Gray Vote No Longer Reliably Red

Washington Post: In a Florida Retirement Community, Residents Are Uncharacteristically Split

(Washingtonpost.com)  The one common experience that sears the majority here is the Great Depression. The tanked economy has transcended their usual single-issue focus on health care or Social Security. They are worried, even mournful, about the country that is being passed on to their children and grandchildren. The surface anger is directed at reckless corporations and lack of oversight, but the deeper emotions eventually come out.

"Our debt is in the trillions," Decker says. "Is this a nice legacy for our kids? We're worried about our granddaughter, the kind of medical care she'll have. Will there be a Social Security for her? Will there be pensions?"

It's 4:30 in the afternoon, and the Deckers are having their ritual glass of wine when Jerry leaps up from a chair in the living room and points out the sliding glass door. "Look at that gator!" he shouts. "He's on the sixth fairway!" A 10-foot alligator is walking toward the lake.

The couple steps outside. "Oh, look, he's gonna stop and see Betty," Jeannie says.

The alligator pauses at lake's edge next to a white bird. "Isn't that majestic?" Jerry says, in awe.

The Deckers find everything about Sun City Center pretty majestic. They moved here from Delaware in 2005, and it was a long time coming. After they married in 1960, they put a plan together: save as much as possible so they could enjoy retirement. Jeannie was a registered nurse and Jerry worked for various corporations. Now they swim, fish in the Gulf of Mexico, line-dance, hit the Ringling Museum of Art and even ride the log flume at Busch Gardens.

Both voted for Bush but felt somewhat duped when no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. "Being an old Army guy, I remember saying to Jeannie, 'I hope he's right, but we gotta support him 100 percent,' " Decker says. "Turns out the weapons weren't so mass after all."

The Deckers favor abortion rights and stem cell research, but restoring financial solvency is what matters most to them.

"McCain has that built-in integrity because of what he went through as a POW," Jerry says. "But I wish he would have gotten on the bandwagon on the other issues -- the golden parachutes -- and come out swinging."

And yet he is not ready to commit to Obama.

"First of all, his presence and rhetoric are marvelous," Jerry says. "But once you get beyond that, what is there? I'm concerned with his associations in the past, the minister and ACORN." Decker is referring to Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., who cursed the nation from the pulpit, and the candidate's work with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now that critics say pressured banks into lending money to unqualified low-income home buyers.

Meanwhile, a widow friend of the Deckers just learned that her husband's benefits plan with a Big Three automaker is dropping her medical coverage.

"Doggone it, this was the agreement at the start, that we'll take care of you," Jerry says. "You didn't mind working for 35, 40 years because you say to your wife, 'Honey, we are gonna get all of these things in retirement.' "

The Deckers are better positioned than most. Eighteen months ago, when Jerry noticed the country's debt shooting up and the glut of overpriced houses, he pulled their money from the stock market and invested in certificates of deposit and long-term annuities, a move that preserved their retirement savings.

Their glass of wine finished, they watch "NASCAR Now" as they do every weekday at 5 and then "Pardon the Interruption." Jeannie makes a shrimp salad for dinner while the Florida sky turns pink.

By 6:30 the next morning they are headed out for their three-mile walk. The moon bounces off campaign signs in the cool grass. Back home they eat breakfat and Jerry becomes engrossed in an article in the morning paper about Hobson's choice and the 2008 presidential election. "It means you have a choice between two undesirable options," Jerry tells Jeannie. "That defines our dilemma perfectly."

As the Deckers clear away their breakfast dishes, Dee Williams is in another part of Sun City Center preparing to canvass for McCain. Armed with printouts of addresses of registered Republicans, the president of the local Republican Club hops in her golf cart and hits the gas.

"If Obama becomes president, I'm scared of the march down the road to socialism," Williams says. Not that she has been that thrilled with Bush. "He didn't know what a veto pen was. He didn't have the guts to stop the spending habits."

McCain is the only hope. She parks the golf cart in front of a peach-colored house with flamingos carved into the burglar bars. "I just love cul-de-sacs," Williams says. A woman tentatively opens the door.

"I'm Dee Williams, your precinct chairman," she says, handing the woman a McCain-Palin packet.

"It's kinda scary what's going on," the woman says.

Williams offers encouragement. "Yes, we have to get out the vote," she says.

Back in the golf cart, she recounts McCain's appearance the night before at a campaign stop in Minnesota where he reassured a voter that Obama is not an Arab and that there is no reason to fear him.

"Why didn't he say, 'There's no reason to be scared of him, but be scared of his policies'? " Williams says. "My daughter Kim called and said, 'I think this man is going into dementia.' "

Williams is disappointed that Palin bypassed Sun City Center on a recent swing through the Tampa Bay area for a rally at a public park in a neighboring county.

"Our people are too old to show up at some park and sit on the ground," Williams says. "You can't take our vote for granted. These people here are darned independent."

She rings the bell of a house with a Jaguar in the garage and flowering jasmine wrapped around a lamppost. The woman who answers the door makes a grave forecast for the Republican Party:

"I'm for these guys, but I don't think they'll win."

With his $25 allowance in his wallet, Jerry Decker takes the golf cart up to Home Depot. He whirs along the smooth roads, waving to friends, adjusting his baseball cap. Retirees used to move to Sun City Center and pay cash for their houses. Now mortgages are common; more than two dozen homes are in foreclosure.

When Jerry was a boy in the 1930s, his father told him that the bank had come for their furniture because of a missed payment of $2.50, and the lesson stuck with him: Don't rely on the government and don't rely on credit.

What he wants is a commander who will address the country and talk honestly. He and his wife will watch the third and final presidential debate and try to make up their minds. More pieces of the puzzle.

