Brawl for the Undecideds

The Republican candidate for President of the United States, John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, launched a new campaign in Ohio yesterday, after spending several days there over two weeks ago. All that for what? Ohio is one of the bellwether states for the American elections. While the polls indicate the race is tightening between Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama, Democrats and Republicans will make several return visits to here until the election on November 4th. Their goal: to convince undecided voters who are stuck between one side or the other. The press spent three days in Ohio.

Rick Day was taking a leisurely walk along a park overlooking the stadium of the Cleveland Browns when the Press tackles him to ask THE question: McCain or Obama?

The fortyish year old man, with an Indians jersey on his back and hunting cap on his head, had other things on his mind than choosing the next president of the United States. By the end of the night, the middle-aged man had just put in his last shift at the factory that used to employ him.

“Two weeks ago, they told us the plant’s closing. I have to find another job,” Mr. Day said.

His situation perfectly represents what preoccupies the majority of people this Midwestern state during the presidential election. In Ohio, jobs and the economy dominate the list of issues, well ahead of the Iraq war, healthcare or the environment. A sentiment shared in the neighboring states presently called the Rust Belt, formerly the Steel Belt: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, etc.

“The state hasn’t yet recovered from the decline of the steel industry that started at the end of seventies,” Joe Frolik, editorial commentary from the Cleveland Plain Dealer suggests. “A lot of factories have closed. The time where people transition from high school to stable and good paying jobs, with the hope of forming the middle-class, is over.”

In this situation of economic stiffness, it would be presumputous however, to assume that every unemployed and low salaried worker is going to indubitably vote for the Democrats, in spite of the message of change hammered by their leader, Barack Obama.

“I don’t know,” says Rick Days. “I don’t have the impression that one is better than the other. I have a month to decide,” he adds before continuing his stroll.

Vive the Free Market!

Others know exactly what’s causing their indecision. Anita Swann, a legal assistant, swears that after eight years, she doesn’t want one more day of the Bush administration. But Obama? Not sure. “You know that his middle name is Hussein? What does that mean? What are his Islamic ties?” she frets.

The president of the Republican electoral committee in the very populated county of Cuyahoga (city-center of Cleveland and its outskirts), Rob Frost is convinced that the economic revival comes from free markets. And by a shift towards green energy technologies.

In his eyes, one doesn’t come without the other.

“We are facing a choice,” he said. “Either we shut ourselves up and reinvent the wheel, or we turn towards the world to create some partnerships.”

In fact, he hopes that Ohio puts its workforce, its expertise and its infrastructures to aid in making equipment parts for non-polluting energy sources like windmills or nuclear power stations.

Bellwether State

As a matter of convenience, that fits well with the speeches of John McCain, the Republican candidate for the presidency.

For Mr. Frost, John McCain is the man of the free market. “Obama has tried to torpedo this question during the primaries,” he brings up. “And you know, Obama didn’t win the Democratic primary in Ohio while John McCain won his.”

Ohio is a bellwether state in presidential elections. Since 1944, it has always voted on the side of the winner, except for 1960 (Nixon versus Kennedy). A Republican has never won the White House without Ohio. In 2004 that victory, by a meager margin of 119,000 votes out of 5.5 millions cast, allowed George Bush to be re-elected.

The democratic vote is concentrated in all of Cleveland, in the Northeast, and in certain larger cities, like the capital of Columbus. But elsewhere, in the rural regions, Republicans are far ahead.

“There is a strong cultural tradition over here that is going to endure,” says Jason Vaught, a professor of Political Science at Cleveland State University. “I don’t think that these people are ready to vote for a black candidate.” However, a recent poll showed that McCain isn’t as far ahead of Obama as Bush was of Kerry in 2004 in those rural areas.

Another recent tally of polls from eight of Ohio’s newspapers tend to show the Obama camp having trouble consolidating its forces in those strongholds.

It is rather easy when questioning the inhabitants of downtown Cleveland to notice that a large majority leans democratic. They believe in the promise of change and the themes preached by their candidate.

Economy or Iraq

The Press has accompanied professor Vaught in class, where over twenty students are still asleep awaiting for his arrival. When he asked if there were any McCain supporters present, only two raised their hands.

“It’s not about color, it’s about character,” says Ashley Leonard, a young mixed women who’s voting for McCain. “Obama is a good orator, but McCain is courageous and humble. When he commits a gaffe, he doesn’t try to make excuses.. He apologizes.”

How is McCain going to fix the economic problem? “First we have to end the Iraq war,” says Cheryl Benedict, the class’ second supporter. “It’s an ethical question. The economy will get better once that is settled.”

Unsurprisingly, Obama’s supporters believe the opposite. “With him, money will go back into the pockets of the middle-class. His whole platform demonstrates it. It’s going to be a driving force on the economy,” Dustin Klapa and Francis Pusl, two strapping lads among the twenty gathered in on Euclide street in the city center believe.

Too close to call? Certainly the two organizations are combing every inch to gain the support of undecided and bring people out to vote. “In 2004, the Republicans won that one,” Joe Frolik remembers.

OHIO

Capital : Columbus

Population : 630,730

Urban Population : 91.3%