Iraq Casts Shadow on Ohio, Texas Votes
By LIZ SIDOTI
Associated Press
March 4, 2008
Page 2 of 3
That result, plus the gulf between the GOP and Democratic positions will combine with an expected debate in Washington this spring over an additional $100 billion for the war to give Iraq a high-profile role in the months to come.
McCain, a prisoner of war during Vietnam, has signaled Iraq will be a major part of his campaign while Obama and Clinton appeal to public sentiment that long ago soured on the mission.
In an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll in December, nearly half of all respondents said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports immediate withdrawal of troops, while just over a third said they would be less likely to do so. Only 15 percent said a candidate's war position would make no difference.
Backing for the war divides sharply along partisan lines.
A staggering 92 percent of Democrats in that poll said they opposed the war while 65 percent of Republicans favored it. Another result could bode ill for McCain: 77 percent of independents also said they oppose the war. That swing voting group is critical in the general election.
The change in public sentiment about the war over the last five years is evident in McConnelsville, Ohio.
As the war began in March 2003, this sleepy Appalachian town bid farewell to what was then the largest single deployment of Ohio Army National Guard troops in a single unit, some 433. Several thousand people jammed a send-off ceremony and crowds lined the streets as buses packed with soldiers rolled through town. Crisp new flags and bright yellow ribbons hung from nearly every tree and lamppost.
Iraq dominated chatter at the Blue Bell 50's Diner and people stood proudly behind the troops even as they questioned the need for the invasion.
Now, the town has mourned the loss of one of its own, killed when a roadside bomb exploded near his tank 36 hours before he was to come home. Fewer ribbons dot the main drag; those that remain have faded. Anti-war candidate Ron Paul's campaign signs hang from storefronts and in some yards.
In the diner, people are no less supportive of the troops. Only now, they question how to get out without making the past five years for naught. With Ohio's presidential primary looming, the talk among the Saturday midmorning crowd inevitably turned to the election and war politics.
''We should stay there for 100 years or more like McCain said and get all the terrorists out,'' said George Kenney, 67, a registered Democrat who plans to vote for the Republican largely because of the war. As for the Democrats, he said: ''I don't think they'll have the guts to pull out.''
Over a platter of sausage, gravy and biscuits, David Allen, 64, a registered Republican, said he's undecided on who to support but Iraq will be part of the equation. ''Everyone knows we'd like to have everyone back,'' Allen said. ''But we're there and it would be a travesty for everyone who has lost their lives to just pull out.''
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