Kate, I just got off the phone with a

reader in Plano, Texas, a retiree who is awfully angry at Bush. He

identified himself as a lifelong Republican who will refuse on principle to

vote for Bush in ‘04. The man said he’s been steamed at Bush for reckless

spending, and for what he sees as the president being insufficiently

concerned about the loss of tech jobs overseas. The immigration proposal is

the last straw, he said. He told me he can’t take any more of this, and he’s

probably going to sit out the next election, or he may hold his nose and

vote for Dean in hopes that a GOP Congress can thwart all President Dean’s

proposals. Better that, the man said, than a GOP Congress going along with

Bush proposals that are actively bad for the country. The man’s parting

shot: “I really think that if the president believes his base is going to

hang on with this, he is sadly mistaken.”