Undecided Voters Still Uncertain of Kerry

Sen. John F. Kerry has a lot of work to do this week in Boston.

He needs to persuade Joe Damico, a computer programmer from Ohio, that he's tough enough to lead the nation into war.

He must convince Joe Moragues, who repairs tractors in Florida, that he can spread prosperity to the watermelon fields there -- and to little guys all across America.

He must show Maureen Frutchey, a disabled factory worker from Pennsylvania, that he understands what it feels like to tell your daughter she can have only one glass of milk because you need to keep the grocery bill down.

As he claims center stage at the Democratic National Convention, Kerry must define himself to undecided voters like these, identified in a recent Los Angeles Times poll.

"What do you stand for? Who the hell are you? And what are you passionate about, other than holding office?" asks Frances Montrosso, 58, a house cleaner from Syracuse, N.Y.

"There's a special part of all of us that's about what we'll fight for, what we truly believe in," she says. "That's what I want to see from John Kerry."

A Times poll of registered voters conducted last week found that 7% have not determined whether they will support President Bush or challenger Kerry in November. As a group, they tend to be more moderate, more affluent and slightly older than those who have committed to a candidate.

With the presidential race neck and neck, their votes could be decisive. To learn more about their uncertainty, The Times interviewed a dozen of them at length.

From this informal focus group, a clear theme emerged: From Florida to Ohio to Colorado to Alaska, undecided voters may be dissatisfied with Bush, but they're not convinced that Kerry is worth their mark on the ballot. They say they simply do not know enough about him.

"I have a tendency always to support the one who's in [office] until I can concretely see a reason to change," said Larry Redford, 61, a retired insurance salesman from Kevil, Ky.

A nuts-and-bolts primer on how Kerry would hold down healthcare costs might do it for Redford. So might a detailed explanation of Kerry's strategy on Iraq. Whatever the topic, when he tunes into the Democratic convention this week, Redford wants to hear specific plans, not fuzzy promises.