Undecided Voters

ROCKVILLE - If Christopher Van Hollen Jr. wants to watch a creepy movie, he doesn't need to rent Night of the Living Dead - for him, the PBS documentary Taking on the Kennedys is a political horror film. The film chronicles an accomplished physician's unsuccessful 1994 Rhode Island congressional race against a young Patrick Kennedy, with all of his family mystique and connections. Van Hollen has seen the 1996 film and decided nevertheless to take on a Kennedy this year for the U.S. House of Representatives - Maryland's Mark Kennedy Shriver.

LAKE MARY, Fla. - The Meacham brothers, Ed and Dwayne, were kidding around in the parking lot after listening to George W. Bush make a speech at Seminole Community College this week. Ed likes the Republican candidate and was, he said, "fired up." But Dwayne - "That's pronounced Dee-wayne because our mom thought it sounded better" - prefers Al Gore and wasn't impressed. It turns out that it doesn't matter, though, since neither expects to vote. Dwayne Meacham moved since the last election and thinks his registration isn't valid anymore.

An Undecided lives around the corner. You probably have one lurking in your neighborhood, too, down the street, on the stoop. Or maybe you haven't noticed that quiet chap on your sofa studiously avoiding questions about combat readiness and the fate of photo-licensing in Mobeetie, Texas? For months, Undecideds have drawn the ire of pundits for dragging their heels into the 21st century. "I just can't decide who to vote for," they will moan at bus stops and coffee shops everywhere the morning after a debate.

WESTLAND, Mich. - In at least one cozy living room in this Detroit suburb last night, Republican George W. Bush did what he had to do: He made up the minds of undecided women whom he and Democratic rival Al Gore are desperately trying to woo. "I feel he's more human tonight than I came in here thinking," said Barbara Douglas, 51, an undecided Democrat. "I can't say I know who I'm going to vote for, but I feel better about Bush. I didn't think he cared that much about people, but I feel that that's the way he came across to me tonight."

Donna Rickert may be a Democrat, but she should be a natural target for George W. Bush. She's against abortion and has often voted for Republicans - among them Ronald Reagan and Bush's father, former President George Bush. Come November, however, Rickert will be voting for Democrat Al Gore. "He seems to be a family man, and I like his wife very much," says Rickert, 53, relaxing one afternoon on the front porch of her sturdy brick home in the heart of Glen Burnie. As for the younger Bush?

Gov. Parris N. Glendening, Ellen R. Sauerbrey and their barrage of attack ads have done what not even a ringing phone can -- disrupt Jim Carter's nightly ritual of watching the weather report."

With three climactic weeks remaining in the fiercely fough Maryland governor's race, the candidates are scrambling for ways to attract undecided voters -- a segment of the electorate that could make all the difference come Election Day.Their target is the truly uncommitted, a group within the broader electorate.They number about 175,000 voters of the 1.5 million who are expected to vote this year. Add another 400,000 voters if the definition of undecided extends to those whose support for Democratic Gov. Parris N. Glendening or GOP challenger Ellen R. Sauerbrey is soft.

SAN DIEGO -- In scathing, often personal terms, Bob Dole repeatedly attacked President Clinton last night as a politician who lacks ideas, breaks his campaign promises and exaggerates his accomplishments.Dole, trailing badly in the polls and needing to give his candidacy a jolt, turned almost every question in the 90-minute television debate into a criticism of the president."I'll keep my word." Dole said, over and over. "My word is my bond." He said many Americans have lost their faith in government because of Clinton administration scandals that occur "on almost a daily basis."

MOSCOW -- Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky, resplendent in a high-collared, custom-made jacket as yellow as a Yellow cab, was brandishing a bottle of his namesake vodka and half a hard-boiled egg topped with red caviar."

MOSCOW -- If elections were tomorrow, whom would you vote for?That's a simple enough question in the United States, where the choice is usually Democrat, Republican or undecided.But not in Russia. Here the Dec. 17 ballot for parliamentary elections could have been written by Tolstoy for its sheer length -- 43 parties are listed -- or by Dostoevsky for its sheer complexity -- each half of the 450-seat parliament will be selected under different rules.Even the simplest parts are difficult. While Gallup and Roper in the United States can just dial a scientifically selected set of phone numbers, Russian pollsters cannot: Only 40 percent of households nationwide have phones, and even those are not listed in any phone book.