The Charlotte Observer
Saturday, October 7, 2006
www.charlotte.com

DECISION 2006

Voters, like candidates, split on Iraq
For North Carolinians, issue doesn't always break along party lines

JIM MORRILL

North Carolinians are divided over the war in Iraq. So is Lynn McCaskill, who runs the pharmacy in the small Richmond County town of Ellerbe.

"I'm not convinced in my own mind that we need to be there -- these folks have been fighting since the beginning of time," says McCaskill, 63. "(But) we've got to do something to keep the terrorists at bay."

Less than five weeks before November's election, polls show the war is a top issue for voters in North Carolina and across the country, and that a majority of people disapprove of President Bush's handling of it.

Even so, the war doesn't appear to be driving voters to the polls.

Republican Rep. Sue Myrick of Charlotte said Friday that her campaign made 40,000 calls to voters over the previous three nights. The number of people who brought up the war: Four.

"It just doesn't seem to affect people's daily lives," says Ken Goodman, a furniture retailer in Rockingham. "To me, people aren't as upset about it as they should be."

North Carolina has borne its share of the war's burden.

Thousands of Fort Bragg soldiers and Camp Lejeune Marines have fought. More than 10,000 N.C.-based National Guard troops have done tours, many more than one. And since the war began, 62 North Carolinians have died, according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, an independent group that compiles figures from the military.

An Elon University Poll released last week showed North Carolinians split.

Forty-eight percent said the war was worth fighting, while 46 percent said it wasn't. At the same time, however, the poll found 57 percent oppose the president's handling of the war, compared with 38 percent who approve. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

Divided at Fork in Road

The divisions aren't hard to find."My constituents for a long time have been fed up with this war," says U.S. Rep. Mel Watt, a Charlotte Democrat who represents the 12th District, which runs from Charlotte to Greensboro. "By and large, most of them think we shouldn't have gone in the first place."

Republican Rep. Robin Hayes of Concord says his constituents see things differently in the 8th District, which runs from Charlotte to Fayetteville.

"I don't hear that kind of comment," he says. "We want to win. We want to bring our guys home. But we want to win this war on their shores on our terms, not on our shores on their terms."

Myrick says she hears more from constituents who are glad gas prices are coming down than she does about the war.

Polls show Republicans more supportive of the war than Democrats. But sentiments don't always follow party lines.

"I'm an American first," says Bo Frye, a 59-year-old Democratic deputy sheriff in Richmond County. "I would much rather fight them over there than over here."

Republican Bob Johnson, 70, who works at a paper products company in Rockingham, calls it a "foolish war."

Iraq and the war on terrorism

Bush has said Iraq is an important part of the war on terrorism. A CBS/New York Times Poll in August found just over half of Americans disagree. North Carolinians are split.

"I still remember 9-11 and al-Qaida and bin Ladin," says Democrat Ed McNeill, a feed store owner in Hoke County. "Until they're brought to justice, it's justifiable."

But Starr Camper, who teaches political science at Cleveland Community College in Shelby, says her students don't see a link. "For them, it's two separate things," she says. "They don't see the war in Iraq as a war on terrorism."

Republican Ada Fisher, Watt's opponent, says voters seem more concerned about jobs and health care.

Charlottean Diane Frederick, who has organized protests as an activist with MoveOn.org, says anti-war sentiment is growing, but more slowly than she'd like.

"We have this disconnect between people saying if they don't support the way this war is going, they're not supporting the troops," she says. "And I think that holds a lot of people back from being critical."

Camper, the community college professor, says she's heard fewer discussions about the war than she used to.

"We were upset about high gas prices, we just let it go," she says. "We're upset about the war in Iraq and we let it go. That's just the way the American people are. We don't think we can make a change." -- Staff writer Tim Funk contributed

Candidates on the War

1. The president has said U.S. forces will stay in Iraq until its government can stand on its own feet. Should we put a time limit on that commitment?

2. With U.S. forces stretched thin by Iraq and Afghanistan -- and new fronts possible in the war on terror -- how long can the United States rely on an all-volunteer military?

3. A recently released intelligence report said the Iraq war has spawned a new generation of Islamic terrorists and worsened the U.S. position in the war on terror. Do you agree?

8th District

Robin Hayes, R

1. A time limit is hard to come by, and it's advantageous to the enemy. (The balance) between staying too long and leaving prematurely is delicate. We are absolutely committed to getting out of there and enabling them to stand up their own government and secure their own country.

2. Forever. You've got a uniquely capable group of folks. You saw the spirit of 9-11, we have to maintain that ... We are making our way out of Iraq. We have made our way out to a larger extent of Afghanistan.

3. No. Anything terrorists do is designed to recruit and call attention to their cause. After 9-11 we responded, set them back. Iraq is not a distraction. It's a focal point.

Larry Kissell, D

1. We can win with honor in Iraq if we give the Iraqi government the incentive to stand on their own. We staged our way into Iraq in one year and we can stage our way out in a year, but we have to plan it to make it happen. Having a plan is not cutting and running, it is fulfilling our commitment to our troops and showing common sense.

2. We have the best military on the planet. They are professionals and all they require from us is to be treated as professionals and given the tools, equipment, and most importantly, the plan they need to succeed.

3. Remaining in Iraq without a plan after we accomplished our missions is what has spawned the new generation of Islamic terrorists.