McCain did not predict how long U.S. troops would need to stay in Iraq, saying only that he hopes to withdraw them at the earliest opportunity and that security needs "will require that we keep a sufficient level of American forces in Iraq until security conditions" improve.
With Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker to appear before Congress, the three senators vying to become president will have an opportunity to ask questions -- McCain and Clinton on the Armed Services Committee in the morning, Obama on the Foreign Relations Committee in the afternoon.
McCain's remarks on Iraq came on the same day that, according to the Associated Press, two of the Arizona senator's campaign officials confirmed that he raised more than $15 million for his White House bid in March. Although that marked a big pickup for a campaign once starved for cash, it fell short of the $20 million raised by Clinton and the more than $40 million taken in by Obama last month.
On another front, State Department officials tried to tamp down speculation that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was courting conservatives as a potential running mate for McCain.
"I don't know how many ways she can say no," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. "She has got to finish up her work as secretary of State and then head back out West . . . to go to Stanford. Remember, she is still a tenured professor at Stanford and only on leave from Stanford. She fully intends to go back."
The Clinton campaign, meanwhile, was regrouping after Sunday's staff shake-up that led to pollster Mark Penn's ouster as the New York senator's chief strategist.
It also unveiled a $300-million-a-year proposal to increase government funding for breast cancer research. On "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," Clinton said she thought the government also should fund research on racial disparities in diagnosis and treatment of the disease, which she hoped would be effectively cured within 10 years.
Separately, Clinton called on President Bush not to attend the Olympic Games opening ceremonies in Beijing this summer.
"The violent clashes in Tibet and the failure of the Chinese government to use its full leverage with Sudan to stop the genocide in Darfur are opportunities for presidential leadership," she said, charging the Bush administration "has been wrong to downplay human rights in its policy towards China."
Bush has said he plans to attend the Beijing Olympics because it is a sporting event, not a political event.
The White House said that the president's decision did not diminish the administration's oft-stated concerns about China's human rights record. "We have never been afraid to express those views," said spokesman Tony Fratto.
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johanna.neuman@latimes.com
