Vice President Dick Cheney accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Tuesday of pursuing a defeatist strategy in Iraq to win votes in the next election - a charge Reid said did not warrant a response.

The two sparred hours after President Bush said he will veto the latest war spending bill taking shape in Congress, which includes a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq.

Cheney, after attending the weekly Republican policy lunch on Capitol Hill, lashed out at Reid. “Some Democratic leaders seem to believe that blind opposition to the new strategy in Iraq is good politics,” Cheney said. “Sen. Reid himself has said that the war in Iraq will bring his party more seats in the next election.

“It is cynical to declare that the war is lost because you believe it gives you political advantage,” Cheney said.

Reid, D-Nev., dismissed Cheney’s remarks later to reporters, but not before getting in his own dig at the vice president.

“I’m not going to get into a name calling match with the administration’s chief attack dog,” Reid said.

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