Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said today the $500 billion cost of the Iraq war is a drag on the US economy and attempted to lay some of the blame for it on Republican rival John McCain.
"How much longer are we going to ask our families and our communities to bear the cost of this war?" the Illinois senator asked in a speech.
As Mr Obama tried to translate public opposition to the war into support for his candidacy, a Gallup poll said his Democratic opponent, New York senator Hillary Clinton, has moved into a significant lead over him among Democratic voters.
The March 14th-18th national survey of 1,209 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters gave Ms Clinton a 49 per cent national edge to his 42 per cent in the contest to select the Democratic nominee to face Mr McCain in the November election.
Arizona senator McCain leads both the Democrats in a hypothetical matchup of the general election, according to the Gallup poll and a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
Mr Obama used a large portion of his speech to try to connect McCain to President George W. Bush, accusing McCain of wanting a "permanent occupation in Iraq" while supporting Bush's attempt to make tax cuts permanent.
"No matter what the costs, no matter what the consequences, John McCain seems determined to carry out a third Bush term," Mr Obama said.
McCain communications director Jill Hazelbaker swiftly rejected Mr Obama's statements which she said showed he was wrong on both the economy and US national security. Mr Obama was offering "the tired tax and spend ideas of the past" while promoting a speedy US troop pull-out from Iraq, she said.