WP,pg1: War Now Works Against GOP: Iraq a Hindrance in Campaigns

[DeepModem Mom]

War Now Works Against GOP
Iraq Often Seen as Hindrance in Campaigns
By Peter Slevin and Michael Powell
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, October 26, 2006; Page A01


Democrat Patrick Murphy, center, has made the Iraq war a major issue in his challenge of Rep. Michael G. Fitzgerald in Pennsylvania's 8th District. A veteran of the Iraq war, Murphy calls for all U.S. troops to be withdrawn within 12 months. "We can change what we're doing in Iraq," he said. (By Chip Somodevilla-Getty Images)

....Just three months ago, Republican strategists believed that doubts about Iraq could be contained -- or even turned into an electoral advantage -- if the battle was framed as a vital front in the war against terrorism. Voters would be invited to choose: Stand firm or capitulate.

But the issue is not playing out that way. In both parties, a consensus now exists -- buttressed by polls -- that disaffection with a war grown costly and difficult to manage is the gravest threat to continued Republican rule.

Iraq is not only a potent issue in its own right, but is also a resonant metaphor for doubts about the competence and accountability of the Republican Party.

In the most competitive races, Iraq echoes in varying ways, but almost always for Republicans it is a problem to be navigated and for Democrats a stick to be brandished. In Ohio, it helped put incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine (R) on the defensive. In House races in Pennsylvania and Illinois, it gave three Democratic war veterans and novice politicians an opening....

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In Connecticut and Ohio, in Pennsylvania and New Mexico, critical swaths of voters tell pollsters they are using the war as a lens to assess -- and in many cases punish -- the party in control of the White House and both houses of Congress. This appears particularly true of independents, who are considered most likely to determine whether the House and Senate change hands....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/25/AR2006102502000.html