U.S. Sen. John McCain has been on a campaign of late to declare the troop surge in Iraq a success and that Baghdad has returned to normalcy.

A presidential candidate and chief proponent of the surge, McCain, R-Arizona, even told CNN that an American could walk unarmed through the city in safety.

To illustrate his point, he recently traveled to Baghdad with some colleagues to visit a marketplace.

He said his visit shows the remarkable security progress that been made.

One colleague, Rep. Mike Pence, said their stroll was "unfettered" and no different than a visit to a market in his home state of Indiana. Well, Pence and McCain must have an odd idea of what constitutes normalcy.

Their "unfettered" visit to the market involved the U.S. military blocking off all access to the area.

The visitors wore bullet-proof vests, were surrounded by 100 heavily-armed soldiers and were protected by snipers on roof tops and attack helicopters circling above.

There have been a number of reports that some forms of violence have eased in Baghdad since the troop surge.

But, to compare conditions there to conditions in Indiana or to pretend the visit was a leisurely, normal stroll on a spring day borders on fantasy.

Military officials have taken a more measured approach, saying there are encouraging signs, but it is far too early to once again declare "Mission Accomplished."

Spin zone

McCain and Pence are far from the only ones in Washington applying heavy spin to their stories.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said recently that Congress would attempt to cut off funding for the war if President Bush vetoes a defense funding bill that sets a deadline for withdrawing from Iraq. Just a few months ago, Reid said Congress would never cut off funding.

Money talks Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney seemed to be fading away on the presidential campaign trail until his campaign finance report came out showing he raised more than $20 million.

All of a sudden he is being treated as a contender again, demonstrating once again how loudly money talks in politics.

First choice

These are tough times for high school students trying to get into elite colleges.

Stories abound about students with nearly perfect grades and college boards being rejected for admission by the top schools.

Ivy League schools now accept less than 10 percent of their applicants and small, elite liberals arts colleges like Williams and Amherst are not far behind.

Recent reports state that the reasons behind the raising of the admissions bar include a mini-population boom among students, an increase in the percentage of high school graduates going on to college and a trend toward applying to a greater number of schools.

According to the federal Department of Education, the number of high school students graduating this year will be about 3.2 million, compared with 2.4 million in 1993. The portion of those going to college will be about 60 percent, compared with 50 percent in the 1970s.

JIM HAND covers politics for The Sun Chronicle. His commentaries appear on Saturdays. Contact him at 508-236-0399 or at jhand@thesunchronicle.com.