Still Undecided After All These Months

The presidential campaign seemingly has gone on forever, but I had not met any truly undecided voters until yesterday at the TimeWarner Summit: Politics 2008, co-hosted by CNN and Time magazine.

Sure, there were the three white voters from Arizona with whom I shared an elevator in Philadelphia. They said they were "undecided," but their body language screamed Bradley effect. I think they were reluctant to tell my friend and me that they were not supporting Barack Obama.

With Election Day just three weeks away, I finally met some undecided voters. For their own reasons, they wish to remain anonymous. Suffice it to say, they are white females who are members of the United Federation of Teachers.

Both seemed sincerely conflicted that they have lingering doubts about Obama, who has been endorsed by their union.

Yes, they are Hillary Clinton supporters, but John McCain Sarah Palin is not an option. Still, they are not ready to pull the lever for Obama.

Sammie (not her real name) told me:

I will probably vote for Obama but right now, I’m still very torn. I’m concerned about the people he’s surrounded himself with and some of his ties.

Sammie’s colleague Dee Dee (not her real name) added:

I have the same concerns. The issue is the people who are surrounding him, Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers…I keep changing depending on what they’re talking about.

With 21 days to go, McCain will keeping talking about Ayers and controversial associations like ACORN.

Speaking of associations, Obama rightly threw Rep. John Lewis under the bus for saying McCain was "sowing the seeds of hatred and division." Lewis compared McCain’s and Sarah Palin’s criticisms of a political rival to the hate speech of segregationist George Wallace.

In an interview with CNN's Dana Bash, McCain said Lewis' comments "stopped me in my tracks":

I never believed that John Lewis, who is an American hero whom I admire, would ever make a comment of that nature. He even referred to the bombing of a church in Birmingham. That's unacceptable.

The notion that McCain and Palin are inciting a "lynch mob mentality" at campaign rallies was debunked by Jonathan Klein, president of CNN/US:

It is clear from reporters who are there that these are a few isolated incidents. But they are dominating coverage and have become the media narrative.

Is there a liberal bias in the press? You betcha!