Here is another article about Republicans against Bush (from my local paper):
The GOP doubters on Bush
SMITH
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sptimes.com
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By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
Published July 11, 2004
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Even with drawling John Edwards as his running mate, few political strategists see John Kerry as having much chance of winning over people like Kevin Willis. He is a lifelong Republican, after all, and his home state of North Carolina hasn't backed a Democratic presidential candidate since 1976.
Neither has Willis, manager of a waterfront condo near Atlantic Beach where I spent a couple vacation days recently. Republicans, he always felt, were the party for business and middle class workers.
This year, though, he will eagerly vote against Bush despite little enthusiasm for Kerry.
"Our government is selling out the middle class. It's a disgrace," said Willis, whose import-export broker wife recently trained the Indian worker who replaced her and took her job overseas.
Willis has little trouble quickly selling $300,000 condo units to wealthy investors, but his rental income has dropped about 50 percent, because he says average-income families are hurting.
"I haven't talked to one person - except the rich people - who wants to vote for Bush. A lot of people are not going to vote at all, and if the Democrats had a good candidate it would be a landslide," he said. "My father was a Democrat and used to say that when Republicans are in charge even the fishing is bad. You know what? The fishing around here has been terrible."
It may well be a quirk.
Perhaps the people I keep coming across in Florida and other states are political aberrations. That's what the polls consistently suggest: Republicans overwhelmingly support re-electing President Bush.
Then why do I so regularly meet Republicans who enthusiastically voted for Bush in 2000 but now are either disenchanted or downright hostile?
"I am a registered Republican, and I will stay a registered Republican. But when my country, sometimes with my help, puts someone in office and they take our country in the wrong direction - never will consider saying, "I was wrong' - then it's time for my citizenship to come before my party affiliation and say we need to get rid of those people," said Marlow Cook of Sarasota, a former Republican senator from Kentucky.
Cook is disgusted about Iraq and the ballooning federal deficit. In Palm Beach County, Republican real estate agent Jeff Ley mostly cited the war in explaining why he'll vote against Bush.
"I'm former military and I see this Iraq campaign driving us into another Vietnam. It is not in the best interests of our nation," he said.
Random conversations by no means prove a trend.
I certainly talk to many Republicans passionate about Bush, and GOP activists report vast enthusiasm for the re-election effort. But the fact is I have quotes from people like Willis and Cook scattered throughout my notebooks, while I rarely, if ever, come across former Al Gore supporters now backing Bush.
In Florida, Republicans are predicting the biggest voter mobilization effort ever seen for Bush. Maybe. But measuring the intensity of partisan support can be tricky.
Between anecdotes of disaffected Bush voters, dramatic voter registration gains Democrats have made over Republicans in recent months, and the sheer number of paid and volunteer workers working to mobilize anti-Bush voters, it looks clear that Republicans, at least in Florida, have a lot of work to do.
"It concerns me greatly and has for some time because of complacency," said April Schiff, a Republican political consultant in Tampa, who hears occasional GOP disaffection over the president's efforts in Iraq. "The problem with having a Republican incumbent is people getting very comfortable and begin thinking, "I don't really need to turn out.' The Democrats are motivated and on a mission to get rid of Bush."
Former Florida Democratic Party Chairman Charles Whitehead of Panama City, who last year had nothing but glowing things to say about Bush, has sensed a big political shift in the Panhandle.
"Nine months ago, if you were in any part of the Panhandle and you were not totally supportive of everything happening in Iraq, people - even close friends - looked at you like you were not patriotic," said Whitehead. "You do not get that now. People are now asking questions and openly debating why we've done what we've done. . . . If the election were held today, Bush would still win the Panhandle, no question about it. But not by 20 or 30 percent as he would have six months ago."
Bush allies might dismiss such assessments as bogus or driven by partisans. But when 10,000 people wait for hours to cheer Kerry and Edwards in St. Petersburg as they did last week, the folks working to re-elect Bush might to do well to pay attention and consider ramping it up a notch or two.
- Adam C. Smith can be reached at 727 893-8241 or adam@sptimes.com
[Last modified July 11, 2004, 01:00:43] |
