzgerald, right, the mother of Almar Fitzgerald, a soldier killed in Iraq, on Feb. 21, 2006, following a memorial service at White Knoll High School, in...   (Associated Press)
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Iraq • Barack Obama • Hillary Clinton • John McCain • military • troop surge • Iraq violence • Iraq war

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