A <i>Real</i> Election Story

It was one of those rare moments when an ordinary citizen can convey the importance of an election year issue better than any candidate ever could, reports CBS News Chief White House Correspondent John Roberts.

The topic on Wednesday in Altoona, Iowa, was prescription drugs - and Winifred Skinner stopped the room cold when she told Vice President Al Gore how, to offset the cost of her medication, she collects aluminum cans from alongside Iowa highways.

"I walk an hour-and-a-half to two-and-a-half hours, sometimes three hours, seven days a week, and I pick up cans," said Skinner, 79. "And that's what puts food on my table."

Her story earned Skinner kisses from Democrat Gore - three on the forehead, two on the cheek.

Voters like Skinner could turn this election, and both major presidential campaigns are becoming more aggressive in trying to win them over.

In Iowa, Gore attacked Republican George W. Bush's health-care plan: "The other side is putting out a plan supported by the big drug companies."

Earlier this month, Bush, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, charged that, "The Gore plan forces seniors into government chosen HMOs."

But rhetoric aside, who has the better plan for Skinner?

Between Social Security and a small pension, she brings in $10,900 a year - $200 a month goes to prescription drugs, $111 for MediGap insurance. Because she falls into the 135 percent of poverty threshold, Gore's plan would pick up all of her prescription costs under Medicare beginning January 2002.

Bush would provide funding to immediately pay her prescriptions and, four years from now, eliminate the cost of her MediGap insurance as well, saving her more than $300. But the Bush plan relies on states implementing it - and studies suggest as few as 25 percent of seniors would participate.

A proud woman, Skinner said she's not looking to the candidates for a handout, just a helping hand.

"There was a fellow in a pickup truck that came along while I was picking up cans and he yelled at me, get a life, and that hurt," she said.

That sense of frustration with trying to make ends meet is one of the most powerful forces driving this election. And with 13 million more seniors who don't have prescription drug coverage on the line, the battle to court their vote will only become more intense.