MAHA - Never mind New Hampshire.
The people who live and vote in Omaha were indifferent to the Iowa caucuses, and that state is only a river away. As far as they are concerned, tomorrow's presidential primary might as well be taking place in another country.
It's too much campaigning too soon, they said. November is too far away. The economy is too strong to worry now. Regardless of who wins, the candidates cannot be trusted anyway.
Whatever their reasons, and everyone apologized before offering them, one Omahan after another expressed little interest, if not downright disgust, with presidential politics this election season. Not yet turned on or already turned off, they said they regarded the Iowa caucuses as a circus, the New Hampshire primaries as a nominating process gone awry.
As Richard Shugrue, a law professor at Creighton University, put it, ''I'm a political junkie, but I'm very unusual. I like this stuff. On the other hand, I work with highly educated people and, frankly, they don't give a damn, to quote Rhett Butler.''
That puts these Midwesterners, often stereotyped for their good-naturedness, in the middle of America in more ways than one. Polls show that the vast majority of Americans are not paying close attention to the campaign, or any attention at all.
In the latest nationwide survey by the Vanishing Voter Project at Harvard University's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, for instance, 76 percent of the respondents indicated they are not following the campaign. A mere 6 percent said they are following it closely. Even at the much-touted Iowa caucuses last week, only 11 percent of the eligible voters turned out.
''The subject comes up in class, it's in the news, but it's just not part of my life,'' said Nathan Von Ahsen, a 19-year-old health administration and policy major who will be eligible to vote in his first presidential election come November. ''I've got enough to worry about with my midterms.''
Likewise, scores of interviews in the city that established Arbor Day and feeds the country with its corn and cattle, revealed residents who can no longer relate to the grinding road to the presidency.
Strolling around Omaha's spotless Old Market, lined with ethnic restaurants, antique shops, and art galleries, few shoppers could name each of the seven remaining presidential hopefuls. At a bookstore in a well-to-do neighborhood, many of the customers who had stopped in for coffee wondered aloud what Washington had to do with their own lives as college students or computer technicians. At a discount retailer, bargain hunters sounded tired of the entire process, saying it is out of their hands.
''I used to be deeply engaged in politics, but I just don't believe the candidates anymore,'' said Delores Smith, 38, an undecided voter who works in day care. ''They never stick to what they say, so why should I give them my time and attention?''
Added Paula Elgert, a 27-year-old special education teacher whose firstborn is due in April, ''It's like'' the news media are ''inundating us with information. Whenever an issue comes up, they just overdo it. I am paying a little attention, but it's too early to do any more than that.''
Early, of course, is relative in Nebraska, whose own primary is not until May and where the presidential contenders are not expected anytime soon. By then, the nominations will very likely be wrapped up, a reality that has only further alienated Omahans. The 693,900 or so people who live in the metropolitan area, 89.1 percent of them white, feel ignored.
''The national emphasis is on Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina; nobody talks about Nebraska,'' said City Councilman Cliff Herd. ''It's over by the time they get around to us. For us, that makes tuning in difficult.''
But political observers and participants, as well as potential voters, also agreed that Omaha's apathy is a result of more than location. People have been moving away from political involvement for at least a decade, with voter turnout as certain to decline every four years as candidates are likely to tromp through the snow in New Hampshire. In 2000, however, other factors have compounded the ennui, both in Nebraska and across the nation.
For starters, despite the media's emphasis on a heated race, the Iowa caucuses appeared to many to be a foregone conclusion, with Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush triumphing as expected. Many Omahans said they did not anticipate any surprises in New Hampshire.
''It made it less fun,'' said Terry Begley, 37, a computer technology coordinator in Omaha who considers himself politically active.
Neither staunchly Democratic nor staunchly Republican, Omahans also said they were dismayed by the raw partisanship of Washington, regardless of issue. The hearings to impeach President Clinton, and the salacious headlines that preceded them, were even more upsetting to residents who consider themselves upright citizens. As a result, they are now afraid to listen, said James B. Johnson, director of the political science department at the University of Nebraska in Omaha.
''The last year has been so upsetting and distracting that people are not paying attention for fear of finding out what they don't want to know,'' Johnson said.
That, in part, would explain why Colin Caspers, a 27-year-old former Marine from South Dakota who is now majoring in aviation at Creighton, described himself as detached from the presidential election. Caspers, like many Omahans, said big money has co-opted the political process, rendering his vote all but inconsequential. Why pay attention to what he can't influence, he asked.
''The average American family is shut out,'' Caspers said. ''Who can afford a $1,000-a-plate dinner to get their vote heard. ... Politics is something out of our grasp. It's for people who make $80,000 or more, not the little guy, that's for sure.''
At the same time, ongoing economic prosperity, with more millionaires than ever and three billionaires in Omaha alone, according to Forbes magazine, has convinced many voters that the upcoming election is unimportant. Instead, the emphasis appears to have shifted from making a difference to making more money while they can.
''There's so much pressure to succeed, to have money, that people don't have time to focus on the primaries,'' said Shelly Shwidelson, a 51-year-old homemaker who has worked on local campaigns. ''Especially with younger people, they're feeling the pressure from TV, from their families.''
Not every Omahan, of course, is ignoring the presidential primaries. In fact, the people who are paying attention sounded even more dismayed over voter indifference than the indifferent voters sounded about the electoral process. No matter how well they are doing financially, no matter how hard it is at times to tell the candidates apart, they emphasized the importance of their individual involvement.
''The economy is so good that people don't realize that what goes up goes down,'' said Debra Riveland, 44, who worked in sales and marketing but is currently unemployed. ''A lot of people think, `Everything's OK with me so I'm not going to bother, I'm not interested.' Well, I'm interested in the whole picture.''
