YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (Reuters) - In this Democratic bastion, voters have plenty of doubts and misgivings about John Kerry but agree wholeheartedly on what they like about him -- he's not President Bush.þþBush's Democratic challenger for the White House might be a blue-blood Ivy Leaguer who voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement, a hugely unpopular pact in the economically decimated Mahoning Valley, but most will forgive him if he reclaims the White House for Democrats.þþ``The enthusiasm may not be there for Kerry, but there is a great enthusiasm for getting rid of Bush, and that is going to send Kerry to the White House,'' said Jim Graham, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112 in nearby Lordstown.þþThe struggling factory towns of northeast Ohio, one of November's biggest battleground states, should be fertile territory for Kerry. Youngstown and surrounding Mahoning County, where roaring steel mills have been replaced in the last few decades by acres of vacant land, went nearly 2-to-1 for Democrat Al Gore in his showdown with Bush in 2000.þþSince then, Ohio has lost another 225,000 jobs and seen the jobless rate tick up again in April to 5.8 percent from 5.7 percent, even as unemployment has dropped nationally.þþBut some Democrats interviewed here are still struggling with their choice in November, and many who plan to back Kerry have lingering doubts about him.þþ``My verdict is still out. I'm still looking,'' said Tommy Boggs of Lordstown, a Democrat, union officer and 29-year veteran of the Youngstown steel mills. ``I like to see a man with dirt under his fingernails.''þþThe doubts about Kerry include resentment over his support for NAFTA, which many union workers blame for costing U.S. jobs, and questions about whether he flip-flops on some issues. Another hurdle is his privileged background as the son of a diplomat and wealthy lifestyle with his ketchup heiress wife, which has raised doubts about his empathy for workers.þþ``There is some uneasiness there. He does not come across to working class people as well as some did,'' said Mike Rubicz, president of United Steelworkers Local 1375 in Youngstown.þþ``He's from a different class than we are. His wife is rich, we work for a living,'' said Rubicz, who expressed confidence Kerry would still roll up a huge vote advantage in northeast Ohio.þþWhile several potential voters said they would not back Bush in November, they were still uncertain whether they would vote at all. þþ'LESSER OF TWO EVILS'þþ``Looks like we're going to be choosing the lesser of two evils again,'' said Chet Howes as he stood outside the gates of RMI Titanium in nearby Niles, Ohio, where he and other workers have been locked out since late October.þþHowes, who has two children and supports himself with odd jobs and a small union subsidy since his jobless benefits expired, voted for Bush in 2000 but doubts he will again. He said he preferred Kerry's Democratic rival, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, who visited the locked out RMI workers before the Ohio primary.þþHowes and other RMI workers said they were angry with the Massachusetts senator for missing a recent vote on an extension of unemployment benefits that would have helped them. The extension lost by one vote.þþ``We have a lot of guys out here suffering, and it doesn't seem like Kerry cares,'' Howes said. ``I'm not sure what I'm going to do.''þþA low turnout for Kerry in Democratic northeast Ohio would be good news for Bush, who hopes to roll up big margins in November in heavily Republican southwest Ohio. Kerry aims to steal Ohio's crucial 20 electoral votes from Bush, who beat Gore statewide by four percentage points in 2000.þþBut Kerry's trouble closing the deal with Democratic voters here could be a sign of tougher times ahead in swing and independent-leaning districts nationwide.þþ``He's kind of hard to figure out. A lot of people can't seem to read him very well,'' Connie Fowlis, a nurse from nearby Warren, said of Kerry.þþMentioning his stances on the war in Iraq, which he voted to authorize but has since criticized, she said: ``There are some things where I'm not sure where he stands.''þþThe president's supporters said that was a clear contrast to Bush. ``He sticks by his convictions,'' J. Hill, a retired police officer from Deerfield, said of Bush. ``He is doing well with the bad hand he was dealt.''þþMany voters expressed admiration for Kerry's decision to volunteer for military duty in Vietnam after college, drawing a contrast with Bush and other high-level administration figures who sat out the fighting.þþ``He was there, he's been in a war, that's a good person to have in charge. You want someone who has been in there and done it,'' said Jeff Judd of Warren, another locked out RMI worker who said he will vote for Kerry.þþIn the end, many Democrats said, the doubts about Kerry mean far less than their anger toward Bush, who will visit the Youngstown area on Tuesday.þþ``With Kerry, you know he would make the right decision. He's a Democrat,'' said Gary Gosser of Warren, a 35-year veteran of the steel mills. þþ
Source: NY Times
