By Jessie Beauchaine
MEDIA, PA - Linvilla Orchards sits nestled beyond rolling hills and down a dirt road in Media, Pennsylvania, a town of roughly 5,500 and one of Philadelphia's bedroom communities. On Sunday, hundreds of families converged on the orchard's grounds for its annual Halloween festival. For many parents, frustration with the country's situation and ambivalence about the candidates seemed as much the order of the day as finding the perfect pumpkin.
src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/2008-10-28-IMG4675.jpg"
width="320" height="240" Class="imgLeft" />
In September, Senator Biden held a town hall meeting at Linvilla with his wife and granddaughter. A week later, Senator McCain and Governor Palin rallied supporters on the Delaware County Courthouse steps in downtown Media. Across the small town, rolling lawns now bristle with campaign signs and jockey for space among the as-prevalent Halloween decorations.
The area was once a Republican stronghold, but in recent years the county has trended Democratic. Since the race for Congressional District 7, which encompasses nearly all of Delaware County, will probably be a close one, both campaigns peppered the area with calls and canvassers in recent months hoping to turn up ambivalent voters, like Mike Kolby.
Kolby, an electrical engineer, stood watching his 3-year-old son, Benjamin, playing with a wisp of cornstalk on Sunday. Kolby has a brother in the Air Force who is stationed in Iraq. He said he wants to see the country finish the war successfully, to honor those who have served there. Kolby also describes himself as staunchly pro-life and for this reason, particularly, he will be voting for McCain.
But, he said, "Making the decision was harder this year. Usually it's a no-brainer for me."
Much has been made in recent months of Main Streeters, those small-town folk who prize hard work and community, the "real" Americans who have been hit hardest by the economic crisis on that other Street. Young parents in small towns face increasingly tough decisions about home ownership, saving for college tuition, and more generally, about the kind of world their kids will be growing up in.
On the other side of the pumpkin patch, Frank DiDaniele minded a toy wagon while his kids hunted for a pumpkin. He said he was frustrated with the economy and with the state of education, and as a parent he hoped the new government would invest more in both. But, he said, he doesn't think he will vote for either Obama or McCain.
"The two-party system is broken," he said.
If DiDaniele does vote for either candidate, though, it will probably be for Obama. He likes his message of change, but he thinks the senator lacks the necessary experience to be president.
Erika Schell-Rompre is a former Clinton canvasser who also worries about Obama's newcomer status. Though she supports him now, she believes Senator Clinton was better suited to deal with politics in Washington, D.C. and steer the country through its present crisis. Schell-Rompre is upset about the impact the nation's deficit will have on the small boy playing on the grass at her feet.
"At this point, it's going to fall on his shoulders," she said. "We're spending more and more on the war. Iraq is not the future for my son."
Schell-Rompre is expecting her second child on November 6th and says she will do whatever she can to make it to the polls on Election Day.
Just down the hill from Linvilla Orchards, at the local Tom Jones diner, Nick Orloff tried to articulate his frustration with this year's election while his daughter, Katerina, clung to his legs. He said he still doesn't know who's getting his vote on the 4th.
"I'm truly undecided," he said.
The 29-year-old bankruptcy attorney said neither candidate has adequately addressed his concern about how he will pay for his children's college tuition. Orloff's wife is pregnant with their second child.
There is one thing of which Orloff is sure, however. As a social conservative, he voted for Bush in 2004.
"That didn't seem to work out so well," he said.