A teacher, a technical writer, a small business owner: All are looking for a president to lead the United States out of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
But which candidate would do the best job? The three Utahns differ, based on what candidates presented at the third and final presidential debate Wednesday. One doubts whether either can deliver.
"When they're talking about giving us all these tax refunds, they're going to have to turn around and tax something else," said Dave Cloward, owner of Valley Foods Brokerage in Spanish Fork. "The only way (the government can) get money is through taxes ... and the middle class is where the money is. So we're going to get hit ... by either one of them."
In Wednesday's debate, economic plans of both candidates were touched upon:
Sen. Barack Obama cutting taxes on people making less than $200,0000, raising taxes for those making more than $250,000 a year, cutting unneeded federal programs and fine-tuning others. He'd give incentives to create jobs domestically and allow people to tap retirement funds without penalty.
Sen. John McCain would cut the capital gains tax, and talked about using a chunk of the government's financial rescue to help people fend off foreclosure, eliminate some programs, such as ethanol subsidies, fight for line item veto power and get rid of pork-barrel spending. He criticized Obama's idea of taxing anybody during hard times, and touted a federal spending freeze, which Obama criticized.
McCain's spending-freeze idea shocked Salt Lake City resident David Gravelle, because it sounded off the cuff in the last debate, and this time around, came with even fewer details.
"It's very reminiscent of the kinds of mistakes made in the early days of the Great Depression," said Gravelle, who works as a technical writer for a Web hosting company, of a federal spending freeze.
He felt Obama's economic policies would be far more helpful to people, and that McCain oversimplified the economic crisis.
"We are in the most profound global situation, and the picture he's painting for us is 'Joe plumber'? ... We're on the brink of a global depression (and he's talking about) capital gains tax breaks?" he said. "It's veering into the insane."
Jenicee Jacobson, a Riverton High social studies teacher, looks at the candidates' proposals from the buy-in standpoint: As in, who's got to buy into them before they can go anywhere. And it's not just average people who cast votes on that.
"My first thought is, OK, but what's Congress' responsibility?" Jacobson said. "The president is not going to single-handedly wave a wand and implement any of these policies."
Jacobson also views the economic crises more patiently. She's not looking for candidates to come up with a quick solution. She wants economic difficulties addressed long-term.
"Probably, economically, I do lean more toward McCain" preferring his ideas of growing the economy over a middle-class tax cut because she believes they would put more money in people's pockets in the long run.
"But it's obvious, during an election year, (they're) trying to give people the immediate answers ... and I don't think they can."
E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com