Representative Harry E. Mitchell, Democrat of Arizona, another freshman, said the war was a second-tier issue for most people in his district, which encompasses the northeastern suburbs of Phoenix.  During a meeting with business and community leaders in Scottsdale on Wednesday, Mr. Mitchell fielded questions for 45 minutes and no one asked a single question about Iraq.  “It hasn’t been at the top of peoples’ minds as much as things like veterans have,” said Mr. Mitchell, a former high school civics teacher. “Veterans and immigration I hear a great deal more about than Iraq.”  Still, Mr. Mitchell said he believed the war was never far from voters’ minds. One thing Mr. Mitchell said he thought was important was that people believe, as he does, “that the military has done an excellent job.”  “They destroyed the Iraqi army,” he continued. “They captured Saddam Hussein. We’ve done so much militarily, but there are people who believe, and I think rightly so, that there is more to it than just a military deadline.”  Veterans’ issues were also dominant during a public meeting on Thursday in Louisville, Ga., whose 3,000 residents pronounce their town’s name with an “s.” That’s where Representative John Barrow, one of 14 Democrats to vote against the 2008 withdrawal deadline, met voters at Pansy’s, a converted hotel that serves as the central lunch spot in the town, about 150 miles southeast of Atlanta.  Mr. Barrow, whose district runs from the golf links of Augusta to the coastal charm of Savannah, heard a variety of complaints about health care, both for veterans and civilians. Talk of the war came up only when prodded by a reporter’s questions.  “They shouldn’t have been there in the first place,” said Nathan Neely, 86, who took part in the invasion of the Philippines during World War II and was one of the few black men present. “They didn’t find what they was looking for,” he added, referring to the initial international hunt for a nuclear weapons program.  Across the room from Mr. Neely, Bob Henderson, 61, a service manager at a Chevrolet dealership and a Vietnam veteran, sympathized with military families but insisted the country had to stay strong.  “We’ve lost a lot of troops and a lot of blood’s been shed,” Mr. Henderson said, still wearing his workman’s uniform. But, he added, “To me, we’re losing face if we pull out.”  It is also a personal thing, he said: his son is stationed at Fort Drum, near Watertown, N.Y., after a tour of duty in Afghanistan.  For his part, Mr. Barrow, who in November was narrowly re-elected to a second term, said he had heard mainly positive responses to his vote against the deadline.  “People understand that the war’s not going the way we wanted it to,” he said.  But he added that they did not want Congress “to climb in the saddle.”  Another lawmaker who voted against the deadline, Judy Biggert, a five-term Republican, said that her public events during the break were a relief. Intrepid constituents in her district in the southern suburbs of Chicago usually ambushed her at the gym.  “People will come up to me and say, ‘I don’t want to disturb you, but I want to ask you a few questions about the war,’ ” Ms. Biggert said Wednesday.  She said she spent a recent evening at a citizens’ forum, listening to her constituents talk about the war and other issues, including immigration and health care. Support for the troops was high on the list, she said, but there were also anxieties and people who were “very weary of us being over there.”  “There are some people I talk to who are concerned that we’ve spent so much money on a war when there are services that are needed, and are not there, like health care,” she said.  She said she stood by her vote against the deadline. “Back home, all the people in my district see is the bad news in Iraq,” she said. “But I have to remember, I have a very well-educated district.”  Mr. McNerney, meanwhile, said he had heard both praise and scorn for his vote, not surprisingly. His district, which sprawls over four counties, includes liberal enclaves near San Francisco and more conservative areas to the east. Mr. McNerney in November defeated Richard W. Pombo, a powerful Republican incumbent.  “The ones that are vocal tend to be like, ‘What gives you the right to tell the president to end the war?’ ” Mr. McNerney said, shaking hands outside a wind-raked rail station on Wednesday. “But when I give them a strong answer, I usually get some cheers.”  Karen Ann Cullotta contributed reporting from Romeoville, Ill.; Rachel Pomerance from Louisville, Ga.; and Paul Giblin from Scottsdale, Ariz.  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Iraq War and Other Issues Follow Lawmakers Home. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
In many districts across the country, it seems that the war in Iraq has simply taken its place alongside other voter concerns.