By: Chris Frates

In dueling Sunday show appearances, John McCain and Barack Obama continued to trade barbs over the war in Iraq and the role of the surge.

Last week, Republicans pounded Obama for failing to acknowledge the surge’s success. NBC’s "Meet the Press" moderator Tom Brokaw asked Obama if Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki would have been able to endorse Obama’s timetable for withdrawal if the surge hadn’t happened.

"We don’t know because in my earlier statements … I said there is no doubt that additional U.S. troops could temporarily quell the violence. But unless we saw an underlying change in the politics of the country, unless Sunni, Shia [and] Kurd made different decisions, then we were going to have a civil war, and we could not stop a civil war simply with more troops," Obama said.

On ABC’s "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos, McCain, who’s long been opposed to an “artificial timetable”, was pressed to explain why he had spoken positively last week about a 16-month timetable for withdrawal from Iraq — a position that Obama has been advocating for over a year.

"Look, I have always said, and I said then, it’s the conditions on the ground. If Sen. Obama had had his way, we’d have been out last March and we’d have been out in defeat and chaos and probably had to come back again because of Iranian influence," McCain said. "The timetable is dictated not by an artificial date but by the conditions on the ground."

McCain also defended his comment that Obama would rather lose a war than a political campaign. "I’m not questioning his patriotism. I’m questioning his actions. I’m questioning his lack — total lack of understanding."

On the housing crisis, McCain said the government should prevent lobbying by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and "eliminate the pay and bonuses that these people raked in."

Obama said investors who enjoyed the success of Fannie and Freddie should "enjoy some downside as well." Assistance to the mortgage giants, he went on, "should be focused on making sure that we’ve got liquidity in the housing market."

On "Fox News Sunday," Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) suggested that she would happily accept an offer to become Obama’s vice presidential running mate.

"I’m honored to be mentioned. Let me just tell you, I’m going to do something that people don’t do around Washington very often. I think you’re not supposed to do this. I think anybody in Washington would be thrilled to be asked to be vice president," she said.

Host Chris Wallace followed up, "So you’d say yes?"

"Well, you know, I’d like to meet somebody who wouldn’t. If they’re saying they wouldn’t, I don’t think that they are being as candid or as up front with the American people as possible."

Wallace also asked Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) if he would accept a vice presidential nod from McCain and Thune gave the standard answer: He wouldn’t rule it out, but it is not something he aspires to.

Asked if either campaign had asked the senators for personal information, presumably for vice presidential vetting, both Thune and McCaskill said that information had not been requested.

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