War Now Works Against GOP

GOP candidates are often keeping a distance from Bush, trying to define themselves as "independent." Ed Patru, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said this is not a year to enforce party discipline.

"We encourage and expect every candidate to do the things they need to do to connect with the electorate," Patru said. One common GOP approach is to acknowledge that the war is not going well and to challenge voters to distinguish among the candidates' solutions.

"At least it becomes a wash," Patru said.

The NRCC has spent $8.5 million defending three Republican members of Congress near Philadelphia and $3.3 million on three competitive Connecticut races. Other candidates for the House and Senate are buying their own time on the issue.

In South Florida, a newspaper advertisement for Democrat Ron Klein challenges Rep. E. Clay Shaw Jr. (R) for not doing more on Iraq.

"Clay Shaw refuses to hold the Bush administration accountable when it comes to the war on Iraq," the ad proclaims. "Whether it's a plan to win the peace, bring our troops home or account for a dime of the $300 billion we have spent, Shaw will not stand up to Bush or ask tough questions on Iraq. That's not leadership."

In Tennessee, Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. (D) is running an ad in his Senate campaign against Republican Bob Corker that declares: "I support our troops and I voted for the war, but we shouldn't stay the course, as Mr. Corker wants."

Connecticut is home to what may be the most intently watched war debate, in the race between Lamont and Lieberman. Lamont, a millionaire from Greenwich, won the primary and national attention by pounding almost exclusively on Lieberman's backing of the Bush administration on the war. Yet recent polls show Lamont's candidacy tumbling.

Farrell, stopping in western Connecticut, said in a voice grown raspy by campaigning that the war alone will not carry a candidacy. She believes her quest to defeat Shays has been fueled by a "double shot" of public desire to send a message on Iraq and dethrone the Republican leadership in Congress.

"They are both Democrats -- voters don't have to reject Joe to get a Democratic Senate," she said. "The difference in my district is that it's about the war and control of the majority of the House of Representatives. You need both -- the war and control of Congress -- to work together for voters."

Mark Matthews, a political independent and school custodian, has a newspaper under his arm as he walks into a Fast Stop Food Shop in Norwalk. For him, at least, frustration with the war is enough to steer him to Lamont and Farrell.

"All these young kids, our boys, are dying over there," Matthews said. "For what? It's ridiculous. We've lost focus and I've had enough."