Is Sheehan a Spark or a Flicker?

Adam Nagourney and David D. Kirkpatrick write in the New York Times: " A stream of bad news out of Iraq, echoed at home by polls that show growing impatience with the war and rising disapproval of President Bush's Iraq policies, is stirring political concern in Republican circles, party officials said Wednesday.

"Some said that the perception that the war was faltering was providing a rallying point for dispirited Democrats and could pose problems for Republicans in the Congressional elections next year.

"Republicans said a convergence of events - including the protests inspired by the mother of a slain American soldier outside Mr. Bush's ranch in Texas, the missed deadline to draft an Iraqi Constitution and the spike in casualties among reservists - was creating what they said could be a significant and lasting shift in public attitude against the war. . . .

"Some Republicans suggested that the White House was not handling the issue adroitly, saying its insistence that the war was going well was counterproductive."

Who is Cindy Sheehan?

Eric Noe writes for ABC News: "In the 11 days since she set up camp just down the road from President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, Cindy Sheehan has gone from grieving mother and average American to the face of the country's increasingly boisterous antiwar movement."

The Move

Sheehan is planning to move her roadside operations to a plot of land closer to Bush's estate today.

Here's Dana Bash explaining one of the advantages to Wolf Blitzer: "This land, Wolf, is much, much closer to the president's ranch than where the site is right now. In fact, it is right up against the security checkpoint. It's so close that our camera crews who were there trying to find the land late yesterday actually got a glimpse of the president bike riding. Wolf, that is almost something we never see. It is quite rare, so it is very close to the president's ranch. Cindy Sheehan is much happier about that."

White House Stands Its Ground

Nicolle Devenish, White House communications director, spoke with Anderson Cooper on CNN last night about Sheehan: "The president understands that Mrs. Sheehan is grieving for the loss of her son and she has a disagreement about our policies. And I think anyone that is trying to make a point -- and she obviously, in addition to being grieving the loss of her son, is making a point -- she can rest assured that we've heard that side of the argument. And in the consideration about the best way to protect America and keep people safe here at home, we believe that engaging the enemy in places like Iraq and Afghanistan is the best way to do so."

A Political Opposition Awakes?

Peter Baker writes in The Washington Post: "Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) called on the White House yesterday to withdraw all U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of next year and criticized fellow Democrats for being too 'timid' in challenging the Bush administration's war policy.

"Feingold, who is among the Democrats considering a run for president in 2008, became the first senator to propose a specific deadline for pulling all 138,000 U.S. troops out of Iraq. His comments also laid bare the rising tension within his party about how to respond to President Bush on the war. . . .

" 'There's a deepening feeling of dismay in the country about the way things are going in Iraq,' Feingold said. He rejected Bush's assertion that a deadline would make it easier for insurgents to simply hang on. 'I think he's wrong. I think not talking about endgames is playing into our enemies' hand.' "

Incidentally, that assertion by Bush -- that a deadline would serve the insurgents -- is one of several that William E. Odom , head of the National Security Agency during the Reagan administration, challenges in an essay on NiemanWatchdog.org, the other Web site I work for.