Joan Baez Joins Peace Mom's Cause

Joan Baez was against the Vietnam War and she showed it — appearing at marches, once even blocking the entrance of a military induction center.

The folk singer is against the Iraq war, too, and she showed her support Sunday to protesters camping out near President Bush's ranch.

Baez took to the stage for about 500 people on an acre lot offered by a landowner who opposes the war, performing such classic peace anthems as "Song of Peace," and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone"

Not far way is the camp started by Cindy Sheehan, whose son Casey was killed in Iraq. Sheehan, of Vacaville, Calif., started the anti-war demonstration on Aug. 6 and vowed to remain until Bush agreed to meet with her or until his monthlong vacation ends Sept. 3.

She flew to Los Angeles last week after her 74-year-old mother had a stroke but is expected to return to Texas in a few days.

But Sheehan's absence from the growing campsite isn't deterring other protesters, CBS News correspondent Bill Plante reports for The Early Show. One woman told Plante: "This vigil is larger than Cindy. It's always been larger than Cindy."

"In the first march I went to (opposing Vietnam) there were 10 of us. This is huge," Baez told the relatives of fallen soldiers before performing just up the road from the ranch.

Over the weekend, Baez also performed "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." For Baez, an anti-war movement was inevitable.

"It was the final tear for the overflow and you can't stop running water," she said. "Cindy's was the final tear."

Cindy Sheehan has become a household name, Congressional Quarterly columnist and CBS News political analyst Craig Crawford tells The Early Show's Harry Smith.

"She's become a logo … for the leftist anti-war movement which does seem to be growing," Crawford said. "She's sort of become what Howard Dean was back in the presidential campaign, just a face and a voice for a lot of Americans who disagree with this war."

And Sheehan is quickly becoming perceived as a Republican liability, Crawford said.

"Inside the political circles this campaign has already begun and they're getting worried that Iraq could become a defining issue in that campaign and turn out a lot of the republicans and maybe even endanger control of the senate by republicans," Crawford said.

Downtown, miles from the president's ranch, more supporters of Mr. Bush arrived at a pro-Bush camp that had been set up as a reaction to Sheehan's.

As of Sunday afternoon, more than 150 people had visited the large tent with "God Bless Our President!" and "God Bless Our Troops" banners and a life-size cardboard cutout of Bush.

"When we saw this, we said, `Thank God you're here'," said Frances Lee, who came from Douglasville, Ga., with neighbor Brenda Bohanan. They planned to hold pro-Bush banners down the street from the protesters.

"We said, 'We wanted y'all to know that there are people from all over the United States that care,'" Lee said.

The pro-Bush camp is called "Fort Qualls," for Marine Lance Cpl. Louis Wayne Qualls, 20, killed in Fallujah last fall. His father, Gary Qualls of Temple, said the anti-war demonstrators are being disrespectful to soldiers.

Sheehan's 24-year-old son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, also died last year in Iraq. He is among more than 1,800 U.S. soldiers killed since the March 2003 invasion.

Mr. Bush has said he sympathizes with Sheehan but won't change his schedule to meet with her. She and other families met with Bush about two months after Casey died, before she became a vocal opponent of the war.

Besides "Fort Qualls" camp, a few Bush supporters have stood with signs in the ditch across from the demonstrators' camp.

Down the street, another group of about a dozen set up tents and pro-Bush signs on private property over the weekend.