The Viewers’--and Voters’--Verdict : . . . From Glendora

In a house atop a small hill at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in the San Gabriel foothills, three families got together election night to watch the returns, eat some pizza and chat about television and presidential politics.

In another era, the setting would have been perfect Norman Rockwell. Or it might have served as the backdrop for a TV commercial: the adults sitting around the lace-tableclothed dining-room table--the centerpiece, a vase of white carnations dressed with a pocket-sized American flag--while the younger children were on the floor echoing their parents’ choices.

“Our street looks like Knots Landing,” cheerily confided Judy Kearns, an elementary school teacher-specialist at whose Glendora home they were gathered, “but without the scandal.”

The families live in the mostly Republican 33rd Congressional District at the eastern end of the county--the area that first sent Richard Nixon to Congress in 1946. In this group, there were four votes for Bush and three for Dukakis.

However, their vote was not mixed on TV’s role in campaign ’88.

Had this been a referendum on political commercials, network polling, debate spin doctors and campaign coverage with that new phrase sound bites creeping into their vocabularies, television would have gone spinning down the tubes.

“TV (polling) is really hurting the system,” said Jack Cowell, a floor installer and Vietnam veteran who waited until the end to decide for Dukakis. “They predict a winner, and people like to get on a winning ticket, the bandwagon.”

“I think all three networks favor the Democrats. They gave Dukakis more coverage,” said Loren Rettele who trains race horses. He and his wife Connie--Bush supporters from the start--have a picture of Lt. Col. Oliver J. North on their mantel and the bumper sticker on their Ford pickup reads: “Defend Firearms, Defeat Dukakis.”

“I don’t think TV has given fair coverage to either side,” noted Judy Kearns, who decided for Bush over the weekend. “They picked out the spectacular elements rather than letting the public see where the candidates stand on the issues.”

The couples, who have known each other since they settled into the U-shaped tract in the late ‘70s and now organize everything from garage sales to Fourth of July picnics together, are in their late 30s and 40s. They were interviewed separately and as a group. Among them, they have seven sons and daughters, from Brad Rettele, 20, who also voted, to Christopher Kearns, 5.

At one point during the evening they watched a replay of Bush’s prison furlough ad. “Disgusting,” called out Dukakis supporter Linda Cowell, a secretary at Citrus College. There were several murmurs of agreement.

Judy Kearns criticized coverage of Bush’s last California campaign appearance--a Covina rally Sunday that her family and the Retteles attended.

“I took the kids. It was a real good experience, and yet they (TV) didn’t report it fairly,” she said. “The man (Bush) did talk about the issues--about education, child care, pollution--and yet they pulled out that famous line, ‘If you can’t take the heat, get the hell out of the kitchen.’ ”

However, Paul Kearns, an Arcadia elementary school principal, who has been for Bush since the GOP convention, said he considered the coverage “quite fair.”

“If anything, people in the media have been bending over backwards to present unbiased opinions,” Kearns said. “They have given equal time to the candidates qualitatively as well as quantitatively.”

Brad Rettele, studying art at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut while working full time in an auto parts warehouse, called TV coverage “shallow.” Rettele, who left the group early to study for a midterm, said he “originally intended to vote for Bush but the way he campaigned turned me off.” So he voted for Dukakis.

Despite their critiques, both Judy Kearns and Jack Cowell indicated they used television to help them make their decisions. Over the weekend, Kearns played a tape of Friday’s Bryant Gumbel interview with Dukakis on the “Today” show. “What bothers me is that Bryant Gumbel posed some very good and very fundamental questions, and in my opinion he (Dukakis) skirted every question he was asked,” Kearns said.

On Friday Cowell--a registered Republican who said his first choice was Jesse Jackson--was “leaning” toward the Democratic candidate after he “heard on the news the other night Dukakis talking about how the foreign people are buying up our property. I work in the downtown L.A. high-rises, and I see they’re all foreign-owned.

“I voted for Reagan the first time, but the second time I didn’t make it to the polls because it was already a slam dunk.”

At least this time, the families were relieved they didn’t miss out on the excitement of waiting for the results. At 7:30 p.m., a half hour before the polls closed here, they heard Tom Brokaw, the most cautious of the three network anchors in terms of predictions Election Night, declare Bush the winner.

The families consider Brokaw to be the “fairest” anchor. Judy Kearns said Dan Rather is “too partisan,” while Paul Kearns calls ABC White House correspondent Sam Donaldson “too antagonistic.”

Political commercials drew the most fire, particularly from the women. “I think they’re disgusting,” said Connie Rettele, who is studying to be a manicurist. “It seems to me like they were both hitting below the belt . . . I just wish Bush wouldn’t stoop to these things. It makes me feel badly. I want a classy President.”

“I think there should be some truth-in-advertising,” said Judy Kearns.

“They try to put each other down,” noted Linda Cowell, “especially where they have this (prison) furlough thing. That (Dukakis ad) with the pregnant woman, I get sick and tired of seeing that. They’re trying to get to the emotions of people, to scare people.”

Jack Cowell wondered whether people themselves didn’t invite negativism. “Would people watch if it was all positive? Murders, rape, drugs--that’s what sells.”

Connie Rettele said she enjoys watching TV coverage for little things--how the crowd accepts or doesn’t accept a candidate or “the mannerisms of both candidates.”

None of the six said they wanted more debates or even that post-debate spin doctors swayed them. “I don’t want them telling me who won or who lost or which way I should feel,” said Loren Rettele.

They also seemed to have had their fill of television politics. As Linda Cowell said with a sigh, “I think they’ve covered everything that could possibly be covered.”