Shades of things to come? You better believe it.

In what many consider a preview of a protracted battle to follow over the next eight months, Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama both scored points and notched biting one-liners in a heated exchange over al Qaeda in Iraq Wednesday.

At issue where Obama’s remarks Tuesday night in a debate with Sen. Hillary Clinton. Asked if the president would or could go back into Iraq in order to suppress an insurrection after downsizing the U.S. troop presence.

Barack Obama, unlike Clinton or McCain, has opposed the war from day one and has proposed ending it without delay should he be elected.

“I always reserve the right for the president … to make sure that we are looking out for American interests,” Obama said.

“If al Qaeda is forming a base in Iraq, then we will have to act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad.”

Barack Obama and John McCain gave us a November preview yesterday.

Campaigning in Tyler, Texas, McCain jumped all over him.

“I understand that Sen. Obama said that if al Qaeda established a base in Iraq that he would send troops back in militarily. Al Qaeda already has a base in Iraq. It’s called al Qaeda in Iraq,” John McCain said.

“It’s a remarkable statement to say that you would send troops back to where al Qaeda has established a base - where they have already established a base.”

In Columbus, Ohio, Barack Obama responded to the attacks from McCain, saying his comment was taken out of context and was all a “big hypothetical.”

“I said, ‘Well, I would always reserve the right to go in and strike against al Qaeda if they were in Iraq,’ so you know, this is how politics works,” Obama said.

“McCain thought that he could make a clever point by saying, ‘Well let me give you some news Barack, al Qaeda is in Iraq,’ like I wasn’t reading the papers, like I didn’t know what was going on.”

“I said, ‘Well first of all, I do know that al Qaeda is in Iraq. That’s why I’ve said we should continue to strike al Qaeda targets. But I have some news for John McCain, and that is that there was no such thing as al Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain decided to invade Iraq.”

“John McCain may like to say he wants to follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, but so far all he’s done is follow George Bush into a misguided war in Iraq.”

This exchange highlights what may be the starkest contrast between McCain and Obama should their be a general election between them.

Some analysts have suggested Barack Obama is simply too green, naive and inexperienced to possibly whether such attacks over a long campaign.

One thing is clear, though. John McCain may try to paint Obama as the George McGovern of 2008, but this is a far superior candidate.

Not just because of his ability to inspire and bring the country together, but Obama is a strong and remarkably deft campaigner.

Already, he’s taken several unwarranted attacks and what could have been setbacks and turned them around on McCain in quick and easy fashion.

If this were the matchup, Democrats should be confident.

You tell us: Which candidate won this late February war of words, and who has their act together as far as Iraq war policy?