During a news conference in Des Moines Sunday, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., continued to state his support of the increasingly unpopular Iraq war.

McCain addressed the overnight session the Senate had last week, calling it a publicity stunt on behalf on the Democrats.

“It was a joke, and a waste of the taxpayers’ money,” he said.

McCain said he still does not and will never support a specific withdrawal deadline for the troops.

“If you do, it will guarantee failure and will guarantee the loss of addition brave young American’s lives,” he said.

He continues to look positively on the war and continues to see success militarily in Iraq.

“We should be doing better politically,” he said. “I think there’s great frustration out there and it’s all very understandable because the war was terribly mismanaged for four years.”

McCain said he believes his stand is the correct stand for the future of the country.

Lately, McCain has been plagued with difficulty in fundraising. He brushed off questions about the status of his now scaled-back campaign.

“I will not discuss it any further, as much as you would like me to,” he said. “I’m very happy about the state of our campaign. I will not talk about it any more.”

McCain said he continues to see his campaign moving forward and is confident in winning Iowa and the following states. He said the importance of the first few states was high.

“I’m still convinced that the three early states will determine the nominee of both the Democratic and Republican parties,” he said.

“I am very confident he will perform well in Iowa and locally too,” said Jonathan Turk, executive director of Iowa Students for McCain and chairman of Iowa State Students for McCain.

He said McCain not participating in the Iowa Straw Poll next month will help McCain spend money elsewhere.

“I was a little bit disappointed, but really it is smart strategically,” Turk said.

Turk said not participating would allow McCain’s campaign to put millions of more dollars toward reaching out to the public.

“I feel McCain is doing very well so far. And I am quite excited for the upcoming Republican debate at Iowa State,” Turk said.