|
Wisconsin
delegates to the Republican National Convention in New York say
they did not need the city’s tight security or its Sept.
11 memorials to remind them the United States is a potential terrorist
target. The issue was on their minds well before the start of
the convention.
Unlike their
Democratic counterparts, who consider the economy and job loss
the top issues of this election, Dairy State Republicans say terrorism
is the most important problem facing the nation and President
Bush is the candidate most qualified to face it.
 Delegates
who gathered in the lobby of the Millennium Broadway Hotel Sunday
heaped praise upon President Bush for his performance in the war
on terror, undeterred by the quarter of a million protesters holding
the opposite view who were preparing to march up 7th Avenue one
block away.
“He’s
reaching out in all areas,” said 1st District Delegate E.D.
Cooper. “But the war on terror is the number one issue for
all of us.”
Delegates
who talked to the Online NewsHour said that the president’s
actions at home and abroad have made the country more secure.
“People
want to have a safe country and since 9-11 there have been no
major terrorism attacks anywhere in the United States and that
is, I think, comforting,” said Alternate Delegate Brad Courtney
of White Fish Bay.
Dunn County
Republican Party Chairwoman Maripat Krueger said she too feels
safe with the president in the charge.
“9-11
was a pivotal moment for all of us and I feel personally safer
… and I think he’s done a wonderful job fighting the
war on terror,” she said.
New York’s
battened down security posture and the national party’s convention
message likely reinforced the delegates’ idea that the war
on terror trumps all other issues.
Monday night’s
convention program included former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani,
former police commissioner Bernard Kerik, family members of 9/11
victims, and stirring musical and video memorials.
At the delegation’s
hotel, guests had to show room keys to pass by a security phalanx
in the lobby and visitors were asked produce identification and
state their business – an admittedly higher level of security
than most Wisconsinites experience on a daily basis.
Krueger, who
lives in the western sector of the state, said people in small
towns and rural areas of America may underestimate the threat
of terrorism.
“In our
area where people are removed from the larger cities they may
be a little complacent but I believe it can strike anyone of us
at anytime because it is terrorism whether it be a small city
or wherever,” Krueger said. “We’re very close to
the Mall of America so you know we think about that also.”
With their
focus on security issues, the Wisconsin GOP delegates stand in
stark contrast to their fellow citizens on the Democratic side.
 Wisconsin
Democratic delegates who gathered in Boston in late July for their
party’s national convention seemed as singularly focused
on the economy and job’s as their GOP counterparts are on
terrorism.
Retired teacher
and Democratic delegate Bob Jome said in a state where about 28
percent of the labor force is labeled "blue collar",
job worries should be the top issue on voters minds.
"In Wisconsin
we've lost something like 80,000 manufacturing jobs -- Wisconsin
is a heavily industrialized state, a lot of manufacturing,"
Jome said in Boston. "In my own hometown a company closed
up and moved out 800 some good paying jobs."
In a mid August
interview with the New York Times, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle ticked
off a list of the most important issues. The governor did mention
“the war in Iraq” and “peace in the world,”
but those issues were fourth and fifth, respectively, behind jobs,
education, and healthcare.
“It's
jobs, number one,” Doyle said.
When asked
about the economic focus of their Democratic neighbors, most Wisconsin
GOP delegates agreed that, after terrorism, the economy is an
important issue and may be the deciding factor in the minds of
some Dairy State voters.
But Wisconsin
GOP Chairman Richard Graber said he does not accept that the economy
in Wisconsin is a weak spot for the president.
“The
economy in Wisconsin is changing,” Graber said. “The
fact is manufacturing jobs are coming back, unemployment this
past week was under five percent -- people are at work in the
state of Wisconsin, there is no question about it.”
Graber credits
the president tax cuts with what he said is a trend of economic
improvement. He said Sen. Kerry would raise taxes on small businesses,
which would stifle economic recovery, while the president has
promised to continue his tax cuts.
Graber also
said that President Bush’s trade policies were good for the
country, in spite of the charge that free trade agreements have
caused the loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States.
“It’s
a global economy and I think the president has said very consistently
that we need free trade but we need fair trade,” Graber said.
“Is there more work to be done in that area? Absolutely.
But to be isolationist is not the answer.”
Like Graber,
most Wisconsin GOP delegates said the president’s policies
were good for a state that has been suffering economically, but
insisted terrorism is the more important issue and making it a
priority is a strategy that will win votes in Wisconsin.
The delegates
said the president’s performance in the war on terror, while
not as easy to measure with numbers like his economic record,
would carry him and his supporters to victory in Wisconsin.
“I think
the president just needs to continue to emphasize the national
security issues and that he’s gotten us through some of the
toughest times this country has ever faced and in doing that he’s
brought the country together through out adversity and he’s
going to lead us well for another four years,” said Sheboygan
County Republican Chairman Dan MacEwen. “I think if he keeps
on that theme he’s going to get us through.”
--
By Jason Manning, Online NewsHour |
