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 anti-American extremists 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 al Qaeda or other groups in Iraq might intensify their operations to try to increase casualties in the autumn and influence the November election.

"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 such groups could still mount 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 said Americans wanted to eliminate wasteful spending and "it shows the last place in America where they don't get it is Washington, D.C."