Undecided voters loom over primary

Liz Royce , 47, an unemployed healthcare worker from Springfield, wants to elect a governor who will find enough money for textbooks in her children's schools. Anne Wiley , 57, a professor at Greenfield Community College, wants a candidate who is passionate about social services and environmental protection. J. William Breslin , 58, a retired editor from Rockport, is desperate to find a Democrat who can win.

``Can they electrify people?" he asked. ``Can they beat Kerry Healey?"

With a Globe poll indicating that the three-way Democratic primary race for governor is in a virtual tie, such undecided voters as Royce, Wiley, and Breslin will help decide the party's nominee in the Sept. 19 primary. The Globe poll found that 8 percent of likely primary voters were undecided and identified another 4 percent of respondents who said ``other."

The campaigns will work furiously to attract these voters in the climactic weeks of the primary race. Among the 501 likely Democratic primary voters surveyed Aug. 18-23 , 31 percent supported Deval L. Patrick, 30 percent backed Christopher F. Gabrieli, 27 percent went with Thomas F. Reilly, and 3 percent named some other candidate. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

So who are the undecideds? The poll indicated that undecided voters are more likely to be women, more likely to live in Southern or Western Massachusetts, and more likely to describe themselves as moderates. They are also less likely to be interested in the primary, and less likely to vote.

And they are picky. Bernice Darish , a grandmother from Malden, couldn't get Gabrieli on the phone to talk with her about her top issue, extending the school day.

``If he doesn't have time for me now before he's elected, what makes me think he's going to have time for me after the election?" she said in an interview. ``Think about it."

Darish was one of six undecided voters surveyed by the Globe who agreed to be interviewed for this story.

Education was by far the most important issue to the group, who all worked as teachers, had friends who did or had children or grandchildren in the schools. Darish said she worried that Massachusetts schools are not preparing children to survive in a global economy.

``Competing with Revere and Chelsea and Newton and Lenox is long gone," she said. ``Now you're competing with India and Russia and Third World countries."

But in a campaign season with little drama and no galvanizing issue, none of those interviewed saw any of the Democratic candidates as an obvious choice.

``There hasn't been any one stand out candidate that has struck me as either someone who has done something great," said Deirdre Stevenson , a 34-year-old Dorchester resident who works for a software company.

Some said they were too preoccupied with vacations, jobs, and family obligations to tune in to politics this summer. But others paying attention to the race seemed more certain about the candidates' flaws than their strengths.

``They all seem to have a negative side to them," said Daniel Colchamiro , a 32-year-old registered Democrat from Mansfield who works as a middle school science teacher. ``They've all made mistakes."

Both he and Breslin said they initially preferred Reilly, but that they had been deeply disappointed with his campaign.

Both cited Reilly's selection of Representative Marie St. Fleur as his running mate. St. Fleur withdrew within a day of being named after the Globe revealed her numerous tax delinquencies.

Colchamiro also recoiled when he read about the Reilly campaign's behind-the-scenes discussions about promoting a critic of Patrick's record at Coca-Cola. Breslin pronounced Reilly's television ads ``horrible" and his work on the Big Dig disappointing.

``He just comes across as old news," he said. ``He has not come across as someone vibrant who can deal with the problems of today."

Stevenson said she liked Patrick but wanted to learn more about his corporate record as an executive at Coca-Cola and other controversial, multinational corporations. From the little she knows, she said, Patrick's business experience was ``coming across as kind of seedy."

Colchamiro worried Gabrieli, who has pumped almost $7.5 million of his money into the race, ``has had so few contributions from other people, it's almost like he's trying to buy the election."

Asked about other issues in the campaign, the six voters interviewed were split on whether illegal immigrants should have to pay out-of-state tuition at state universities.

They were also divided on cutting the state income tax rate. Voters overwhelmingly supported a 2000 ballot question to roll back the income tax to 5 percent, but the rate is now 5.3 percent.

``It's not super-important, but I don't like the idea you're asked to dictate what's going to happen, and then you vote, and then it doesn't happen anyway," Royce said of the tax rate.

Wiley, in a separate interview, disagreed: ``As far as I'm concerned, you could increase taxes a little bit if it went to supporting public education, adequate housing, protecting the environment."

And though they were disgusted with the Big Dig's safety and financial problems, they were reluctant to vote based on that issue.

Andrew E. Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire's Survey Center, which conducted the poll, said undecided voters, when asked which candidate would be best qualified to manage the Big Dig, were much less likely to name a candidate.

Smith said this was because they tended to have paid less attention to the race.

With Labor Day approaching, the campaigns are feeling the pressure of the need to make the sale.

Patrick is holding community meetings and focusing on local outreach. Reilly is traveling around the state to meet voters. Gabrieli, in a potentially risky strategy for a Democratic primary, is emphasizing his nonpartisan approach to governing, saying in ads that he doesn't care if an idea is Democratic or Republican as long as it is good.

``We believe that's what people want to hear -- a candidate not talking about ideology but specific plans for how you would get the job done," said Gabrieli spokesman Joe Ganley. Unenrolled voters can vote in the primary.

Colchamiro said he is looking for a candidate ``who is honest, and who actually looks out for Massachusetts." He finds himself leaning toward Patrick, who he said ``is most in-tune with my ideas, which are fairly liberal."

Breslin remains flummoxed.

``I'm not thrilled with any one of them," he said. ``I'm not sure a rich businessman, an old-line politician or a Clinton administration official who's in with the liberal wing of the party have enough moderate stuff in them. . . . We need to go after independents and get them to care about their candidacy."