Passion for Bush, Gore Hard to Find in Ohio Town

By MARK Z. BARABAK

Oct. 23, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES POLITICAL WRITER

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio —

Listen to the voices of this small city, set amid the russet and gold of the Appalachian foothills, and you may appreciate why this presidential race is so competitive and yet, for many, so uninspiring.

Melissa Hagen, 25, already has cast an absentee ballot for Democrat Al Gore. “Some of George Bush’s stands scare me,” she says. “On gun control and abortion he’s way too conservative for my taste. The problem is, I don’t really love Gore either.”

Neither does Janet Ackley, 46. The vice president lost her vote when he failed to vigorously condemn President Clinton for his affair with Monica S. Lewinsky. So Ackley is backing Republican Bush, but not with any passion. “He’s the lesser of two evils, definitely,” she says.

After two convention extravaganzas, three nationally televised debates and tens of millions of dollars in advertising, Bush and Gore are familiar, if easily caricatured, figures. (Bush is the simpleton; Gore the know-it-all.) Their differences concerning the issues--from Bush’s more generous tax cut proposal and plan to overhaul Social Security to Gore’s more restrictive policy on guns and support for abortion rights--are clear to most of those paying attention.

Still, with just more than two weeks left until the election, the presidential campaign remains the closest in a generation. In this quaint community, about 45 miles south of Columbus, the capital, voters seem as closely divided as the rest of the nation.

What comes through most, however, in two days of interviews is how often people cast their presidential pick in negative terms. Ruth List Jones, 50, is no Gore fan. But she finds Bush “so disgusting I gave up my idea of voting for Ralph Nader for fun.”

Linda Large, 43, isn’t all that wild about the Texas governor herself. But Gore “is just egotistical. . . . Bush is more willing to let others do part of it and not think he has to handle it all himself.”

Also striking is how events such as the much-hyped presidential debates proved to be largely inconsequential, even for those who bothered tuning in. Of more than three dozen people interviewed, most said the face-to-face matchups merely reinforced their sentiments.

Region a Political Battle Zone

And another thing stands out: how little it matters to many people who gets elected president, at least so far as the economy is concerned--which may partly explain why Gore has gotten so little benefit from the nation’s record prosperity.

“I don’t give credit to what the White House did,” said Melody Long, a 29-year-old legal assistant, as she clutched a sheaf of folders across the street from the Ross County courthouse. “I believe it’s personal choices you make--career choices, spending choices, savings choices.”

Chillicothe, with a population of about 22,500, is rich in history. It was Ohio’s first capital and its limestone-and-brick court building served as the original statehouse. Mt. Logan, in the forested hills to the east, is depicted on the state seal.

Today, the region is hard-fought political ground. In 1992, Bush’s father carried the 6th Congressional District, which takes in most of Chillicothe, by a single percentage point over then-Arkansas Gov. Clinton. Four years later, Clinton beat Republican Bob Dole here, also by a single percentage point. Clinton won the state both times.

Of the Midwest battleground states--Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Missouri--Ohio is the one that leans Republican. It also may be the most critical for Bush; no GOP nominee has ever won the White House without carrying Ohio.

While the Texas governor enjoys a lead in most national polls, neither candidate has established a firm footing in the state-by-state electoral college contest that will decide the outcome of the Nov. 7 election. More than a dozen states--including Ohio--remain up for grabs.

A statewide poll published Saturday in the Cleveland Plain Dealer showed Bush ahead, 45% to 41%, but his lead fell within the survey’s 4-percentage-point margin of error. Both sides here predict a close fight to election day.

To have a shot, Gore has to match Clinton’s performance in the 6th District, which covers most of the southern part of the state. While Bush has led handily most of the year, Democrats say their polling has picked up movement in Gore’s direction and the two are running much closer.

“Rumors of our death”--which the Bush campaign has promulgated--”are greatly exaggerated here in Ohio,” state Democratic Party Chairman David J. Leland said. His GOP counterpart, Robert T. Bennett, agreed that the race “won’t be over until election day.”

