McCain attacks Democrats on Iraq

KANSAS City, Mo. — Bashing his Democratic rivals for pushing "a hasty, reckless, and irresponsible withdrawal," Sen. John McCain on Monday took the first shot in the political fight over Gen. David Petraeus' Senate scheduled testimony today on the progress of the Iraq war.

McCain, who has tied his Republican bid for the White House to the U.S. troop buildup in Iraq, told the National Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City, Mo., that goals for Iraq are within reach.

"There is no doubt about the basic reality in Iraq: We are no longer staring into the abyss of defeat," McCain said, "and we can now look ahead to the genuine prospect of success."

Backing out now would trigger massive unrest that would require the U.S. to storm back into the country to restore order, he said, blasting Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton for a "failure of leadership."

Obama quickly returned the volley using some of McCain's own words, calling it "a failure of leadership to support an open-ended occupation of Iraq that has failed to press Iraq's leaders to reconcile."

The U.S. military is badly overstretched and Americans "less safe," he said.

Clinton chided McCain for a "Groundhog Day approach," saying it means "four more years of the Bush-Cheney-McCain policy of continuing to police a civil war."

"We simply cannot give the Iraqi government an endless blank check," she said. "It is time to end this war as quickly, as responsibly, and as safely as possible."

McCain raises $15M in March

Sen. John McCain raised more than $15 million in March for his presidential campaign, a top performance for the likely Republican nominee but still far short of the cash gathered by rival Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The amount was confirmed to The Associated Press by two campaign officials speaking on condition of anonymity because the numbers haven't been made public.

One official said McCain intends to accept public financing in the general election — a sum of about $84 million. McCain donors are being asked to supplement that with donations to the Republican National Committee, with a goal of raising $120 million through a joint Victory Committee.

Obama raised $40 million in March, bringing his total so far to about $234 million. Clinton raised $20 million for a total of more than $175 million.

McCain has raised about $75 million since he began running last year.

Clinton wants Bush to skip ceremonies

WASHINGTON — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is calling on President Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies of this summer's Beijing Olympics over China's clampdown in Tibet and its support of Sudan's leadership.

"President Bush should not plan on attending the opening ceremonies in Beijing, absent major changes by the Chinese government," she said.

Bush has said he would attend because it's an athletic competition, not a political event, and White House spokesman Tony Fratto said that hasn't changed.

Philadelphia suburbs luring new voters

The four suburban counties near Philadelphia, almost always crucial battlegrounds in statewide elections, have been GOP strongholds for decades, with more voters enrolled as Republicans than Democrats.

Because of a surge of new voters, registration in two of those counties, Bucks and Montgomery, has flipped to Democratic.

"No one can recall a time when Democrats were the majority party in Bucks," except for a brief period after Watergate, said Neil Samuels, deputy chairman of the county Democratic committee.

The suburbs have been voting Democratic periodically for more than a decade, but the enrollment figures have not reflected that trend until now.

On Monday, the tally in Bucks showed 185,413 Democrats and 181,941 registered Republicans. Montgomery had 245,209 Democrats and 238,208 Republicans. Chester and Delaware counties remained predominantly Republican.

John Cordisco, chairman of the Bucks County Democratic Party, said Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama ran intense voter-registration drives, with Obama's particularly aggressive.

It is not clear who will benefit most. New registrants tend to be young people, who more often than not support Obama. But the suburbs also have pockets of blue-collar voters and professional women, some of whom favor Clinton.

Also

Cancer research: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Monday she wants to increase funding for breast-cancer research by $300 million if elected president.

Pennsylvania: Democratic Sen. John Kerry, one of Sen. Barack Obama's backers, said Monday he doesn't expect Obama to win Pennsylvania, but he argued that a close loss to rival Hillary Rodham Clinton would be a moral victory.

Seattle Times news services