Decline in Support for War Worries GOP

"What I'd like to show is economic, infrastructure and military reports that make it so people say, 'You're right, you guys are on target,' " Kingston says. "I want to be in a position where I can show a three-month, a six-month, a nine-month plan."

Even Gingrey is willing to speculate that, barring setbacks, 60,000 U.S. troops could be home by the end of 2006, with only "a single division or two" remaining by 2008. "The light is there at the end of the tunnel," he says. "People need to see it."

Cedartown is the county seat of Polk County, near the Alabama line. Gingrey calls its residents "real salt of the earth people." They raise cattle, work in factories or in lower-level government jobs, or run small businesses. The area has seen a recent surge in Latino immigrants, many of them hired at local poultry processing plants.

Voters here worry about their sons and daughters, relatives and neighbors serving in Iraq. Their patriotism, as Gingrey puts it, "is not a cliche."

On Thursday, a Cedartown Standard editorial decried inadequate federal funding for treating veterans' post-traumatic stress disorders. There is a drop box for retired American flags downtown, and the ribbon-shaped bumper stickers in the area range from the familiar yellow "Pray for Our Troops" to the camouflage-shaded "Git-R-Done."

The war debate in Cedartown breaks down along similar lines as the war debate in Washington. Some want to get out immediately; others are willing to stay indefinitely. But there is broad dissatisfaction with what is perceived as a lack of clarity about the U.S. mission in Iraq.

At Moore's Soda Fountain downtown, owner Gail Dyer and her daughter Felicia Neal are furious that the war's cost -- an estimated $6 billion a month -- is draining resources that they would prefer to be used on domestic priorities. The two are worried about the potentially huge heating costs this winter. Dyer just spent $400 to fill up her propane tank, nearly double what she paid last year.

"And we're spending all that money in Iraq?" Neal asks. "We've got a lot of problems that need to be corrected right here."

Lynn Holbrooks stood with her husband and young daughter along the parade route and complained that war critics may be "hurting troop morale" and inciting the enemy. "What if we did withdraw? Then we'd have all those car bombings over here," she said.

A block away, Elisa Prewett spoke proudly about her brother, Freddy Arencibia, a Marine sniper now on his second tour in Iraq. "Of course, I want him home," she said. "But I'm in favor of what he's doing and what he's standing for. We need to get the job done."

Her husband, Randy Prewett, agreed, but he conceded: "You want to know there's an end in sight." He said most of his friends and colleagues -- all Republicans -- "are more restless now." He noted that, "in their minds, there's no justification" because the weapons of mass destruction that the Bush administration had warned Iraq was hiding were never found.