SAN DIEGO – Republican presidential candidate John McCain condemned overspending and corruption by Republicans in Congress Tuesday night as he raised money for his campaign in the district once represented by imprisoned former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham.

“We came to Washington and gained a majority to change Washington and Washington changed us,” said the Arizona senator, who will officially claim the Republican presidential nomination next week. “We let spending get completely out of control.”

Without mentioning Cunningham by name, McCain alluded to the former Rancho Santa Fe Republican congressman who was driven from office in 2006 by a massive bribery scandal.

“I don't use the word corruption lightly,” he said. “We have former members of Congress residing in prison, and it's because of this practice of earmarks. And it's going to stop.”

Recent national polls show McCain pulling even with or slightly ahead of Democratic nominee-in-waiting Barack Obama, but the most recent Field Poll showed Obama with a 24-point lead in California.

Nonetheless, McCain insisted he will aggressively contest California.

“I'm not taking your money and running. We're going to compete and win in the state of California. There's a lot of the political pundits that say we can't win in California. We can and will. I am a western senator, and I understand these issues. I understand you've stolen Arizona's water,” he said half-jokingly.

McCain made the remarks during a fundraising reception at The Grand Del Mar.

Guests were charged a minimum of $1,000. Those paying at least $10,000 were invited to a private reception and photo session with McCain.

Campaign officials expected the event to attract 1,000 people and raise $1 million.

Outside the hotel grounds, a group of local Democrats held a “How Many Houses?” rally – a reference to McCain's now-famous lapse where he drew a blank when asked how many houses he owns.

“The point is to point out that it's McCain who's out of touch with the realities of living in America,” said rally organizer Kennan Kaeder. “It's McCain who doesn't understand the economy.”

Earlier in the day, McCain assailed Obama's opposition to the war in Iraq in a speech to the American Legion National Convention in Phoenix.

“The next president must bring to office a clear-eyed view of our nation's role in the world as the defender of the oppressed and a force for peace,” said McCain, a former Navy pilot and prisoner of war in Vietnam.

McCain criticized his Democratic rival's reaction to the Russian invasion of Georgia. Obama said, “They can't charge into other countries. Of course, it helps if we are leading by example on that point.”

McCain seized on the comment as a denunciation of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

“If he really thinks that by liberating Iraq from a dangerous tyrant, America somehow set a bad example that invited Russia to invade a small, peaceful and democratic nation, then he should state it outright,” he said. “Because that is a debate I welcome.”

McCain flew into San Diego Tuesday night on a Boeing 737, with the words “Straight Talk Express” on the lower half of the fuselage. The plane landed in an area of Lindbergh Field next to FedEx planes shortly before 5 p.m.

He spent a few minutes greeting students and campaign volunteers assembled on the tarmac before leaving in a Chevrolet Suburban for the fundraiser.

According to his campaign, the group included George Kailas, a high school student; Justine Ross, a student at the University of California at Irvine and a volunteer office manager for the McCain campaign in San Diego; Jason Miller, a volunteer; Mildred Creager, his Coronado office manager, and her husband, Hugh Gunder Creager, a retired Navy pilot who flew reconnaissance missions in Vietnam; Michael Griffith, a student at the University of California at Santa Barbara; and Melinda Phan, a high school student from Newport Beach.

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