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  Miller war support changes:

'Stay the Course' banner left out of campaign events

By KATHERINE HUTT SCOTT
Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON- In a Port Huron parade this summer, GOP Rep. Candice Miller's float featured a sailboat with the slogan "Stay the Course." By summer's end, the float still was appearing in parades, but without the slogan.
The two-term congresswoman from Harrison Township said Monday she abandoned the slogan after her Democratic opponent wrongly interpreted it as campaigning in favor of continuing the Iraq war.
Miller, who in the past strongly has supported the Bush administration's handling of the 3 1/2-year-old conflict, said she had used the slogan for her 30 years in public office because she is a boater - not because of the war. "It took on a different meaning, and I didn't want to be saying that," Miller said Monday.
The Bush administration used "stay the course" to describe its Iraq strategy until this month, when unrelenting violence in Iraq and criticism from Democrats prompted the White House to change its phrasing.
Across the country, Republican members of Congress are backing off from their support of the war as the conflict drags on, casualties increase and polls show voter discontent with the situation in the runup to the Nov. 7 elections.
Democrat Robert Denison said Miller's change is a reaction to about 500 anti-war yard signs his campaign has put up during the past two months that say, "Change the course."
"(Miller) is a clone of Bush," said Denison, a retired United Auto Workers representative from Shelby Township. "(But) she was smart enough to adjust quicker than George Bush."
The Miller campaign spent $690 on a banner for a parade float on Aug. 15, according to a report they filed with the Federal Election commission.
Miller said she would have voted to go to war in Iraq if she had been in Congress in 2003, but she now feels "there are significant problems" with the progress of the conflict.
"It would be optimal to have a democracy in the Middle East," Miller said. "But it's high time for Iraqis to take over."
Miller, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said she doesn't want to immediately withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and doesn't have an opinion on whether there should be a phased withdrawal. She said she is awaiting the recommendation of a panel led by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., on what the United States should do next.
In all, Miller's campaign raised $813,752 and spent $634,664, according to PoliticalMoneyLine, a Washington group that analyzes campaign finance reports filed by members of Congress and their challengers with the Federal Election Commission. Denison, who hasn't filed reports, said he hasn't raised or spent $5,000, which would require him to file.
Miller's major campaign expenditures include:

° $177,230 for radio advertisements.
° At least $20,769 to host two annual May fundraisers at Mac and Ray's Restaurant and Banquet Center in Harrison Township.
° $12,424 for newspaper advertisements.
° $4,982 for at least 60,000 campaign postcards.
° $3,234 for decks of playing cards with "Congresswoman Candice Miller" on each card. The campaign distributes the cards to senior citizens.
° $2,294 for a retreat for Miller's congressional staff at Mac and Ray's in August.

Originally published October 31, 2006