The gains in registration and early voting reflect not only persistent organizational work but also Iowans' passions about the issues and candidates, with a curious contrast between Kerry and Bush voters. During two days of interviews with voters from both camps in Iowa, I was struck by the degree to which Republicans explained their votes as support for Bush, the man and president. Kerry supporters talked relatively little about the senator's personal appeal. And despite their generally intense loathing of Bush, they were much more likely to talk about administration policies, not Bush's personal qualities, such as the long-standing doubts about his intelligence.

Bush is "a man of integrity," said Walgreens manager Gary Hentzel. "I like his frankness," said Web designer James Schmedding. "He is not fake. What you see is what you get. He talks straight." Accountant Erin Ricciuti thinks Bush is "impressive and sincere." "President Bush is such a better moral person," said Republican co-chairman Ortega, recently demoted -- without complaint -- from his supervisor job in a corporate downsizing after nearly 45 loyal years at an insurance company. "Kerry is supposed to be a practicing Catholic, but he's for abortion and homosexuality, and that's against his religion."

Beyond their personal regard for Bush, his supporters most frequently cited their agreement with his policies on the war on terror, Iraq and tax cuts. Even those who benefited only modestly from Bush's tax cuts embraced the idea that it is good to cut the taxes of the rich the most, with the expectation they will then create new jobs. Despite an occasional mention of fiscal responsibility, Iowa Republicans seem to have abandoned their old hatred of deficits and, like Walgreens' Hentzel, simply have no answer about who ultimately should pay the costs of government. But there were occasional misgivings about Iraq and grumbles that the Bush administration had spent too much money. "I'm one of his bigger fans," corrections retiree Steward said, "but I'm not sure he should have gone to Iraq. And he should have had plans for after the war was done."

Their critique of Kerry often cheerfully embraced the contradictory attack of the Bush campaign. On the one hand, Kerry is consistently a wild-eyed liberal: "Kerry is so off the wall it's ridiculous," Ortega said. "He's far off, off the wall." On the other hand, they say, nobody knows what he stands for, and he changes positions all the time. "I don't know what Kerry is for," Steward said. "I'm not sure he knows."

Also striking was how many of the Republicans in Davenport based their views on clearly mistaken information. Erin Ricciuti, for example, supports Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq because "I believe weapons of mass destruction are still there." Indeed, although Bush's own inspection team reported that it found no WMD or a significant program to create them, 73 percent of Bush supporters, compared with 26 percent of Kerry supporters, believe that Saddam Hussein had weapons or a serious program, according to a recent study by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland.

The perceptions of Bush's supporters in Iowa are at odds with the facts on other issues. For example, oblivious to the divisions even in his own state, Steward said, "Bush has brought the country together for the first time. It's solidified." And Schmedding, despite a rise in unemployment in Iowa that had just been reported, sunnily declared, "I think [Bush] has actually created jobs."

But nobody requires voters of any party to have command of the facts or exhibit logical consistency. Joy Meyers, a teacher's aide who was standing in line for tickets to hear Bush, at first sounded like a subversive plant, perhaps a rare Ralph Nader supporter or at least a Kerry backer. Since we have our own WMD, she argued, it's understandable that other countries would want them as well, so why not get rid of all such weapons? And why not concentrate on finding Osama bin Laden rather than going after Saddam? But she was enthusiastically for Bush. "God has his plan," she explained, presumably referring to Bush's reelection. "He already knows what's going on."

Social issues -- God, guns and gays, plus a heavy emphasis on abortion -- both motivate and divide Bush supporters in Iowa. The balancing act is reflected in the party's local leadership of Scott County, where Davenport is located. Republican co-chairwoman Susan Frazer, who has worked in public relations and whose husband owns an R.V. dealership, represents the traditional small-business base of the party. She was a bit evasive, but seemed moderate on abortion, clearly promoting the "big tent" of diverse views in the party. But co-chairman Ortega, a devout Catholic, views homosexuality as a sin and considers opposition to abortion and gay marriage to be the focal points of Republican politics. He reflects the new religious right in Iowa, with roots in many less affluent middle-class and working-class households.

Just north of Davenport along the Mississippi River, Republicans have made inroads in the heavily Roman Catholic, traditionally industrial city of Dubuque by supporting a strong anti-abortion movement. The city is still strongly Democratic, but most local Democratic officeholders are not pro-choice, and many Democratic voters in the area abandon national pro-choice Democrats, cutting into the margins needed there by candidates like Kerry to counterbalance disproportionately Republican western Iowa. Republican exploitation of the political potential of the anti-abortion movement in Dubuque began in the 1980s, according to local union leader and political operative Francis Giunta, when the city had the dubious distinction of landing on the cover of Time magazine for having -- at 25 percent -- the highest unemployment rate in the country. In a bid for wavering Catholic voters, Kerry recently attended mass in Dubuque with state Rep. Pat Murphy, a Democrat who opposes abortion rights.

I joined former political science student Ben Rogers, a regional organizer for America Coming Together, in a walk around a working-class neighborhood of Davenport, a mix of rundown or abandoned homes and others that were carefully maintained. It looked like a place where complaints about job losses, cost and availability of health insurance or prescription medicine, retirement insecurities and other bedrock Democratic issues would be paramount. While residents often mentioned those issues, their strong opposition to Bush was most often expressed as criticism of the war in Iraq.

"I don't believe George Bush is doing what he said he would do," said Rebecca Brodersen, a waitress with two children. "We shouldn't focus so much on Iraq -- being over there rebuilding -- and not on our own economy and education." Leroy Hull, a retired factory worker and avid woodworker, was opposed to the war from the beginning. "Saddam wasn't causing any trouble," he said. "Bush had that [invasion] in his head even before he was president."

Democrats are convinced that Kerry will ultimately win Iowa because voters are upset by a weak economy. In addition, Kerry has campaigned on Iowa-specific issues, such as support for biological fuels and a crackdown on methamphetamine production. In September Iowa still had 22,000 fewer jobs than at the start of the recession in March 2001 -- not as large a percentage loss as in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio, but worse than in many other neighboring states. Over the past four years 70,000 Iowans became uninsured, and the average family health insurance premium increased by 40 percent. Voters are "being driven by economic issues -- plant closings, offshoring, shifts to Mexico," said Gov. Vilsack. "They realize their economic future is on the line."

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