NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. - John McCain, battered by criticism from Mitt Romney that he is unfit to handle the economy, yesterday sought to shift the focus back to Iraq, accusing Romney of wanting to set a date to withdraw US troops.
Romney, however, vigorously denied ever calling for a withdrawal from Iraq and demanded an apology from McCain.
The fight represented an escalation of an increasingly heated race between the Arizona senator and the former Massachusetts governor leading up to Tuesday's Florida primary, which could anoint one of them the Republican front-runner.
McCain started the scrum, telling reporters after a town hall meeting in North Fort Myers, "If we surrender and wave the white flag like Senator [Hillary] Clinton wants to do, and withdraw as Governor Romney wanted to do, then there will be chaos, genocide, and the cost in American blood and treasure will be dramatically higher."
At the same appearance, McCain said, "Governor Romney wanted to set a date for withdrawal, similar to what the Democrats are seeking which would have led to the victory by Al Qaeda in my view."
Asked about McCain's comments, Romney replied: "I don't know why he's being dishonest. But that's dishonest."
"To say that I have a specific date is simply wrong and is dishonest and he should apologize," he told reporters after meeting with a family in Land O'Lakes. "That is not the case. I have never said that."
Hours later, McCain refused to apologize. "I think the apology is owed to the young men and women now serving this country in uniform," McCain said to cheers from supporters in Sun City.
All week, McCain has argued that his Navy experience and leadership in Congress would make him a better commander in chief.
But as the markets tumbled and Washington put together an economic stimulus package, Romney appeared to have the upper hand as he countered that a president needs seasoning "in the real economy," to steer the nation from a possible recession and foreclosure crisis.
In trying to shift the debate to the Iraq war, McCain, a decorated Vietnam veteran and former prisoner of war, was apparently seeking to put himself in more comfortable territory.
Romney, a former venture capitalist, was clearly incensed.
"I know he is trying desperately to change the topic from the economy and trying to get back to Iraq but to say something that is not accurate is simply wrong and he knows better," Romney said.
Romney has never called for a public date for withdrawal, but has said that President Bush and Iraqi leaders should establish private timetables and benchmarks to gauge progress on the war and set troop levels.
In an April 2007 interview, Romney explained his support for a private timetable. "You don't publish that to your enemy, or they just simply lie in wait until that time," Romney told ABC News.
"So, of course, you have to work together to create timetables and milestones, but you don't do that with the opposition."
He also frequently tells voters that he agrees with General David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq, that US troops should begin to assume more of an oversight role in Iraq and begin withdrawing by about a brigade a month this year.
But McCain seized on Romney's support for a timetable to accuse him of supporting a date for withdrawal.
"I understand if Governor Romney has changed his mind given the obvious success of the surge," McCain said in a statement issued late yesterday. "But the fact is, like on so many other issues, Governor Romney has hedged, equivocated, ducked, and reversed himself."
