Why is it that although Sen. John McCain has supported the war in Iraq and the president who began it, his political popularity has not plummeted like that of George W. Bush?

Maybe it’s his integrity as a veteran and former POW, and the respect he commands even among political opponents. Or the fact that with McCain, the allegations of deception that hamper the Bush administration are not present.

Regardless, his opponents are trying to end this public opinion feat by closely linking him to the new Iraq policy that Bush is likely to unveil Wednesday, which many analysts say - and fear - is likely to involve a significant troop surge.

Last Sunday, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards made the most blatant attempt yet to connect McCain with the quagmire in Iraq, denouncing a possible increase and going so far as to dub it the “McCain Doctrine.”

The former North Carolina senator has been openly apologizing for his vote to authorize the Iraq war in 2003, and is not going to let any candidate pull a Howard Dean and beat him to the anti-war punch this time.

Friday, outside the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, the progressive MoveOn.org was calling for a demonstration as McCain was scheduled to detail his latest trip to Iraq and make the case for more personnel on the ground.

The McCain campaign’s official response: “When John McCain votes to take the country to war he thinks it’s important to win that war.”