"Jeannie said it best," Jerry says. "She said, 'No one has stood up and said: I made a mistake.' "

He parks the golf cart outside Home Depot and inside he grabs some weedkiller before catching sight of a display of Eco-Smart light bulbs on sale. He looks at the box and checks the sign. "Six forty-five, that's a pretty good price," he says.

At the register, he greets the cashier. "Hello, young lady, can you keep me under $10?"

She smiles. "No, it's $12.97."

When he gets home, Jeanne is setting out their Saturday lunch: half a tuna sandwich each and sliced peaches. "Honey, I brought you a present," he calls, coming through the garage door. "And these were on sale."

Jeannie studies the light bulbs.

The purchase leaves Jerry with $12.03 for the week, but that's his business. "I'll make it," he says. "Oh, sure."

[johncarl54]

i will retire soon on a fixed income and will never vote republican again.

[bobnjersey]

[I realize that contradicting the ''''Messiah'''' is blasphemy to you and many others. Just remember David Keresh and Jim Jones both got their followers to believe. That didn''''t work out to well did it.]
[Posted by downsteamjim at 07:27 PM : Oct 15, 2008]

you don''t need to go that far ... you and the rest that continue to support gwb are your own little cult ... and the amazing thing is ... you don''t seem to have any acknowledged awareness of it.

it''s well researched and documented ... and it''s called authoritarianism ... which makes you an authoritarian follower ... and those that you follow authoritarian leaders.

if you could actually think for yourself you would read up on it ... recognize that it''s describing you ... and want to change ... but you wont.

http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

[brownbuilder]

SO THE TAX BREAKS FOR THE RICH DID NOT TRICKLE DOWN TO THE MIDDLE CLASS........HUM?

[dibs977]

The only massive voter fraud in recent times was done by the Republicans when Bush stole the election. Heck, I am not even sure that Republicans did not plant those voter irregularities---as that is typical Republican Dirty Trickster stuff. Democrats are not perfect but Republican fraud is so bad that it threatens to destroy us.

[dibs977]

Can you really in good conscious vote for Palin--not only is she stupid and mean--but she seems a little crazy. If something happened to McCain and she became president, it would be horrible for us. And McCain is an ok guy---but not good enough to be president. I like him ok---and hope he lives to be a hundred but he made a really bad decision to pick Palin and if that is an example of how he thinks, he is not very good.

[dibs977]

I''m 63 and I''m voting for Obama. He will lead us back to honesty, integrity, prosperity and peace.

[downsteamjim]

To rudy654: I am glad that you recognized Mickey Mouse. Can you name all the players for the Dallas Cowboys? Jesse Jackson wanted to cut Obama''s nuts, I just want to get rid of ACORNS.

[rudy654-2009]

To Norepubs: Today the worst type of voter fraud is being done by ACORN using taxpayer money. Guess who they are supporting?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by downsteamjim at 07:37 PM

McCain!

There is no voter fraud except the one the repos are trying by keeping people from voting if they are facing foreclosure. I''m sure you''ve heard. Mickey Mouse won''t be showing up, regardless of what lazy worker registered him.

[downsteamjim]

To Norepubs: Today the worst type of voter fraud is being done by ACORN using taxpayer money. Guess who they are supporting?

[norepubs]

Republican fascists didn''t seem to have a problem with ''creative accounting'' in the 2000 florida vote,or the 2004 Ohio vote.
You can''t get anything out of Republican FILTH that isn''t a bald faced lie.....


Obama may not get the gray vote, but he has the dead vote locked up.

Posted by downsteamjim at 07:03 PM : Oct

[downsteamjim]

To cbs3200: I realize that contradicting the ''Messiah'' is blasphemy to you and many others. Just remember David Keresh and Jim Jones both got their followers to believe. That didn''t work out to well did it.

[mensarino]

Here''s one old gray beard who is 100% for Obama.By the way-----this race is over!!!

[downsteamjim]

Obama may not get the gray vote, but he has the dead vote locked up.

[omded]

So how many of you are going to leave the U.S.A. if Obama gets elected? Where are you going to go? What country will take you? You should have thought about that before you elected G.W. Bush!

[letreasonwin]

Have you right-wingers checked out from a RELIABLE source what Obama actually stands for. You might be surprised how conservative he is on certain social issues. From your comments I can tell that you don''t even really know what he stands for.

Frontline had excellent program last night, portraying both candidates in a non-partisan manner. You can see it on the PBS website.

[inventagod2]

Those old hippies will save America once again...

[citizenusa-2009]

This is really funny and transparant. The LAST debate is coming up and MC CAIN is desparate!!! So he''s hired commie posters!!

[bobnjersey]

[Can any of you brain dead "Yellow Dogs" name just one country that has ever taxed it''''s way out of a depression??]
[Posted by BO_SBD at 05:26 PM : Oct 15, 2008]

no ... but i can name one the spent it''s way into one.

which party is the one that doesn''t understand the concept of a balanced budget ... which party is mostly responsible for the $10 trillion national debt ... which party gives money back to the wealthiest on the hope they''ll create jobs for the rest ... which party nearly doubled the national debt in less than six years?

taxes are the revenue that counter the expenditures ... it''s not really that difficult to follow.

[citizenusa-2009]

prefer what he truly is....A neo-Marxist, bordering on new age commie.



Posted by BO_SBD at 05:45 PM : Oct 15, 2008

"George, stop posting and help me pack, before they throw out stuff on the lawn!" (Listen to Laura, BO, or you''re not gettin "any" tonight...)

[renojmc]

The problem is that the Greatest Generation is dying off and now we''re getting the hippies of the 60''s replacing them. Their brains are so damaged from pot and LSD that they don''t know enough to stay away from Obama.