Sunday, March 26, 2006
The heartland is slipping away
And the LA Times has the story.
As Liz Larrison cooks up breakfast for customers at her family's diner in a farm town long friendly to the Republican Party, she listens as the regulars sling political opinions as easily as she slings ham steaks.Unlike Our Dear Embattled Leader, Middle America does not want to wait until the next president comes along. It is still early in the cycle but the signs are hopeful.
Increasingly, the talk these days revolves around Iraq, and it is the kind of talk that could spell trouble for the GOP.
"Nobody is against the people fighting the war. I think you'll hear that everywhere," she said. "We're just against it going on and on."
On top of other woes confronting Republicans, the continuing violence in Iraq and President Bush's message last week that the deployment would last several more years has heightened Republicans' concerns about how voters such as Larrison will view the party in the November elections.
In fact, Larrison — who, like many of her customers, considers herself independent but tends to vote for Republicans — says she will vote against her Republican congressman.
Even in the heartland, Democrats suddenly see advantage on an issue that is usually considered a GOP trump card: national security.
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