Chipping Away at Loyalty in Bush Country

At his rustic three-chair barber shop just off this old gold-mining town’s cozy central square, John Olvera probably stays more connected to what’s on people’s minds than any preacher, bartender or therapist from here to Tuba City.

And when it comes to taking sides in presidential politics, Olvera is not afraid to tell you: This is George W. Bush country, plain and simple, a place where a gun is a man’s best friend and law and order is the required way of life.

As he evened sideburns last week, the veteran barber heard all about the goings-on in Washington -- how the 9/11 commission asserted that President Bush ignored several credible terrorist threats before the Sept. 11 attacks.

Worse, he read in the papers about how the White House’s former counterterrorism chief, Richard Clarke, has published a book suggesting that Bush used the tragedy as an excuse to invade Iraq.

All across America, other voters heard the same news. In this election year, Olvera was asked, could the allegations damage Bush’s credibility as a president firmly in control of the domestic war on terrorism? Was the tough-talking Bush administration asleep at the wheel of national security?

No way, he says. In fact, Olvera thinks this Republican town has heard about all the criticism of his president it can stand.

Many locals place the blame for 9/11 squarely on the shoulders of former President Clinton, who they say had eight years in the White House to protect America from attack. And they dismiss Clarke as just another author trying to create controversy to pump up sales of his new book.

But there are also cracks in the community’s conservative world view. Some Prescott residents are troubled by Clarke’s allegations and are reassessing Bush.

“I think this 9/11 business should damage him,” Republican Pat Forrest, who voted for Bush in 2000, said as she stood in lobby of the 100-year-old Hassayampa Hotel. “I believe in the old adage that where there’s smoke there’s usually fire.”

Olvera dismisses such talk with a wave of his scissors.

“If people believe what they read in newspapers, this stuff might damage the president,” he said, standing beneath the hunting trophies that peer down from the wall above. “But if they go with their gut, they’ll give him another chance.”

If there’s any place in America that might be sympathetic toward the president’s difficulties last week, it’s probably Prescott. This conservative town lies at the heart of a GOP-controlled congressional district in a state long ago staked as Republican turf.

Founded in 1864 as Arizona’s first territorial capital when President Lincoln created the Arizona Territory, Prescott now serves as the seat of Yavapai County. Located atop the windswept high plains 100 miles north of Phoenix, the town of 30,000 residents has fought to preserve its conservative small-town roots -- it’s still 60% registered Republican.

As a teenager, Richard Nixon spent several summers here. Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor have houses near here.

Forty years ago, within sight of nearby Thumb Butte, Arizona native son and U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater came to Prescott’s town square to announce his campaign for the presidency against Lyndon B. Johnson, extolling on the evils of communism and liberals as well.

Perhaps in the spirit of its former outlaw past, Prescott has been willing to forgive its civic leaders and look the other way when they get into trouble. When the mayor was arrested for drunk driving, there was no move to throw him out of office. And when a local hospital director was charged with soliciting a prostitute down in Tucson, he also kept his job.

But the political landscape is changing here, a result of the area’s sprawling growth and an influx of new residents from Phoenix and Southern California who prefer the area’s temperate climate and four seasons. And many of the new arrivals are Democrats, officials say.

While the state voted for Bush over Al Gore in 2000, Arizona is considered a swing state this year. And Yavapai County may also be up for grabs.

Strategists in each of the major political parties have targeted the sprawling 1st Congressional District, which includes Prescott, as one of the relatively few nationwide that could be seriously competitive in November.

The incumbent, freshman Republican Rick Renzi, is expected to face a strong challenge from Paul Babbitt, a longtime county supervisor in the Flagstaff area and the brother of Bruce Babbitt, a former governor and U.S. Interior secretary.

The state elected a Democrat as governor last year and party faithful say they’re ready to help put a Democrat in the White House. But despite the criticism leveled against the president over the 9/11 attacks, loyal Republicans in Prescott aren’t ready to throw in the political towel just yet.

Like others, Daiton Rutkowski, a former mayor who hosts a local daily radio talk show, says liberals are using the 9/11 tragedy as an election-year issue. “Even the suggestion that the president could have prevented 9/11 is pure nonsense,” said Rutkowski who, with his swept-back gray hair, admitted he bore a likeness to actor Nick Nolte.

“People in this country are secure with Bush. By November, all this terrorist talk and who could have done what before 9/11 will be forgotten.”

Over at his family-run funeral home, Butch Hampton challenges any Democrat to have done a better job than Bush. “But in the heat of the election-year battle, there’s a lot of finger-pointing -- that old predictable 20-20 hindsight,” he said. “National security is a lot like putting your finger in the dike to stop the water. No matter how vigilant you are, you can’t stop all the water.”

Glenn Anderson, who owns Pennington Antiques, says there’s enough blame for both Clinton and Bush.

“Politics is all about perception,” he said. “These hearings have had this super-serious feel to them. They remind me of the Watergate business. I don’t think these allegations are a show-stopper but if you just watch TV, there’s this negative perception that the administration is hiding something. And that doesn’t help Bush.”

At the A.J. Head Hotel, just off the lineup of Prescott bars once known as Whiskey Row, desk clerk Jim Lewis says the oldtimers in town will stick with Bush no matter what; it’s the younger people who might bolt for the other party.

Standing beneath century-old bullet holes in the ceiling from the night “some drunken yahoo rode his horse up the main stairs shooting the place up,” Lewis says the whole handling of 9/11 has made him lose his faith in politics. “I thought Bush was doing a lousy job before 9/11,” said the registered Independent. “Now I’m sure of it.”

Across the street, Tom Byrd downed a gin and tonic at a saloon and professed that the nation was being too hard on Bush. “This guy Clarke is all about spoiled grapes, who can believe him?” he said. “I judge the president by what he did after 9/11, and he’s done a bang-up job. Before that day, this was just a different world. Nobody can be held accountable for what we did back then. Because, who knew?”

If anyone knows how the new Prescott presidential politics might be eclipsing the old, it’s Larry Bowser.

On Saturday, the retired salesman wore his usual American-flag vest, tie and 15-gallon hat on the town square in an effort to attract voter registration. From what he’s seen recently, the Bush supporter says, he’s becoming part of a dying breed around here.

“Most people I talk to are critical of the president,” he said. “I think Bush is in for a real battle for reelection, even in a conservative place like Prescott. I’ve had people change from the Republican Party because they don’t like the job he’s doing.

“My stack of conservative voters is getting thin while the Democratic pile is thicker than ever,” Bowser said.