Election: Ohio's Undecided Voters Mull Dilemma

By Gary Mitchell, in Ohio

If retired truck driver Bob Westerfield had his way, the next president of the US would be a man who has been dead for nearly 50 years - John F Kennedy.

Mr Westerfield, 58, is an undecided voter - a precious commodity and exactly the kind of person Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have spent millions trying to woo in the swing state of Ohio.

Most mornings these days, he sips coffee at Kissner's cafe in the small town of Defiance, wearing a frayed stars-and-stripes baseball cap and surrounded mainly by conservatives and Romney supporters.

This is a popular haunt where, for as long as anyone cares to remember, many of the town's men start their day - farmers and labourers perching on stools at the bar, the town's businessmen and politicians sitting together at tables.

A couple come across like conservative caricatures, such as retired college lecturer James Bray, 73, who says Mr Obama is "definitely a Muslim", as if that might be disagreeable. His friends suggest he is joking. (For the record, Mr Obama has said he is a Christian and, according to polls, most Americans believe him.)

Another, who laughs when asked for his name and is definitely not joking, describes Mr Obama as an "anti-American dictator".

Kissner's, a popular haunt in Defiance

Mr Westerfield may not share their devotion to Mr Romney, but he is not an automatic Obama fan either. He regards himself as a Democrat but will not decide who gets his vote until he casts it a few days from now.

"I'm leaning more conservative," he says, glancing above the bar where a large TV is flashing up the latest news on Superstorm Sandy.

"I'd have JFK back if I could. I didn't like the rumours about him and Marilyn Monroe, but I think he'd do a better job than any of them.

"I'm a Democrat surrounded mostly by Republicans in this place, but I'm not bashful. Everybody has the right to have an opinion and I've got every right to vote for the opposite person to everyone else.

"But I can't make my mind up because there's not enough plusses on either side to compensate for the minuses."

Mr Romney "talks a lot but says little", says Mr Westerfield, while Mr Obama's liberal views sit uncomfortably with his strong Christian beliefs. "I don't want to see God taken out of life, out of schools."

He is not alone there. This is Bible Belt country, and strongly conservative Defiance County has leaned towards Republican presidents in recent years.

However, Mr Obama slightly increased the Democratic margin in the county four years ago to above 40%, and it remains to be seen if the jobs saved at the local GM plant after the president's multi-billion-pound car industry bailout in 2009 - opposed by Mr Romney - will translate into votes.

Mr Romney has been pushing hard to maintain the Republican support base here and was in town last Thursday for a rally heaving with 12,000 supporters.

Religion is a big part of life here

In a sign that the former governor of Massachusetts may still have his work cut out for him in Ohio, three of the 10 Kissner's customers who spoke to Sky News described themselves as undecided.

As well as Mr Westerfield, there is Jim Hale, 84, a retired pharmacist, who also describes himself as a Democrat.

"I voted for Obama last time," he says. "That was because I didn't like McCain, and I didn't like McCain because I didn't like (running mate) Sarah Palin.

"I had an automated phone call from her, asking me for her vote. I hung up.

"This time I really can't decide. For me it's all about the economy and jobs. I'm not certain about the job that Obama's done on that. I don't really know about Romney either."

Bill Rose, 65, an insurance agent, is also undecided. "Every small town in the US has a joint like Kissner's - guys like us sitting around, talking," he says.

"Usually it's about football, politics, gossip, who's cheating on who with who, but now that it's election time we talk a lot more politics.

"And you know what? I may be undecided between Obama and Romney, but I'm tempted to just vote Romney to shut these guys up - to get him into the White House so all the bitching will stop.

"I've heard enough of it."

Another regular at Kissner's is Defiance's mayor, Bob Armstrong, a Democrat and popular former barber with a full head of silver hair who likes to hand out free combs embossed with his name.

He thinks people have heard enough of the candidates bashing each other.

"If I had a wish for this election, I would wish that whoever takes that office of the presidency would throw away partisanship and bring the country back together," he says.

"I'd wish that they'd make decisions in the best interests of the country rather than in the interests of politics."

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