Eckford is leaning toward Obama because "it's time for a new, fresh person to get in there." She's concerned about his inexperience but says her biggest reservation is "that he won't follow through on some of things he's trying to sell."
The mother of a racially mixed daughter sees older whites as particularly resistant to Obama.
Some whites might say they're for Obama, but "when they go to vote, they'll change their mind," said Eckford, who says she's felt the sting of those who "smile to my face" but are hateful "behind my back."
Ralph Chetnik, 63, a retired firefighter and Vietnam veteran, voted for George Wallace and Ross Perot. He's feeling the pinch of the economic downturn but worries about giving Democrats too much power.
Along with others, he's unhappy with both candidates for offering scant details about what they would do as president, including their plans for extricating U.S. forces from Iraq and dealing with immigration. He's leaning toward McCain, he says, to provide "checks and balances" on the Democratic Congress, mirroring one of the Republican ticket's main closing arguments.
McCain warned yesterday that total control by Democrats in Washington would lead to higher taxes blessed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
"Can you imagine an Obama-Pelosi-Reid combination?" McCain asked his Dayton audience.
Among uncommitted voters here, there seemed to be strikingly little expectation that a new president would produce the sort of turnaround that Obama and McCain are promising. Asked how they'd feel the morning after the election if their candidate won, the Ohioans responded with, at best, cautious optimism.
"There's going to so many things that have to be addressed, the decisions that have to be made," said Adams. "It'll be hard for anybody."
