suggest his party could face what president bush once called a good thumping. the president did have high praise for several republicans. lincoln, eisenhower, reagan. they all had one thing in common all of them were dead. vinita and rob? fewer people are dying on the nation s highways. last year s death toll dropping to the lowest level since 1950. the transportation department says that traffic deaths fell 9.7% from 2008 to 2009. that s down nearly 34,000. the decline is being attributed to not only seat belts but also safer cars, as well as tougher drunk driving laws. top officials in detroit are defending their handling of a series of fires in the city. residents complain it took firefighters 90 minutes to respond in some cases. about 85 structures were burned in the fires which were apparently sparked by gusty winds and downed power lines. with that, here is your thursday forecast. oklahoma, missouri, and arkansas face much of the drenching rain and flooding that