CNHI News Service

Little else was on Diane Brand's mind when she was asked to name the three most important issues weighing on this fall's presidential contest.

"Economy, economy, economy," she said.

Brand, 40, does not have it as bad as some. She is city clerk of New Sharon, Iowa, a berg of 1,301 people at the last census. She rents her home and does not face the crisis of living in a house with a falling value while covering a mortgage with out-of-control interest.

But the economy has changed her mind about whether to get into the market. "We had been thinking about purchasing a new house," she said, "but probably not right now."

It is also part of the reason Brand will vote Tuesday for Sen. Barack Obama.

CNHI News Service

A presidential race that began nearly two years ago is winding down to its last days. The independent voters whose decisions could be pivotal to the election's outcome are finally choosing up sides.

Three-dozen swing voters had not yet made up their minds when contacted at the beginning of October, as part of a joint project among CNHI newsrooms in eight closely contested states. Today more than a third say they favor Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama.

In the following videos, undecided voters discuss the presidential candidates, the issues that matter to them and how they will make up their minds.

CNHI News Service

Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama tried to distinguish themselves on economics and foreign policy during Tuesday’s town hall debate. But it wasn’t enough to win over many undecided voters, according to more than a dozen who tuned in but still don't know how they will vote Nov. 4.

One voter of 15 surveyed as part of CNHI News Service's "Swing Voter" project said the debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., pushed her into a candidate's support column.

By William B. Ketter
CNHI News Service

When a voter says one thing to an election pollster and then does another thing in the anonymity of the voting booth, it is called a curious flip-flop.

But when one candidate is black and the other is white, and the results don’t reflect polls favoring the black contender, it is called the Bradley Effect.