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(Macon, Georgia) President George W. Bush's
once-solid relationship with Southern women is on the rocks.
"I think history will show him to be the worst
president since Ulysses S. Grant," said Barbara Knight, a self-described
Republican since birth and the mother of three. "He's been an
embarrassment."
In the heart of Dixie, comparisons to Grant, a
symbol of the Union, is the worst sort of insult, especially from a Macon woman
who voted for Bush in 2000 but turned away in 2004.
In recent years, Southern women have been some of
Bush's biggest fans, defying the traditional gender gap in which women have
preferred Democrats to Republicans. Bush secured a second term due in large part
to support from 54 percent of Southern female voters while women nationally
favored Democrat John Kerry, 51-48 percent.
"In 2004, you saw an utter collapse of the
gender gap in the South," said Karen Kaufmann, a professor of government at
the University of Maryland who has studied women's voting patterns. White
Southern women liked Bush because "he spoke their religion and he spoke
their values."
Now, anger over the Iraq war and frustration with
the country's direction have taken a toll on the president's popularity and
stirred dissatisfaction with the Republican-held Congress.
Republicans on the ballot this November have
reason to worry. A recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that three out of
five Southern women surveyed said they planned to vote for a Democrat in the
midterm elections. With control of the Senate and House in the balance, such a
seismic shift could have dire consequences for the GOP.
Democrats need to gain 15 seats in the House and
six in the Senate to seize control.
In a sign of how crucial races in the South will
be to the GOP national strategy, Bush was traveling to Georgia on Thursday to
help former Rep. Max Burns raise money in his bid to unseat Democratic Rep. John
Barrow. The president also will give a speech in Atlanta.
Knight lives in another congressional district
considered competitive. Republicans hope to oust Democratic Rep. Jim Marshall,
whose district was redrawn by the GOP-controlled Georgia Legislature to make it
more conservative.
Voters like Knight could prove to be spoilers.
The 66-year-old real estate agent doesn't particularly like Marshall, a hawkish
Democrat and former Army Ranger, but she said she'll vote for him because she
likes his conservative Republican opponent, former Rep. Mac Collins, even less.
"I'm going to go for the moderate, and these
days that tends to be Democrats," Knight said.
Sandy Rubin, a high school teacher in Macon,
voted for Bush and said she's also likely to vote for Marshall. Rubin said the
GOP's focus on issues that appeal to social conservatives, such as gay marriage
and abortion, have turned her off.
"I care about job security and education.
The things I hear the Republicans emphasizing in their campaigns are not things
that affect me or my family," said the 39-year-old mother of two.
The movement of some Southern women away from the
Republican Party tracks with national poll results showing that women have
become more disillusioned with the war and were more likely than men to list the
conflict as the important issue facing the country.
Nationally, the AP-Ipsos poll found that only 28
percent of women approve of Bush's handling of the war. Bush did better in the
South, but only slightly - just 32 percent of women in the region said they
approve of his handling of the war.
"I never did understand why we went into
Iraq and didn't instead clean up the mess in Afghanistan first," Knight
said.
Teresa Cranford, 39, also of Macon, said her
support for Bush was lukewarm in 2004, but she ultimately voted for him so he
could finish the job in Iraq. As the death toll has risen, so has her
discomfort.
"I'm a mother and that makes me think
differently about it," Cranford said.
Lynn Hamilton, 44, said she still supports Bush
even though her backing for the ongoing war has waned.
"As a mother you worry, 'Am I going to lose
my baby boy?"' said the Gray, Ga., resident. "A mother's view about
war is often going to be a lot different than dad's is."
Neither Cranford nor Hamilton has decided how
they plan to vote in the midterm elections, although neither ruled out voting
for a Democrat.
"I'm not a straight party-line Republican
anymore," Cranford said.
Still, some Southern women remain stalwart
supporters of the president and the Republican Party. At a watermelon festival
in Chickamauga, in the mountains of northwest Georgia, substitute teacher
Clydeen Tomanio said she remains committed to the party she's called home for 43
years.
"There are some people, and I'm one of them,
that believe George Bush was placed where he is by the Lord," Tomanio said.
"I don't care how he governs, I will support him. I'm a Republican through
and through."
©365Gay.com 2006
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