Norman Rockwell would have enjoyed the scene on Weldy Avenue in Oreland, Pa., a dozen miles from Philadelphia's Center City: fathers raking leaves, kids climbing jungle gyms, the autumn sun shining on roomy old houses tastefully remodeled by young families. The neighborhood is filled with Halloween decorations, not political signs, but the campaign is going on here, too.
Odette Ruggieri is one of those voters candidates want to win over. "I just don't know who I'll vote for" in the tight race between Democratic Sen. Harris Wofford and Republican Rick Santorum, she says. The others in Ruggieri's light-filled kitchen have already made up their minds. Her husband, Dan, is voting for Santorum. "I don't approve of Wofford's views on health care," he says. "I would like to see Republicans take over."
Dan's father, Daniel Ruggieri Sr., disagrees. "On the presidency, I'm a die-hard Democrat, a little too liberal for these cats," he says. Indeed, the Ruggieris were the kind of immigrants who once formed a solid urban base for the Democrats. But Dan's Uncle Al, interrupting in English and Italian, is for Santorum: "Wofford is a do-nothing, zero, period. He ran on his health plan and what has he done?" That is especially bad news for Bill Clinton: Wofford's victory in a 1991 special election gave the health care issue national prominence.
Health care is still a major issue for Odette Ruggieri, a visiting nurse. She says Clinton's plan was "too sweeping, too intimidating." But she doesn't feel well informed enough yet to choose between Wofford and Santorum. She has decided to vote for Democratic Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, whose decisive vote for Clinton's 1993 budget package caused Republican members to hoot, "Goodbye, Marjorie." "It took a lot of courage on her part," says Odette. Her husband scoffs that the quid pro quo Margolies-Mezvinsky extracted from Clinton, a local entitlements summit last December, was "a poor trade-off. If she was simply trying to sell her vote, she could have gotten more."
The Ruggieri household was also split in 1992. Dan, who voted for George Bush, now says Bill Clinton's "politics and leadership are poor. Who's president -- he or his wife?" Odette voted for Clinton. "I was really concerned about taxes and the economy," she says. Now she wonders if they didn't spend too much on remodeling after buying their house in 1991. Foreign policy is a concern, too. She recognizes Clinton's recent successes, but says: "It's almost sheer luck that we're not in any worse a situation. It's not because of his ability."
The Ruggieris, hard-working and cheerful exemplars of the American dream, are edgy and ill at ease this fall. That should be sobering not just to Democratic incumbents, but also to Republicans who want to take over.
