UPDATE 1-McCain says al Qaeda might try to tip US election

(Adds McCain comments)

By Steve Holland

SPRINGFIELD, Pa., March 14 (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Friday he fears that al Qaeda or another extremist group might attempt spectacular attacks in Iraq to try to tilt the U.S. election against him.

McCain, at a town hall meeting in this Philadelphia suburb, was asked if he had concerns that anti-American militants in Iraq might ratchet up their activities in Iraq to try to increase casualties in September or October and tip the November election against him.

"Yes, I worry about it," McCain said. "And I know they pay attention because of the intercepts we have of their communications ... The hardest thing in warfare is to counter someone or a group of individuals who are willing to take their own lives in order to take others."

He said U.S. opponents in Iraq are capable of orchestrating strong attacks.

"We still have the most lethal explosive devices coming across the border from Iran into Iraq. We still have suicide bombers landing at the airport in Damascus and coming into Iraq as we speak. So I would not be surprised if they make an attempt. I believe we can counter most of it as we are countering them," he said.

At his campaign event and subsequent news conference, McCain also criticized U.S. Senate colleagues, and Republicans in particular, for not joining him and 28 other senators in a one-year moratorium on controversial spending projects, known as earmarks that benefit specific cities or towns and that McCain considers wasteful.

The Arizona senator lashed members of both parties, saying Americans want to eliminate wasteful spending, and "it shows the last place in America where they don't get it is Washington D.C."