Iraq Differences Continue to Define US Presidential Race (2/3)

There is much more support for President Bush's war strategy among the Republican presidential contenders.

The most aggressivesupporter of the new troop surge strategy is Arizona Senator John McCain, a fierce critic of Democratic efforts to set a deadline for troop withdrawal.

"We are making progress and we can succeed with this new strategy, to hamstring and to announce that we are leaving is one of the most shameful things I have ever seen."

McCain trails former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the latest opinion polls. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is third among active candidates, though former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson also scores well among Republican voters. Thompson says he is considering joining the race later this year.

Another potentialcontender is Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel. "This idea that somehow you do not support the troops if you do not continue, in a lemming like way, to accept whatever this administration's policy is, that is what is wrong."

Hagel is one of only two Republican Senators to support a Democratic plan to set a troop withdrawal deadline as part of an emergency spending bill for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.