<img src="http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/extra.gif" border=0>The Swing Vote: A bellwether state<font color="#ff0000"> w/ undecided voter interview video, audio and poll</font>

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October 14, 2008

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Tue Oct 14, 2008, 02:20 PM CDT

By Carol Stark

and Dave Woods

news@joplinglobe.com

Four weeks away from the presidential election, local undecided voters say they are still waiting for candidates to better address economic issues as well as the country’s future in Iraq.

Characterized as the election of a lifetime, the 2008 presidential campaign asks the voters to consider race, age and gender in their decision-making. It also is being held weeks after a historic financial bailout and more than five years after the United States launched a war in Iraq.

Eyes are on Missouri, political experts say, because the state is considered a bellwether state — one that sets the tone for the rest of the nation. Missouri, the experts say, is even a contender for the title “Bellwether of Bellwethers.”

Stuart Rothenburg, editor and publisher of The Rothenburg Political Report, has suggested that states such as Colorado, Virginia and Ohio will be the bellwethers of 2008. Missouri’s history is hard to ignore, though. Rothenburg reports that a majority of Missouri voters have sided with the prevailing candidate in every presidential election since 1960. The 1956 election represents Missouri’s only miss in a century, since St. Louis, the state’s largest city, hosted the 1904 World’s Fair.

Undecided

Donna Bray, 53, of Joplin, said she changes her mind several times each day on which candidate will get her vote.

“I absolutely am not decided,” said the mother of two grown sons. “I may make my decision when I walk into the voting booth.” Bray described her politics as conservative and said she would like to see more power placed in the states’ hands and less in those of the federal government.

Shannon Hendricks, 39, of Joplin, echoed Brays indecision.

“The economy is in really bad shape, and I want the war to stop,” Hendricks said. “I want someone who is going to be for us, the people, and not just for the rich people.”

Bray said part of her problem is that the candidates don’t seem to be addressing the issues as they apply to her.

“I think they are addressing the economy as it applies to people who make $300,000 to $400,000 a year,” she said. “I don’t think that they are understanding that there are people who make $30,000 to $40,000 a year who want to be acknowledged.”

Influencing change

Meaghan Wilkins, 44, of Joplin, is a data-entry specialist who rents her home. She said she usually votes Republican more than she does Democratic. The single mom is raising a 16-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy.

Wilkins is living on about $20,000 a year. She said that whoever is elected president must bring about change.

“There are millions of people in exactly my position who make the same kind of money that I make and who are going to be upset if things don’t change,” she said.

The latest CNN/Time poll for Sept. 28-30 shows that 49 percent of the respondents living in Missouri said they would vote for Democrat Barack Obama, while 48 percent would vote for Republican John McCain. The poll, released on Sept. 30, had an error margin of 3.5 to 4 points.

Of those who said they would vote for Obama, 57 percent made under $50,000, while 42 percent of those who said they would vote for McCain made under $50,000.

Jeff Youngblood, 34, of Joplin, who makes less than $20,000, said he plans to vote in a presidential election for the first time in his life. Who will receive his vote is still to be decided. But he said he doesn’t know at this stage of the game how much policy a president can actually change.

“One of the biggest issues for me is one that I haven’t heard either of the candidates talk about. That’s special interests,” he said.

‘Hate to waste a vote’

Paul Davis, 69, of Webb City, is retired from the Navy and a retired federal employee. He supported Alan Keyes in past elections and said he considered supporting Ron Paul in this election.

“I think that both of the main party candidates are just too liberal for me,” he said. “Some of those who think along the same lines that I do are with the fringe parties. But they don’t stand any chance of being elected. I hate to waste a vote on them.”

Davis will be tuned in to the remaining presidential debates and believes they ultimately will help him make his decision.

“McCain appears to be moving to the right a little bit, but I don’t think that will have any impact on what he does in office,” he said. “A lot of people say things that they never follow through with.”

Carol Stark is the editor for The Joplin Globe. Dave Woods is the new media editor for The Joplin Globe.

Tonight’s debate

The presidential candidates will target an audience in tonight’s debate: The roughly 10 percent of the electorate who are undecided and an additional quarter who say they still might change their minds before Nov. 4. The debate begins at 8 p.m. Joplin time.

Source: The Associated Press