Show Them The Security

Summer fun for Julee Floyd and her daughters in and around San Marino, Calif., the town they call home, has always meant plenty of playtime.
But since September 11, 2001, there has been a serious side to almost every decision that Floyd makes.

"There are all sorts of issues that you start thinking about," said Floyd, sharing her post 9-11 concerns with CBS News correspondent Sandra Hughes. "'What if I was on that plane? What if I was in that building? What if my child ended up being in that building?'"

Floyd knows she fits like a glove into a category of swing voters both political parties love to woo: a "soccer mom" turned "security mom."

After 9-11, she stuck tight to the Republican Party, which she believed would keep her family safe.

But now her focus has shifted from what's going on at home to the war in Iraq, because, she explains, "we have all sorts of other issues happening all over the world and I think that when we went into Iraq, I think we all thought that we would be in and out."

Floyd isn't alone. In 2004, moms who cited terrorism as their top priority voted overwhelmingly to re-elect President Bush. A CBS News-New York Times poll released Tuesday says the war in Iraq now shares top billing with terror and the economy as their top priorities.

"They are not willing to sustain sacrifices," says David Winston, a pollster and CBS News consultant, "without understanding how we are going to achieve success."

You can expect more than a playground brawl over the backing of this coveted electoral group. This week a Republican official, quick to refute claims the GOP is losing security moms to Democrats, at the same time conceded support has been lost among moms who are upset about Iraq.

Democrats are desperate to get the moms on their side, but to some, they seem perplexed at how to win them over.

"Just because the opening is there doesn't mean we get to walk through it," says Democratic pollster Andre Pineda, "unless we show that we have viable policies for the country as a whole or viable policies for Iraq."

Floyd wants to hear a plan for withdrawal from Iraq - from someone - during the campaign for this November's mid-term elections.

"We've got to do it right," says Floyd, talking about withdrawal from Iraq. "But what 'right' is, I don't know."

She says so far, no one has mentioned a plan that sounds right. But she's still listening – and waiting.

And right now, either party could win her vote.