Is Sheehan a Spark or a Flicker?

Various Associated Press dispatches also reported:

"Near Philadelphia's Independence Hall, a few hundred people strained to hear the parent of another soldier killed in Iraq. 'This war must stop,' said Al Zappala, 65, whose 30-year-old son, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, died in an explosion in Baghdad in April 2004. . . .

"In Minnesota, about 1,000 war protesters stood on a bridge linking Minneapolis and St. Paul. 'This war has been disgraceful, with trumped-up reasons,' Sue Ann Martinson said. 'There were no weapons of mass destruction and the Iraqis didn't have anything to do with 9-11.'

"Nearly 200 people gathered on the courthouse steps in Hackensack, N.J., with many saying they were angry about the war but were supporting U.S. troops. . . .

"In Cincinnati's Fountain Square, some 200 people sang 'Give Peace A Chance' and lined one side of the square with signs, drawing honks of support from some passing motorists. . . .

"Along with candles and flags, some of the 300 people who gathered at a park in Nashville, Tenn., brought banners of support for Sheehan. One read: 'Thank you for your courage Cindy.' . . .

"Actor Richard Dreyfuss attended a vigil in the Studio City area of Los Angeles with his son and about 500 others."

Dana Milbank of The Washington Post visited the 500 demonstrators outside the White House last night, and concluded: "As Sheehan, mother of an American soldier killed in Iraq, camps out near President Bush's ranch in Texas this month in symbolic protest, foes of the war see the chance to achieve something that has eluded them for two years: galvanizing a mass antiwar movement. Sheehan, they say hopefully, could be their Rosa Parks."

Losing Hearts and Minds?

Bill Straub writes for the Scripps Howard News Service: "Public support for the war in Iraq has eroded substantially over the past few months and doubts are mounting over President Bush's ability to stop the bleeding and recapture the hearts and minds of the American people.

"Immanuel Wallerstein, a senior research scholar at Yale and former president of the International Sociological Association, said the public is still split on the wisdom of the Iraq war but that Bush's effort to rally support is 'basically shot.'

" 'He started with a lot of people for him and a certain number against him,' Wallerstein said. 'But the whole middle has lost faith. They see no light at the end of the tunnel, and they're right - there is no light at the end of the tunnel.'

"The public's dominant mood, he said, seesaws from wanting the United States to send more troops, to wanting to bring them all home, Wallerstein said. But the message is the same in each case - 'we can't go on like this.' "