After starting out with radically opposing views, White House hopefuls Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama appear to be moving closer together on Iraq as the election draws nearer. McCain had fiercely rejected any suggestion of a timetable for withdrawing US troops from Iraq, as proposed by the Democratic Party, but this week gave for the first time a date for when he would like most troops home -- 2013. "By January 2013, America has welcomed home most of the servicemen and women who have sacrificed terribly so that America might be secure in her freedom," the Arizona senator said Thursday in a crystal ball speech in Columbus, Ohio. "The Iraq war has been won. Iraq is a functioning democracy, although still suffering from the lingering effects of decades of tyranny and centuries of sectarian tension."