Posted on 10/14/2004 3:31:10 AM PDT by foolscap
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- For weeks now, industrial designer Brian Sturkie has been reading The Wall Street Journal each morning and catching the political talk shows on PBS at night, trying to make up his mind between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry.
His goal as he watched the candidates go head-to-head Wednesday night: "I wanted to come away from this debate with a sense of who I was going to vote for."
No such luck. For Sturkie and many other swayable voters who spoke to Associated Press reporters around the country, the final presidential debate was less than definitive.
Sturkie, 36, went into the evening just slightly favoring Bush. He came out more impressed by Kerry - but will it stick? It's hard for him to say.
Kerry "definitely swayed in the other direction," said Sturkie, who's closer to the Democratic senator on most domestic policies than the Republican president. "I get the sense now that it's time to make a change."
Yet as the father of two small children, he can't let go of nagging fears about the security of the country, and a feeling that it might be dangerous to change presidents at what he calls a "turning point in the nation's history."
"I have struggled with this election more than any other," he said.
In Fort Collins, Colo., 29-year-old Jeff Alexander felt frustrated and disappointed that the evening failed to clear up his indecision.
"This is the last time they have a chance to say what they stand for, and they seem to be pointing out what the other guy stands for" and saying it's wrong, said Alexander, a software engineer and unaffiliated voter. He supported Al Gore in 2000.
"Maybe I just need to hear somebody to say, `Look, we don't know what we're going to do,'" Alexander said.
Nearly 1,500 miles away, in Syracuse, N.Y., 84-year-old Connie Narduzzo had many of the same feelings of frustration. Too many numbers and too much negativity left her still undecided.
"I think they even confuse themselves with all the numbers they throw out. I know I couldn't keep them straight," Narduzzo said as she tuned in with four friends in the library room at the Bernardine Senior Apartments.
A registered Republican, Narduzzo said she "wanted to hear more specifics, especially about health care and prescription drugs."
Dennis Nelson, a 52-year-old Vietnam veteran and commander of an American Legion post in Tampa, Fla., watched the debate with two other veterans at the Legion hall, while a handful of others were glued to a baseball playoff game on another TV.
A former chemist now on disability, Nelson is a registered Republican but said he has started to lean toward Kerry because of the Democratic candidate's domestic agenda, especially his ideas for more affordable health care and prescription drugs.
"This debate was more even," said Nelson, adding he's still undecided. "I didn't see either candidate getting a secure advantage."
It didn't seem that way to Charmaine Zimmerer, who served 20 years in the Air Force and also picked the debate over baseball. She supports Bush and didn't hear anything in the debate to change her mind.
"Kerry didn't answer the questions, he attacks," said Zimmerer. "Bush tries to answer the questions."
A common complaint among voters who watched this debate: We've already heard this message.
"It's a lot of talk about statistics and a lot of things that were gone over before," said Ralph Nader supporter Kelly Stewart, one of about 100 Drexel University students who watched the debate together at the Philadelphia school.
"I think Kerry spoke better," said Bryan Franch, a biomedical science major at Marquette University in Milwaukee, who stole an occasional glance at his math text book as he watched the candidates in action. "But I still support Bush. ... I didn't really hear anything new."
In my homestate, on the voter rolls Republicans are designated by an 'R', Democrats by a 'D', and others are listed as 'N's, for neutral or none or something.
But I always say that it stands for 'Neutered'.
;-)
Hey all you undecideds, lemme help you. Who would the terrorists vote for? Now vote for the other guy.
It is a sad, sad state of affairs when the fate of this magnificent nation swings on the votes of a tiny group of people who have a pathological aversion to making a decision.
"can't find their a##es in the dark with two hands" comes to mind.
Welcome to FR!
Coin toss. Works every time. Unless it lands on its side. In which case, you can toss another coin to determine whether or not to pick up the first coin and toss it again. But then there's the issue of what denomination of coin to use. (aaaaaugh!!!)
I don't understand undecideds. Even before I understood my own political identity it only took 5 or 10 minutes to decide on candidates, even in city council races you always seem to get one that's just a complete jackass, it's easy. The closest I ever had to a problem was our last mayoral race in Tucson where both candidates completely sucked, I left that spot blank not because I couldn't decide but because neither candidate deserved my support, to make matters worse we had a proposition to give the mayor a raise on that ballot, I gave that a resounding NO.
I agree, when it comes down to it people are in the booth with only their conscious. Anybody with an IQ over 12 knows that without security all the other issues are a moot point. Of course there still is those under 12 IQ people or as the MSM refers to them, undecideds.
If Flipper somehow manages to win this thing because the country is filled with brain dead people like Sturkie who "can't decide," maybe he'll realize that right choice was Bush when terrorists attack the school his young children attend. It will be too late then.
I listened to a bit of Sean Hannity's show today. He was doing a man-on-the-street segment and flipper got him talking to some Kerry supporters. One woman was typical:
Hannity: "What's the name of the vice president."
Kerry Supporter: "I can't think of his name. He's that old guy."
Hanity: "Why won't you vote for Bush?"
Kerry Supporter: "He wants to blow up the world."
Hannity: "Oh, you're a Michael Moore fan."
Kerry Supporter: "Yeah, war's a bad thing."
Hannity: "Is it always a bad thing?"
Kerry Supporter: "No, sometimes it's necessary. Like Pearl Harbor."
Hannity: "Kerry has been in the Senate for 20 years. Can you tell me just one thing he accomplished in 20 years?"
Kerry Supporter: "Can you tell me one thing Bush has accomplished?"
Hannity: "I'll give you two. He pushed through the largest tax cuts in history--"
Kerry Supporter (derisively): "Huh!"
Hannity: "--and he liberated 50 million people from Afghanistan through Iraq. Now, can you tell me one thing Kerry has done in the Senate in the 20 years he's been there?"
Kerry Supporter: *Silence* "Kerry's going to end the war. He's going to get us out of Iraq."
Hannity: "He said he's going to stay in Iraq."
Kerry Supporter: *Silence*
Hannity (to the radio audience): "See what we're up against?"
Michael Moore likes to give speeches to foreign audiences in which he castigates the American people for being the dumbest people on the planet. After reading about the hand-wringing undecideds and hearing Hannity interview one of Moore's fans, I am begining to believe Moore has a point.
It's been too long, I think I'll watch Casablanca tonight. Thanks
I thought Sean Hannity's head was going to explode during the man-on-the-street interviews on his radio show today. Not only did the interviewees not know who the Vice President of the United States was, they didn't know Kerry's running mate, either (one lady said, "Oh, that cute one. The one that looks like a Kennedy.")
Not a one could name ANYTHING John Kerry had done in 20 years in the Senate, nor could they name a single issue he has supported or where he stood on any of the issues Sean brought up. When Sean asked one, "If you don't know anything about Kerry or what he stands for, why are you going to vote for him?" (paraphrase) One lady answered, "He's going to get us out of Iraq as soon as he's president. War is terrible. I hate that war." (paraphrase)
Sean pressed: "Kerry is NOT going to bring our troops home right away. He's changed his mind again. Are you aware that he voted FOR the war in Iraq?" The interviewee was obviously flustered. "Uh...uh...no, I didn't. He did? I didn't know that." (But what difference does it make? Just toss your coin and get it over with already.)
These types vote for whomever is ahead in the polls on Nov. 2 a half hour before the polls close in their state. They want to vote for the winner! That's what they live for.
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