Republican presidential front-runner John McCain has retracted a statement declaring he would lose the November election if he did not convince Americans they were winning the war in Iraq.
"I don't mean that I'll, quote, lose," Mr McCain told reporters. "I mean that it's an important issue in the judgment of the American voters."
Republican presidential candidate John McCain speaks at a town hall meeting in Rocky River, Ohio. REUTERS/Aaron Josefczyk
"It's not often I retract a comment," said Mr McCain.
Mr McCain, a staunch supporter of the Iraq war, said earlier in the day he would lose the election if he did not convince the American public the US military was succeeding in Iraq.
Most Americans now say the 2003 invasion of Iraq was a bad idea and disapprove of the way President George W Bush has waged it.
Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both advocate withdrawing US troops if they are elected president.
Mr McCain, a former Navy aviator who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, says that withdrawing from Iraq prematurely would amount to surrender and give Islamic extremists a propaganda victory.
The Arizona senator has criticised how the war was waged under former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was replaced in late 2006. But Mr McCain says the country has made important strides in security and political stability since the United States increased its troop presence last year.
