Iraq is problem for Bush campaign

WASHINGTON — President Bush is walking a political tightrope on Iraq.

He stands to benefit if public attention to the violence ebbs, and there are indications voters' focus is drifting, despite last week's fierce fighting in Najaf and turmoil in other cities.

Record oil prices, concerns over jobs, terrorism threat levels and the debate over restructuring U.S. intelligence agencies are vying for people's attention.

Yet by criticizing Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's talk of reducing troop levels in Iraq, as the president did last week on his five-day Western campaign swing, Bush risked drawing even more attention to the bloodshed.

"The mission is not going to be completed if the enemy thinks we will be removing a substantial number of troops in six months," he told one audience. He told another: "I know what I'm doing when it comes to winning this war."

Bush and Kerry are each seeking to portray himself as most capable of protecting the nation at home and abroad and leading the armed forces as commander in chief. Both are likely to emphasize this theme in speeches this week to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Cincinnati.

Generally, Bush's campaign has tried to change the subject away from Iraq to the war on terror and other issues. But the recent surge in fighting there underscored the instability of the situation despite the turnover of authority to an interim Iraqi government in June.

"Iraq is not an issue that's gone away by any means," said Pew Research Center Director Andrew Kohut. But a new Pew poll shows interest has slipped: Five in 10 Americans said they were paying "close attention" to Iraq when the turnover occurred, and it's now four in 10.

He attributes the slight drop to the fact that "the stories from Iraq are not changing. Things are not getting better, but they're not getting worse." For Bush to benefit politically, Kohut said, "things will have to get better."

Bush gets the advantage when the focus is on the war on terror and protecting Americans — and not on Iraq. Every day Bush talks about the war on terror and the threat at home, and his words are emphasized in news reports, it's a day the American public is not paying attention to an increasingly messy war overseas.

Two weeks ago, it was elevated terrorism levels. Last week, Bush captured headlines with the selection of a new CIA director.