WASHINGTON — Rep. John Sweeney of New York, who only four months ago said America needed to “stay the course and finish this mission” in Iraq, now says that approach “is not a strategy at all; it doesn’t work.”

Mr. Sweeney is one of a growing number of Republicans distancing themselves from President Bush on Iraq. They include Reps. Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania, Nancy Johnson of Connecticut, and Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania; and Senators Graham of South Carolina, Allen of Virginia, and Hutchison of Texas.

The result is that, less than two weeks before the November 7 elections, Republicans are being forced to alter their plans to paint Democrats as wavering and indecisive on Iraq.

“Events on the ground have totally undermined” that strategy, Rand Beers, a former White House adviser on terrorism who now consults with Democratic candidates, said. “They bet on events that turned out not to follow their preferred course.”

Mr. Bush acknowledged the discontent Wednesday, saying that he knew many Americans “aren’t satisfied” with the course of the war and that he isn’t satisfied either. Earlier this week, White House spokesman Tony Snow said the administration had decided to no longer use the phrase “stay the course” to describe its Iraq strategy.

Mr. Sweeney, a four-term incumbent who won re-election easily in the past, is in a contest this year with Democratic challenger Kirsten Gillibrand, 39. She has aired TV ads that attack Mr. Sweeney’s war stance. “Chaos and civil war in Iraq,” the ad narration says. “Congressman Sweeney’s solution: Stay the course.”

The spot refers to Mr. Sweeney’s statement in June hailing the killing of Al Qaeda’s leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, as “a critical example of why we must stay the course and finish this mission.” His comment that “staying the course is not a strategy at all” came last week in a speech in Glens Falls, N.Y. Mr. Sweeney, 51, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Ms. Johnson, another endangered Republican, said this month that the Iraqi government needs to take over more security duties. “We can’t set up a hard timetable” for withdrawal, “but we can ramp up the pressure on the Iraqis to take responsibility,” Ms. Johnson, 71, told the Danbury News-Times on October 18.

In Pennsylvania, Mr. Weldon, 59, is facing a strong challenge from Democrat Joe Sestak, 54, a retired Navy vice admiral. Mr. Weldon, who serves on the Armed Services Committee, called October 6 for a “plan for withdrawal” set by generals rather than White House and Defense Department civilians.

Mr. Graham, 51, an administration critic on issues such as the rights of terrorist suspects, spoke up on Iraq in an interview with the Associated Press this week. “We’re on the verge of chaos, and the current plan is not working,” he said. Graham spokesman Kevin Bishop confirmed the comment and said it reflected the administration’s recent change of tone.

Some of Mr. Bush’s strongest Senate allies are also edging away from him. Ms. Hutchison, who represents Mr. Bush’s home state and isn’t facing a difficult re-election battle this year, said in a campaign debate October 19 that she wouldn’t have voted to go to war had she known that Iraq didn’t possess weapons of mass destruction.

Mr. Allen, who is in a tight re-election campaign against former Navy Secretary James Webb, 60, has also revised his support for Mr. Bush’s war strategy. “Mistakes have been made, and progress has been far too slow,” he told reporters October 20, according to the Washington Post.

Dan Allen, an adviser to the senator, said Mr. Allen, 54, began to offer Virginia voters a “straight-forward” and “realistic” assessment of the situation in Iraq several weeks ago.

In the Tennessee Senate race, Republican candidate Bob Corker said “I think we should stay the course” during a July 16 Republican primary debate. Three months later, he denied espousing such a view. “I have never, ever said, ‘Stay the course,”‘ Mr. Corker, 53, said October 7 in a debate with his Democratic opponent, Rep. Harold Ford Jr., 49.

Mr. Corker “believes we need to fix our strategy,” his spokesman, Todd Womack, said.

Some Republicans are calling on Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld to resign because of his management of the war. In Washington state, Republican candidate Mike McGavick, who is trying to unseat Senator Cantwell, a Democrat, said October 16 that Mr. Rumsfeld’s ouster would set a “new direction in Iraq.”

In Ohio, Senator DeWine, 59, a Republican, said October 24 on CNN that Mr. Rumsfeld “would not be my secretary of defense” if he were president. Mr. DeWine, who is in a tight race for reelection against Rep. Sherrod Brown, 53, a Democrat, said Mr. Rumsfeld has “made huge mistakes” and that “history will judge him very harshly.”

Tom Kean Jr., 38, a Republican Senate candidate in New Jersey, and Rep. Pat Tiberi of Ohio, 44, also said in September that Mr. Rumsfeld should go. “Kean has been incredibly frustrated with the president and with the administration with their refusal to acknowledge significant mistakes,” a spokeswoman for Mr. Kean, Jill Hazelbaker, said. “There are major problems in Iraq, and the current approach is not working.”