There is little in Chillicothe to suggest such a hard-fought contest. While Ohio is being bombarded with TV ads, there are few political placards around town and even fewer bumper stickers. But not everyone is unhappy with their choices.

Ernest Richards, 59, is strongly for Bush, and not just because he opposes Gore. “I think he’s a good man. I like his moral principles,” said Richards, a former meat cutter who now lives on disability.

A few rows away in the Kmart parking lot, helping a friend load groceries, Maryanne Wolford, 53, went on at length praising Gore’s stance on prescription drug benefits, education, Social Security. “I like his idea about doctors taking over instead of insurance companies running things and the H-whatever it is.”

“HMOs,” her friend, Peggy Carver, put in.

“HMOs,” Wolford says.

A political addict who regularly tunes in to the Washington chat shows, Wolford watched all three presidential debates. Like most of those interviewed, though, she saw nothing that changed her mind. “A lot of points that they made were the same thing over and over,” Wolford says.

But the debates did sway some. Marvin Jones, 50, the editor and publisher of the Chillicothe Gazette, said he may lean a bit more toward Bush after sensing the Texan might work better on a bipartisan basis. “I may be one of the few who trusts Congress to come up with compromises and for Bush to embrace them more than Gore,” he says.

Money Matters Sway Some

Penny Pelikan Dehner was tilting toward the vice president, based on his stand on abortion and other “women’s issues.” But she frowned at Gore’s heavy-handed performance in the first debate and switched to Bush after learning more about the candidates’ economic plans. “I like Bush’s Social Security plan to let you invest your own money,” the 42-year-old computer consultant says. “I like being able to control my own money.”

Several, however, said they were turned off by both candidates, making it even harder to choose.

“The thing that bothered me most was the smirks and the heavy breathing,” said Mike Conklin, 49, a retired contractor who came downtown to watch his son, Jason, tackle his first office renovation. “Neither one acted like grown-up men. But I guess you have to do that in politics; put down your opponent.”

Chillicothe and surrounding Ross County have done well economically over the last eight years. Unemployment averaged around 9% in 1992. As of last month it was 5%. The Department of Veterans Affairs is expanding its nearby facility, one local industrial park has filled up and a second is nearly full, according to Jones, the Gazette publisher and head of the local Chamber of Commerce.

Virtually all of those interviewed said they were personally better off than they were eight years ago, though some worried that recent layoffs at the Kenworth Truck Co., which eliminated its second shift because of declining sales, could signal a slowdown.

Few, however, see much correlation between economic prosperity and the policies of the White House. The grudging credit that Clinton receives tends to come from those who figure he didn’t ruin a good thing. “At least he kept his hands off stuff that he could have messed up,” said Rick Hatton, 50, a freelance photographer who is backing Gore.

Try as Gore might to distance himself, Clinton continues to loom large in the minds of many.

For some, he is a reason to vote against Gore. Julie Lambert, a 44-year-old middle school teacher, said it is time to set a new tone for the country after eight years of controversy. For others, Clinton is a reason for pause. “I think if [Gore] hadn’t been Clinton’s vice president, I’d have a much better feeling voting for him,” said Janet Williams, 46, a Gazette reporter who contemplates backing the Green Party’s Nader but, like Ruth Jones, fears that that would help Bush.

Others look at these two candidates and find both suffer compared with the incumbent. Terry Ritchie, 47, is voting for Gore, or at least voting against Bush. Watching the two debate, the graphic artist couldn’t help but imagine Clinton on the stage. “He would have wasted both of them in two minutes,” Ritchie said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Profile: Ohio

Population: 11.3 million (1999 est.)Ohio’s population is 1.6% Latino. Latinos may be of any race, so their totals may overlap with white or black racial categories. Numbers do not add up to 100% due to rounding.7.2 million (March 2000)

RACE AND ETHNICITY

White: 87%

Black: 12%

Other: 2%

REGISTERED VOTERS

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Democrat 13% Republican 12% Other 75% Electoral votes: 21

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1996 PRESIDENTIAL VOTE

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Bill Clinton (D) 2,148,309 (47%) Bob Dole (R) 1,860,768 (41%) Ross Perot (Ref) 483,277 (11%)

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