Bringing the front line home to voters

Democratic Congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth (R) stands with former U.S. president Bill Clinton. Picture / Reuters

ILLINOIS - It was a little after 7am and barely above freezing in the McDonald's car park but Sam Reyes needed no warm-up when asked his opinion about the war in Iraq.

"I don't believe in the war," said Reyes, a 63-year-old Marine veteran who said he was twice wounded in Vietnam and received a Purple Heart.

"I gave President Bush Afghanistan but I didn't agree with Iraq. I go to the funerals of the soldiers from around here. I speak to the families ... We vote for these people, Republicans and Democrats, but they are not doing their jobs. President Bush is not doing his job."

Like many in the flat and sprawling "Anywhere USA" Chicago suburbs that make up Illinois's 6th Congressional District, Reyes has been quietly impressed by Tammy Duckworth, a former member of the National Guard who lost both legs in Iraq and is now battling to make the transformation from soldier to politician.

And in a district that has been solidly Republican for more than 30 years, Duckworth could be poised to achieve a remarkable victory for the Democrats: polls currently tie her with her Republican rival in a race that has become a microcosm of a debate taking place across America.

The news from Iraq is of nothing but carnage. The United States death toll stands at about 2800 while Iraqi casualties may be as high as 655,000.

Every day, Americans are confronted by more evidence of the chaos and - for the first time in a generation - a war involving the US has taken centre stage in the national political debate. Concern has grown to the point that Iraq has become one of the key issues in these mid-terms that will determine who controls the House and the Senate.

Duckworth, 38, injured when the helicopter she was piloting was shot down by insurgents in 2004, has been a strident critic of George W. Bush's handling of the war, accusing him of failing to properly plan and of seeking to link it to a broader "war on terror".

In a recent radio debate with her rival Peter Roskam, a smooth and seasoned state legislator, she accused the Government of being unaccountable. She said the Secretary of Defence should be required to report every two months on what progress was being made in training Iraqi forces and how US money was being spent.

When Roskam tried to counter, Duckworth said: "I know a little something about Iraq - I've been there."

For 32 years, the district for which Duckworth is fighting - largely white, a mixture of middle and working class - was held by the Republican Henry Hyde. The demographic is changing as more Hispanics move into the district, which is home to Chicago's O'Hare airport - the world's second busiest.

One of those incessant flights soared overhead one recent evening as Rose Kelly sat on her stoop and explained why she will vote for Duckworth. The "Duckworth for Congress" sign on her lawn had been put there by her husband, she explained, but since reading the campaign material, Kelly - that rarest of things in the US, an independent, floating voter - had also decided to support her.

Asked for her voting priorities, she said: "Keeping my children safe, and knowing [Duckworth] was on the front lines and will be handicapped for the rest of her life, I know she will fight not just for me and my family but for others in this district."

For one neighbour, Diane Berman, Duckworth's experiences in Iraq are even more of a factor.

A long-time opponent of the war, Berman said she was impressed that Duckworth "did not sound like a politician" and that when she talked about Iraq "she has experience".

Some observers are surprised Duckworth has not made more of the Iraq issue.

Brian Gaines, a professor of political science at the University of Illinois, said: " I think [it was decided] they can emphasise her own personal story without making Iraq a priority issue."

- INDEPENDENT

Who: 38-year-old Democratic Congressional candidate in Illinois, former member of the National Guard and Iraq war veteran.

When: Was co-piloting a Black Hawk helicopter north of Baghdad on November 12, 2004, when a rocket-propelled grenade struck the cockpit and exploded. Ten days later, when she woke up in a Maryland hospital, she learned that the explosion would cost her both legs and had shattered her right arm.

Why: She is drawing support from voters unhappy with progress over the war. She has US$206,000 ($312,000) for the campaign's home run, while her opponent Republican Peter Roskam has US$1.5 million, campaign finance reports show. The two are vying for the suburban Chicago seat in the House of Representatives occupied by retiring Republican Henry Hyde.

- REUTERS