By Matthew Bigg DUBLIN, Ga., Nov 6 (Reuters) - Retired school teacher Martha Bobbitt thinks President George W. Bush is a good Christian with the right values. If he's gone wrong in Iraq, it won't change her vote. Opinion polls suggest Bush's Republican Party may lose control of the U.S. House of Representatives and possibly the Senate in national elections on Tuesday, dragged down by the unpopularity of the war in Iraq. But for millions of Americans, support for Bush runs deeper than the debate over the direction of the war on terrorism and can be summed up by what his backers view as old-fashioned conservative values. Support for the troops, the president and the war run hand in hand with a deep belief in the Christian faith while Democrats are viewed as lacking the fiber to defend the American way of life under threat from radical Islam. "I support the president. I think he is a fine Christian man and his morals and values represent our country to a wonderful degree," said Bobbitt, in a view echoed by others at a recent rally in Dublin for Republican congressional candidate Mac Collins. "I feel 9/11 changed our lives here in this country. We are fighting a war that is completely different to the wars we fought in the past," she said. Dublin is set in central Georgia in the Bible Belt that runs across much of the southeastern United States, so called for its many churches and deeply held religious beliefs. Dublin boasts strong military ties and the 48th brigade of the Georgia National Guard used it as its home base for a one-year tour of duty in Iraq during which it lost more than two dozen soldiers. Bush campaigned in Georgia last week for Republican candidates in the 8th and 12th congressional districts, among the few nationally where Republicans believe they could upset Democratic incumbents. BUSH MORE POPULAR Some 48 percent of Georgia's registered voters say they approve of Bush and 47 percent approve of his government's policies in Iraq, according to a poll published this week by the Mason-Dixon Polling and Research group for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper. Nationally, Bush's popularity ratings have dipped into the 38 percent range. The 8th district race, which includes Dublin, is complicated for Republicans because the Democratic incumbent, Rep. Jim Marshall, is a Vietnam veteran inducted into the Army Ranger Hall of Fame. His record of support for the war makes him difficult to paint as a typical liberal. Nevertheless, candidate Collins insists Georgia's values are inconsistent with the liberal ideas of Democrats, such as House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. "Miss Pelosi: we don't agree with your San Francisco West Coast ideas and values. We do things differently in Georgia," he said in a campaign speech on Thursday, calling himself "a guy you can do business with on a handshake." The chaos and bloodshed in Iraq have not swayed the president's most ardent supporters. Britt Smith, 48, and his son Greg, 20, both served with the Georgia National Guard in Iraq on a one-year tour that ended in May. Neither was hurt, though Britt's wife Peggy recalls the anguish of waiting for news, especially the times when she got word that a brigade member had been killed. "Our family has been put through so many trials with Iraq," she said at the family home in Dublin where an American flag flew in the front yard. Peggy Smith was scathing about the attitude of Democrats to the war. "I don't think the Democrats want us to win over there so they can say that this is Bush's failed policy," she said.
