Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama faced off on Wednesday in a possible prelude to a US presidential election battle, tangling over whether Iraq would be prey for al Qaeda if US troops are withdrawn.

Democrat Hillary Clinton, who needs big wins in Texas and Ohio next Tuesday to salvage her struggling candidacy, declared herself optimistic about her chances following her final debate with Obama on Tuesday night in Cleveland.

"What keeps me optimistic is the success I've had thus far and what I think the prospects are for Tuesday. People have just been really rallying to my candidacy," she said.

She received a new blow when US Representative John Lewis, a leader of the American civil rights movement, switched his support from Clinton to Obama for his party's presidential nomination. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared to end long-running speculation he was considering an independent bid for the presidency in an opinion piece in yesterday's New York Times. McCain and Obama looked past Clinton and quarreled anew over the war in Iraq.

The unpopular war is an important fault line in the campaign for the November presidential election, with Democrats advocating a quick US troop withdrawal while McCain insists a pullout would amount to surrender.

Agencies

(China Daily 02/29/2008 page12)