Storm Over 9/11 Leaves Swing Voters Less Certain Still
KATE ZERNIKE
COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 31 —From the beginning, Judy Pappas questioned the quickness with which the Bush administration went to war in Iraq.
She voted for President Bush, and considers herself a lifelong Republican. But by the time Mr. Bush's former counterterrorism chief, Richard A. Clarke, appeared on television last week saying that the administration had focused too much on Iraq and not enough on terrorism, she was doubting that she could vote for Mr. Bush again.
"It's a tough call, it's just one man," said Ms. Pappas, 58, a legal secretary, as she bought her morning coffee across from the Capitol here. "But I feel we were set up. Do I believe Clarke? Yes, I do."
Still, Ms. Pappas is not convinced she wants to vote for John Kerry, the likely Democratic candidate. "He's not a proven entity in my book," she said. "Not yet."
In three dozen interviews this week in this swing state, a number of undecided voters sounded the same note as Ms. Pappas, saying they were growing ever more undecided the more they heard from Washington.
Among partisan Democrats and Republicans, the testimony from Mr. Clarke and the Bush administration's reaction to it has only reinforced partisan feelings: those who firmly oppose Mr. Bush said they saw Mr. Clarke's testimony as confirmation that the president could not be trusted. Those who firmly support the president said Mr. Clarke was shifting his story to sell books.
"Clearly, he's got his own agenda," said Bill Gibson, 50, an investment banker. "When he says the book has nothing to do with his timing, it's just absurd.`
Jonathon Alexander, 39, walked into an upscale gym proclaiming: "It's the first time I'm really excited to vote. I can't wait to get this guy out of office."
Some voters, including registered Democrats, said they continued to be impressed by Mr. Bush's response to the Sept. 11 attacks and would support him because of that. But some voters who were not committed to either candidate said in interviews that Mr. Clarke's testimony had reinforced their uncertainty about the president. And what they ultimately decide will be key here, a state where Mr. Bush beat Al Gore by a slim 165,000 votes in 2000.
And the loss of of about 200,000 jobs in the four years since the last election has made Democrats think they could take it this year. The most recent statewide polls show Ohio to be a dead heat. Both parties are spending so heavily on ads that the average television watcher in this city is now likely to see 18 political ads a week.
Certainly many voters here say they have been following Mr. Clarke's statements and the debate around them. Barnes & Noble at the Easton Town Center, on Columbus's outskirts, said that it had sold out of Mr. Clarke's book and that four of the chain's other stores in the city had, too, within days of its release.
Interviews backed up what national polls this week have shown. Compared to before the release of the Clarke book, according to a Pew Research poll, a smaller share of voters say Mr. Bush is the best person to defend the country against terrorism, but he continues to lead Mr. Kerry on that measure, and the percentage of people who say that Mr. Bush can best handle foreign policy has not declined.
Among undecided or swing voters, however, the share of people who said Mr. Bush was the best candidate to handle terrorism had now declined to 50 percent from 72 percent in mid-March. At the same time, the portion of those who thought Mr. Kerry could better handle terrorism went to 13 percent from 11 percent, and those who thought that neither was better rose to 37 percent from 17 percent.
Elmo Kallner, a retired school superintendent, explaining how he was going to approach the election this year, said, "It comes down to the guy I'm going to trust for the next four years."
But he said that while he was disappointed with the way Mr. Bush had handled Iraq, he had not seen enough from Mr. Kerry to commit to him.
Tim Long, 48, an investment banker getting a haircut downtown late Tuesday, said: "I supported Bush last time. If I had to vote today, I wouldn't." The problem began, he said, with Iraq and the failure to find weapons of mass destruction. "When he went in there, I said I trust him, I'm assuming I know what he's doing, I'm assuming he knows more than we're being told. At the end of the day, he misled us."
But Mr. Long said he was particularly bothered by the Bush administration's reaction to the Clarke book, in particular, its resistance, until Tuesday, to allowing testimony by Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser. "I find it offensive," he said. "You can only assume she has something to hide. She's on every talk show otherwise."
Ultimately, Mr. Long said, that damaged Mr. Bush's credibility: "He's kind of condescending and not sincere, which surprised me. I thought he'd be someone you'd definitely be able to trust. I had based it on his father. He's very different from his father."
David Clarke, 20, a technology assistant at a law firm, said he was leaning toward casting his first presidential vote for Mr. Kerry, because he thought the administration was not being truthful in responding to Mr. Clarke's accusations. "They say he's out of the loop. Why is he out of the loop?" he asked. "The counterterrorism chief is out of the loop?"
But others said they did not find Mr. Kerry convincing.
"I think Bush is getting a bum rap regarding all this," said Jan Bowen, 50, who said she was a registered Democrat who had voted for Mr. Gore but was leaning toward Mr. Bush. "John Kerry would have to give me more concrete plans on the economy, on terrorism. I haven't heard anything specific enough, just a lot of blaming."
Char Schoonover, 57, a manager of a cosmetics counter at a mall north of the city, said she had not voted for Mr. Bush but was impressed by how he acted immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"That was tough for the whole country," said Ms. Schoonover, who said she was a registered Democrat. "The way he handled it was just first class. I think he's the real deal. I don't know much about John Kerry, but I think it'd be a terrible time to change leadership. I know what Bush has done and what he'd continue to do."
Rod Pritchard, who works for the city's housing program for the elderly, said that he was inclined to support the president because of his record on terrorism, but that the economy was the place where Mr. Kerry could pick up his support.
"Right now I think Bush is the person we need in there," he said as he walked in the North Mall with Ms. Randall after lunch. "But I don't know. I'm still really concerned with the economy. Kerry's record in the Senate worries me."
Others questioned how much terrorism would affect people's votes. For them, the main issue is still the economy.
"I know so many highly educated people who are unemployed," said Brenda Bailey, 43, a mother of two who lives in Grove City, south of Columbus. "A half-dozen engineers who have lost their jobs, people who thought they had it made, were living the good life. A lot of people are feeling the pinch, feeling this looming threat that they may not have a job in a year."
And many longed for less partisanship.
For her part, Ms. Pappas said she wished the questions about terrorism could be decided in a less heated atmosphere. "I would really like the truth, instead of the politics," she said.
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