WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a prelude to war! Dear Brigade, "We're not voting out of love," Gideon says. "We're voting because we despise one guy a little less than the other." Six out of 10 independent voters tell pollsters they are dissatisfied with their choices ... "We need virtue. Like it was years ago - or at least how we remember it years ago," Gideon says. "Bring somebody on with virtue and we'll flock to him. Democrats. Republicans. Independents... "I'd trust a no-name before I'd trust them two boys running now," says Floyd Collins..." GO PAT GO!!!!!!!!! Linda --------------- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Matt B.) Sent: Monday, April 17, 2000 4:06 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: F1-Contact: News Item Matt B. - Tallahassee, FL -------------------- ABCNEWS WIRE: 04/17/2000 Americans anxious about nation, eager for leader with integrity WOODBRIDGE, N.J. (AP) _ Assembly lines are humming in Michigan. Slot machines are cranking in Illinois. And business is cooking for Helen Ventrillo at her Cookie Jar Bakery in New Jersey. But a booming economy is not enough for a small-town baker or for millions of Americans deciding who to back for president. They want a leader they can trust in trying times. "We all want better schools and lower taxes and cheaper health care. But what we need _ what this country needs _ is a man or woman with some integrity," said Ventrillo, a small, dark-haired woman covered in doughnut powder. She gazed out her storefront window, where scraps of paper danced at the feet of passers-by, and pointed to a school across the bustling street. "What our kids really need are better role models," she said. Evenly matched in their campaign for the 270 electoral votes needed for victory, Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush will wage their toughest fights in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois _ a slice of America's industrial heartland that traditionally swings between the two major parties. The road to 270 leads from a cornbeef-and-beer bar in Joliet, Ill., where good times seem a temporary condition, to "The Flapjack" diner in gritty Lansing, Mich., where a mother frets about her child's safety, to a wind-chilled school parking lot outside Cleveland, where suburban parents bicker about politics, to a two-pump gas station in rural Pennsylvania, where the owner is missing his teeth but not his political senses, and to Ventrillo's bakery, now serving opinions as strong as her coffee. An Associated Press reporter and photographer logged 1,300 miles through the battleground states and talked with more than 100 Americans not affiliated with either party _ swing voters who will help determine whether Bush or Gore claims the White House. The result: snapshots of an unsettled electorate. Rita Ganzini Falzone and Toni Gideon are dropping off their children at St. Louis School, a dirty-yellow brick structure that, set on a wooded lot in suburban Cleveland, looks more like a college campus than a Catholic school. "I don't believe a word Gore says," says Gideon, a lawyer who tends to support Republicans more than Democrats. Dressed for work, she holds her black overcoat closed against a bitter wind. "... and I can't stand Bush," says Falzone, who works at a public relations firm. She tends to back Democrats, but has voted for GOP candidates. Holding two fingers an inch apart, she says, "I don't trust that Texan this much." The mothers are nodding their heads in unison. The tall, slender Gideon and her smaller friend are opposites in many ways, but alike in one respect. "We're not voting out of love," Gideon says. "We're voting because we despise one guy a little less than the other." Six out of 10 independent voters tell pollsters they are dissatisfied with their choices. "We need virtue. Like it was years ago _ or at least how we remember it years ago," Gideon says. "Bring somebody on with virtue and we'll flock to him. Democrats. Republicans. Independents." Rising out of the Des Plaines River like a white whale, the "Northern Star" is a hulking riverboat housing Harrah's Casino in Joliet, Ill. The gambling industry helped revive the blue-collar city from its economic stupor in the early 1990s, and employs Norma Reyna as a data entry clerk. "I'll probably vote for Gore, but I have to say the president's impeachment has changed the way I look at things," says Reyna, 30, her black hair pulled into a ponytail as she stands in the boat's long shadow. Moral values are a top priority of voters this year, according to polls. "I'm looking for the character of the man more than anything when I choose," Reyna says. A string of white Christmas lights decorate the bar inside Central Grill, located a few blocks from the Joliet casino and across the street from the county courthouse. Clay Johnson, 46, and Cindy Lohmar, 39, eat lunch here once a week. "The economy scares me. There's bound to be a change," says Lohmar, toying with one of the empty Pepsi cans on their table. From her seat, she can see the courthouse, where she works as a clerk. "The other shoe is going to drop," agrees Johnson, an electrical contractor with a half-buttoned blue-flannel shirt over his white T-shirt. A growing number of Americans are telling pollsters they think the country is moving in the wrong direction; independent voters express the greatest concern. Stock market volatility, school shootings and rising gas prices fuel the anxiety. Michigan Gov. John Engler remembers when his constituents only talked about the economy. Now, in this era of full employment, voters have broadened their outlook _ school safety, retirement security and deeper social ills are the talk of Michigan towns. "People are satisfied with the economy, but they also understand there is more to life than a check," says Engler. From the window outside his downtown Detroit office, the governor can see a mist shrouding the Ambassador Bridge leading to Canada. "Americans now have time to worry about the culture. There is a belief that there are a set of standards for communities and a nation that have been debased," the Republican says. The "Hearty Breakfast" special at The Flapjack is $5.85, tax and tip not included. Steven Sylvertooth, 40, and Robin Thompson, 35, are finishing off their eggs and talking politics. "The unemployment rate and the economy is doing well around here," says Sylvertooth, a physical therapist's assistant who drove past a booming auto parts plant and two crowded strip malls on his way to the pancake house in Lansing, Mich. The subject is abruptly dropped when Thompson's daughter, 14-year-old Tanish, is asked about school. Somebody brought a bomb the other day, she says. "But I don't feel in danger at school. I don't worry about any of that," Tanish tells her mother, a nursing assistant. "That's all I worry about," the mother replies, turning to the reporter and wagging her finger. "Write that down in your book and bring it back to Washington." A knit hat pulled down over his ears, James Walker sits alone at a crowded bus stop in suburban Detroit. He's hard to miss, the only black man in sight. An Internet site developer and college student, Walker believes that Americans are too busy chasing money to realize that the country has lost its moral bearings. Poverty chokes the streets, scandal smothers Washington _ and nobody seems to care. "We can't clean up our act until Washington cleans up its act," says the 25- year-old who says he may vote for the Libertarian candidate. The road takes a sharp turn headed out of Franklin, Pa. After passing a red-brick courthouse and a row of low-slung downtown shops, look for a tiny gas station on the left. It's the one with a gravel drive, two rickety pumps and a bathroom open to the public with a sign on the door that says "Not open to the public." Owner Floyd Collins is a gap-toothed, self-described "simple country boy" who says he paid to have himself incorporated. On this day, Floyd Collins Inc. is dressed in a green-and-blue checked shirt, a parka and a baseball cap bearing the logo of a tractor company. "Who's my pick for president?" he says. "I'll tell you who it isn't. It's not Gore. It's not Bush. I'll make it simple and vote for whoever it is I don't recognize on the ballot. "I'd trust a no-name before I'd trust them two boys running now," says Floyd Collins Inc. ------------- end ---------------- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ T H E I N T E R N E T B R I G A D E Linda Muller - WebMaster Post Office Box 650266, Potomac Falls, Virginia 20165 Email: http://www.buchanan.org/form-contact.html Web: http://www.buchanan.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Have You O F F I C I A L L Y E N L I S T E D Yet? http://www.buchanan.org/form-enlistment.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ **COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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