Worries about war and jobs may have taken their toll on President Bush's popularity elsewhere, but in this Republican stronghold in the swing state of Ohio his followers are standing by their man.

Support for Bush remains rock solid along Lebanon's tidy main street of antique shops and general stores, where few voters question his decision to go to war in Iraq or blame him for a slumping economy.

"I have been very impressed with him. He's proven himself to be much more intelligent and capable than anyone gave him credit for," said Melissa Applegate, a registered nurse from nearby Milford who was shopping in Lebanon's historic district the day after Bush's campaign bus tour made a stop.

"I think he's a steady leader," she said, repeating a phrase that has blared endlessly at Ohio residents from their television sets during a cascade of Bush campaign commercials.

--Wired News