Focusing on the Great Issues Facing America

Here is an update from Bloomberg on Sen. John McCain's stop in Iraq. Interestingly, in the article, it says McCain told reporters before he left for Iraq that he would "go outside of Baghdad." The update is dated as of 5:01 EDT Sunday:

John McCain arrived in Iraq today for his first trip to the country since clinching the Republican presidential nomination.

McCain's itinerary in Iraq, where he will talk with U.S. and Iraqi officials, isn't being released for security reasons, Noel Clay, a spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, said in a telephone interview. Iraq is the first leg of a trip that will also take him to Amman, Jerusalem, London and Paris.

The Iraq visit enables McCain to highlight his support for the U.S. effort there, a centerpiece of his campaign. The European stops will allow him to be seen on the world stage, further burnishing his foreign policy credentials while Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continue to battle for the Democratic presidential nomination.

``For McCain, the visual of being seen with world leaders, talking about the great issues facing us while Obama and Clinton are pounding each other in Altoona and Wilkes Barre is great,'' said independent analyst Charlie Cook, publisher of the Cook Political Report, referring to two cities in Pennsylvania, which holds a presidential primary on April 22.

The Arizona senator is on his eighth trip to Iraq since the war began five years ago. McCain is being accompanied by South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Connecticut Independent Senator Joe Lieberman, both supporters of the Iraq war and McCain's candidacy.

Senator from Baghdad

``McCain also needs to be seen as more than the senator from Baghdad, with broader reach beyond the Middle East, which has been his focus for the last seven years,'' Cook said.

McCain, 71, is scheduled to meet with U.S. troops, including Army General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, who McCain in a March 14 campaign appearance called ``one of the great generals in American history.'' McCain told reporters before he left that he will ``go outside of Baghdad.'' . . .

McCain is also scheduled to meet with heads of state and other top officials in Amman, Jerusalem, London and Paris in coming days.

Meeting Leaders

In Amman, Jordan, McCain has a meeting set with King Abdullah. In Jerusalem, he will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and several other top officials.

In London, McCain plans to meet with Prime Minister Gordon Brown as well as Stavros Dimas, the European Union's commissioner for the environment, a leading advocate of combating global warming, also a McCain priority. In Paris, McCain is to meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

During his meetings with foreign leaders, McCain said, he ``won't be offering them my vision'' of a new world order. Rather, most of the meetings will simply offer a mutual opportunity to get better-acquainted, he said.

The senator plans to deliver a national security address in Los Angeles on March 26, three days after returning to the U.S.