"I'm no racist, but I'm not crazy about him either," said Mr. Piroli, 77. "I don't know, maybe 'cause he's black."

He winces at himself. "We was raised and worked with the black, the Serb," he said. "It was a regular league of nations. And the economy now, it's terrible."

"I've got to vote for him," he said finally.

Him? "The Democrat, Obama," Mr. Piroli replied. "I can't be stupid."

...

In Ambridge, a Beaver River factory town named after the company that gave it fame -- American Bridge -- Olga Permon, a 71-year-old steelworker's widow and a lifelong Democrat, climbs the stoop of her yellow-brick home. She considers the field: Mr. McCain? A grouchy old man. Ms. Palin? Please. No way. What about Mr. Obama?

Her pause goes on and on. "He scares me," Mrs. Permon said. "The coloreds are excited, but my friends and I plan to write in Hillary's name."