TOLEDO, Ohio – For 36 hours, the capture of Saddam Hussein dominated headlines and the airwaves. But to a group of Democratic voters in the industrial Midwest, that seemingly seminal development was just a blip on the screen, overshadowed by concerns about the economy, health care and other domestic issues.

That was one surprising aspect in a focus group recently led by pollster Peter Hart under the nonpartisan auspices of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center. It included a dozen Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents from Ohio and Michigan, two states that won’t vote until Iowa and New Hampshire narrow the presidential field.

Though most displayed little familiarity with the specific plans of Democratic hopefuls, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s front-runner status was evident. He had more support than his rivals combined, and only one of the voters cited Dean’s opposition to the Iraq war.

Most stressed his directness. “He speaks his mind,” said Janell Ector, 27, a black Head Start teacher from Toledo.

“He’s got energy and enthusiasm,” observed Jim Waaland, 50, a Toledo parole officer.

“He hasn’t been devoured by the Washington circle yet,” said Raymond Mack, 65, a retired nurse from Temperance, Mich.

A few expressed reservations. “I feel like the media have crowned him as the Democratic candidate, and there hasn’t been an election yet,” said Barbara Yavorcik, 47, a Toledo electrical engineer.

Karen Walker, 56, a college official from Lambertville, Mich., said he may be “too aggressive.”

Jane Wilde, 50, a Toledo postal worker who favors Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, said Dean “shoots so much from the hip that I feel like, in a different sense, it’s another George W. Bush.”

Kirshner favored retired Gen. Wesley Clark. “I’d like to have a president that’s smarter than myself for a change,” he said, setting off laughter.

Wilde said Kerry “has tremendous experience and knowledge, both foreign and homeland. His biggest problem is that he’s so dry like Al Gore.” (No one mentioned Gore’s endorsement of Dean.)

Beryl Ravin, 64, a Toledo accountant, favored Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri. But there seemed little support for Gephardt in a group with eight union members. No one seemed aware he had proposed a sweeping plan to expand health care coverage.

The predominant mood was downbeat, suggesting the Rust Belt has been slow to feel the economic upturn. Hart suggested it meant states like Ohio and Michigan will be in play next fall.

Economic concern was interspersed with criticism of the new prescription drug bill, lack of funds for schools, tax cuts too beneficial to the wealthy and denunciations of Bush as “arrogant,” “unrealistic” and “out of touch.” When Hart asked if the group saw good times “around the corner,” no one raised his hand.

The same gloomy outlook was evident on Iraq, in contrast to a national NBC-Wall Street Journal poll by Hart, a Democrat, and Republican Bob Teeter showing a sharp upsurge in the belief the country is headed in the right direction after Saddam Hussein’s capture.

“I don’t think it was that important,” Mack said. “There still are the troops getting killed over there.”

Several expressed hope that the former Iraqi president’s capture would speed the end of U.S. involvement. “Now that he’s caught, can we please go home?” asked Kim Danzeisen, a 41-year-old Temperance, Mich., social worker.

But Frank Vega, 43, a government unemployment customer representative from Gibsonburg, Ohio, noted that Bush, in announcing Saddam Hussein’s capture, “said in his speech, ‘We got Saddam, but.’ He put that ‘but’ right there. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Hart, who isn’t working for any Democratic presidential candidates, noted that, as the focus group session continued, participants expressed increasing doubts about Dean and increased receptivity to Clark and even Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

“There’s a long way to the ballot box for these people between Howard Dean, ‘I like him,’ and Howard Dean, ‘I’ll vote for him,”‘ the pollster cautioned.

Carl Leubsdorf is Washington bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News.

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