Voters wonder who can fix economy

In distressed Burlington, road ahead is unclear

BURLINGTON -- It wasn't news, hardly, when another mill in the once textile-rich Piedmont announced in January it would fire 400 workers and ship jobs and equipment to Mexico.

It's not news now, when Kathy Riley emerges from the brick hulk of Gold Toe/Moretz at the end of a $12-an-hour shift. She's just another soon-to-be unemployed worker among thousands who have lost textile jobs since the end of the administration of President Bill Clinton, who came to Alamance County on Wednesday to campaign for his wife.

"The economy is just poor around here," said Riley, 47, as she walked to her car. She plans to vote for Sen. Barack Obama in the Democratic primary.

The neighborhood surrounding the Gold Toe/Moretz mill on Plaid Street, where the textile machines' whine is a constant white noise, ought to belong to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has run strongly in struggling post-industrial regions. Still, many folks can't decide between her and Sen. Barack Obama. A few -- although they are Democrats -- are waiting for the Republican in November.

In this corner of the state, residents and workers agree on this much: The economy feels horrible. And they aren't certain how the next president can reverse the trend.

"Not with the damage Bush has done in eight years," said Karl Sullivan, 37, who has been searching for work in construction for three years and recently had to sell his car. He supports Sen. John McCain.

Bill Clinton came to Elon University, less than five miles from this neighborhood. But before listening to him, listen to the voters around here:

"I wish they could stop all these people from sending jobs overseas and throwing people out of work," said Era Edwards, 90, a Clinton supporter who can see the mill from her backyard.

"Ain't nobody got no money," said R.L. Justice, a McCain supporter and owner of the Trollinger Street auto garage a block away, where business is the worst it has been in 24 years. "When that mill closes up, it's gonna hurt."

"So many things are negative," said Shannon Alston, an Obama supporter who paints brilliant pictures of trees that he says are divinely inspired.

Paulette Pride watches it all through the window of her own textiles business -- a tiny alterations shop on Trollinger Street she calls Unlimited Options. She's been here nine years, creating wedding gowns and prom dresses.

"Burlington is pretty much hurting in the jobs area," Pride said as she fed hunter-green satin through the needle of her machine, her right foot pumping the pedal, the motor rattling the floor.

Pride leans toward Clinton in the May 6 primary because, she said, it's time for a woman to run the nation's business. She remembers the good economic times of the '90s. "If we can get the country on track, it'll trickle down to us," Pride said.

Pride figures she'll get some business from the layoffs. Families without jobs will want to repair tattered garments rather than pay for new clothes, she said.

Also, she added, people under stress lose weight. They need alterations.

There's stress to go around.

Blaming NAFTA

On the street behind Pride's shop, stylist Linda Bright opened her own salon last summer.

She did just about everything to get by, including working in the mills, before she earned her cosmetology license.

Now she works in a neighborhood where for-sale signs stick around and she hears rumors of drug houses. It used to be such a well-to-do community, she said, looking out her window.

"The neighborhood feels shook," she said. "It's taken, like, a beating."

Bright, along with a lot of other people, blames the job losses on NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, which opened trade with Mexico and Canada. Bill Clinton signed it into law; Hillary Clinton says she had doubts about the deal. She and Obama both want changes.