"Cautiously optimistic" after a trip South, and Imus this morning --

Just back from a trip down South, and I found strong support for Bush only from the die-hard wingers in the family. I met a retired career Navy vet, who brought up the subject of the Iowa caucus, and said he liked Edwards because he reminded him of JFK. I met a woman who expressed the opinion that she thought the first thing Bush had done wrong was the immigration proposal, but to her, this was a biggie. Government services are important to her, as they are to a lot of people who have a hard time making it. Jobs are important, too. Maybe some are realizing the senselessness of supporting W against their own economic interests.

My opinion of Imus is the same as that of most here, but I see him as representative of a lot of people, especially his male listeners. He is bashing Bush for the first time since W became "President," and indicated this morning he would support Kerry. He can, and probably will, change his opinion, but this is a real departure, and it has to do with W's misleading us about Iraq. (Incidentally, Imus has dismissed Clark as a "psycho," but when he asked Colonel Ken Allard about him this morning, Allard said Clark was a friend he's served with, and had high praise for him.)

fairness and balance yesterday and noticed big changes in Chris Matthews (if he is good like this, I won't call him "Tweety" anymore). Many channels I watched showed the protests in Ohio. Headline News was showing it every hour. Hannity was sort of sane with Jon Stewart on. Most of all, my son who is married to a Republican from a very Republican family, is 30 years old and has never voted. His wife always votes. He called this morning and was complaining about everyone being broke due to * ruining our economy. I asked him if he had thought about registering to vote and he said he registered yesterday. Praise the Lord. He will at least cancel out her vote.

Wow. I always thought that Imus respected Kerry even though Kerry was too liberal for him, but this is really good because it means Imus won't work AGAINST Kerry for Bush.

I posted last year this might be the case, and now it's good to hear it's shaking out just as I thought.

at a family reunion, the *only* Bush supporters were the men age 35-50. All the women, and all the men older and younger, were nothing but critical of Bush. This was in a dry county in west texas no less.