Nearly five years after 9/11, security is still what these moms in suburban Virginia think about most.
"I just fear that if there's another catastrophic event that we won't be able to handle it any better than we did on 9/11," says Lorrie Joseph.
"I don't feel any safer," says Liz Bradsher. "I certainly don't feel the world has changed and improved."
Lorrie, Liz and Lisa Adler are "Security Moms," a coveted voting bloc from 2004 that helped define the battle for women voters and the White House.
We first interviewed them two years ago when Liz, the only Republican, argued in favor of President Bush.
"I believe he will send us on our journey to make us safer," she said then.
What does she say now?
"I'm not sure if I trust them the way I used to, and I'm saying that because of the issues of weapons of mass destruction, of the issues that happened in Iraq," she says.
Among suburban voters, what a difference two years makes. In the summer of 2004, according to one recent poll, the president's job approval ratingamong married women with children, those "Security Moms," stood at 52 percent. Now it's fallen 12 points to 40 percent. The concern is that the president's plunging popularity will hurt Republicans this fall.
Lisa Adler is a Democrat.
"Do I know that the Democrats can take us to some place where it's going to be better for us?" she asks. "I don't know that for sure, but certainly the Republicans haven't left us any better off."
Liz supported the war in Iraq two years ago, but now she's lost her patience.
"I don't see the improvement that I wanted to see," she says.
Does it give her pause to think about voting for a Republican again?
"It gives me pause to think about voting for a Democrat, it gives me pause now to think about a Republican, both parties," she says.
It's a year when political advantage on the issue of security is up for grabs.
