Patricia Jones sided with Barack Obama after he selected Joe Biden for his running mate, but despite that and the hype of this week, a part of her is still watching to see whom John McCain chooses before she goes 100 percent Obama.
If, for some wild reason, he chooses Hillary Rodham Clinton, McCain would have Jones’ vote. It’s a long shot and something she isn’t expecting.
“Choosing Biden definitely put me more at ease,” she said. “But I’m still going to listen a lot in the next couple of months.”
Solidly middle class
Jones, 50, and husband Chuck live across the street from Sloan’s Lake and have a great view of the lake and the mountains.
The area is predominantly Democratic and unaffiliated, solidly middle class and nearly evenly split between whites and people of color, the vast majority of those Latinos.
Based on party affiliation, it would appear neighbors support the Democratic candidate for president. Yet even after a week of Obama news, many of them want more information.
Laurie Maes, 39, who was visiting the Joneses, still isn’t as comfortable with Obama as she was with Clinton.
“They say he’s going to be supportive of the middle class, and I hope he does,” she said.
She wants to know more about his plan for the economy, for reducing oil dependence and immigration issues.
Ann Obermann, 33, likes Obama but wants more detail on his stance on gay marriage.
“I’m pro gay marriage, and I’m not totally sure what he thinks about it; it’s not as clear as I want it to be,” said Obermann, who is expecting her first child. “I do like the fact that he listens, that he’s not quick to judgment.”
Catherine Foy, 33, who was walking with Obermann and her dog Tootsie, was a McCain fan but says he is not the independent she thought he was.
Foy is solidly supporting Obama now.
“I like what electing Obama says about us,” she said. “It says we will vote for an African-American man, a person for change and someone who represents us better.”
Back on the porch at the Joneses’ place, Chuck Jones, 64, said he will vote for McCain, though he points out he’s voted for Democrats before, namely Sen. Ken Salazar.
“He’s a lightweight,” he said of Obama. “He has no foreign policy or experience. He’s a typical politician; his cronyism got him where he is; it was too fast.”
Candidate appealing, but . . .
Plus, Obama hasn’t revealed much about his specific positions on issues.
“All I hear is ‘change, change, change,’ but no real specifics,” Chuck Jones said. “If the only thing you’re going to change is socialize medicine, then all that does is change my taxes.”
Patricia Jones doesn’t feel Obama will pull the troops out of Iraq as quickly as he says he will and would like to know how he plans to keep that pledge.
Still, he is very inspiring, said Jones, who is a Latina.
“Obama is much more appealing to look at, to listen to; he’s a minority, he’s the face of change, both color change and in youthfulness,” she said.
Just across the park, on the northeast side, Zeferino Jimenez, 57, mowed his lawn before stopping to talk about Obama.
A naturalized citizen, he plans to vote for Obama, though he had hoped for Clinton to be selected as vice president on the ticket.
Jimenez lives with his wife and three grown children, and though he is legally blind, he is in a training program so he can work and run his own convenience store.
“I know he is a person with the desire to move the country forward,” he said. “He is lacking a little, but I think as president he will do well.”
The economy is Jimenez’s biggest concern.
