If anything, these uncommitted voters want something that's not available this election: a candidate with Republican strength and resolve in facing down America's enemies abroad but Democratic commitment to solving the problems here at home.
"If you could put the good from Bush and the good from Kerry together and have a candidate that would take care of the terrorists and the war, and take care of some of the domestic issues that need addressing, then you would have a clear-cut winner, a people's choice," Miraszek said.
But that's wishful thinking. And every head at the table nodded when Miraszek added: "There is not a clear-cut winner between the two of them. It is like choosing the lesser of two evils. It is still evil."
An Ailing Health Care System
Every time Cheryl Beckman walks into the emergency room at St. Vincent Health Center, she is reminded how politics is failing the health care system.
"We have doctors leaving to go to different states," said Beckman, a certified emergency room nurse. "Patients have been leaving the emergency room, complaining of the wait," which can average two to three hours for non-life-threatening injuries. The situation is so acute that the hospital is now hiring doctors as full-time employees in some vulnerable specialties like neurosurgery and cardiology and paying their malpractice insurance.
Everywhere she looks, she sees a health system under stress, if not in crisis. "They shut down three community health clinics serving the poorest areas; there is only one, the downtown office, open."
Health care reform, caps on medical malpractice claims and tort reform are issues she wants addressed, though she has heard little from either candidate before the conventions.
"It bothers me that they don't talk about other issues," Beckman said. "The war is important, but so are other problems here at home. It represents a political failure."
Beckman said both presidential candidates are afraid to deal with the issue. The health care debacle of 1994 made politicians gun-shy of pushing for sweeping reforms. And capping malpractice claims is a no-win issue.
"They're afraid to do something about it. If you side with the doctors, they're afraid of repercussions from the community," said Beckman, seated in a lounge chair in a room off the emergency room. "Side with the community, then the doctors are up in arms. And since they are active and tend to know the people of higher standing in the community, there can be repercussions as well."
Beckman is a lifelong Democrat, though not a particularly enthusiastic one. "I became a Democrat because my dad was a Democrat. I still don't know what all the fighting is about."
She has never voted for a Republican, but she is inclined to this year. A big reason is John Edwards -- "the ambulance chaser" -- a trial lawyer who made his fortune suing doctors. Kerry is a lawyer as well, doubly troubling for Beckman.
On a recent trip, she heard Vice President Cheney talk about capping medical malpractice claims and heard the same from Bush during his acceptance speech.
Their comments -- plus her visceral dislike for Edwards -- have left her, for the moment, inclined to support Bush. "I want to hear more," she said.
