Undecided voters looking to debates for some answers

By Senior White House Correspondent John King

CORWIN, Ohio (CNN) -- Like the presidential candidates, the horses at a Corwin, Ohio, farm run through a few rehearsals before the big show, taking advantage of the extra time to shake the jitters and test a few moves before the big crowd shows up.

Robin Steinmatz, who keeps things in order around the farm, promises to be watching when Democratic nominee Al Gore and Republican rival George W. Bush stage their first face-to-face showdown in Boston on Tuesday night.

Robin Steinmatz

Steinmatz is undecided: she likes Bush's support of private school vouchers, but is more in line with Gore's positions on health care.

"My Mom is almost 70 years old, and the other day we got another letter in the mail that her insurance will not be carrying her prescriptions," she said. "So now we have to start paying ... that is very taxing for a 70-year-old person on a pension."

Morning fog is a fall trademark in these southern Ohio river towns. With little more than a month to go before election day, most residents have already decided which candidate to root for in the debates.

"I am going to vote for Bush and strictly for a very silly reason," said Barbara Phillips, referring to the 1998 Monica Lewinsky scandal. "I wasn't happy with all that went on in the Clinton administration. I felt like it was just a joke. So maybe unfairly to Gore, but I don't want them back in office."

Barbara Phillips

The contest in the Buckeye State and across the country is a dead heat. The presidential debates could be a turning point, and suburban Cincinnati resident Sophie Summers hopes the Texas governor warms to the challenge.

"I think that if he can keep just telling what he plans on doing in office, we will be a whole lot better," she said.

Pre-debate polls show just a tiny slice of the electorate is still up for grabs.

Those who say they are undecided tend to fall into two camps: Voters who are just now tuning in, and those who say they have been following the race closely, but are torn between the vice president and Texas governor. Almost all say the upcoming series of debates will play a big role in helping them make up their minds.

Undecided voters like Mark Bixler could prove critical in such a close race -- if they actually vote. The 36-year-old lumber salesman insists he will.

Mark Bixler

"If I don't cast my vote I have no reason to complain and that is a lot of wasted bar time," Bixler joked.

Bixler says he's still waiting for that middle-class tax cut Bill Clinton promised in 1992. He doesn't think much of either major party candidate this year, and hopes the debates turn attention to issues often ignored on the campaign stump.

"The things going on in Yugoslavia right now. Nothing has really been said by Gore or Bush regarding that issue, which I think is very important. I think that is the next powder keg and it hasn't been addressed by these guys."

Rose Mallory works the counter in a smalltown country and western store. She favors Bush on issues like taxes and gun control, but the Republican nominee's stock fell with her after he criticized President Clinton for tapping into the country's emergency oil reserves.

"To me, it seemed like a good thing to do to try to help the people and making the prices lower, but he wasn't for that."

Eric Siemer

Bike shop owner and one-time Perot voter Eric Siemer laments the fact that there will be just two candidates on the stage Tuesday night. He thinks that Green Party nominee Ralph Nader and Reform candidate Pat Buchanan she also be included in the forum.

"Nader has a lot of good things to say, so does Buchanan. So I really don't think it fair that these guys are not allowed to participate in this presidential debate," he said.

And if he could ask a question?

"I would ask them why don't they keep their promises after the election," Siemer says.

He's guessing the answers would fall flat.