WATONNA, Minn. - No one wanted to give Vice President Al Gore credit, not even supporters.
A maintenance supervisor, Daniel Buskovick, said his finances are in better shape than they were eight years ago. A printer, Scott Mahlmann, agreed. So did antiques dealers, insurance agents, and factory workers who had one reason or another to be on Main Street the other day.
But to a Minnesotan, they insisted that the economy stands apart from the presidency. Gore wasn't responsible for its strength, they said, and the next president won't be to blame for any weakness. And any fear that one party or the other could mean leaner times isn't factoring into their top-of-the-ticket decisions.
Jack Etherton, 74, a retired power lineman who ''absolutely'' has done well with his investments since 1994, put it thus: ''The economy's going to do what the economy's going to do.''
Come Tuesday, no one knows what Minnesota will do. Once a Democratic stronghold, the state is now impossible to call.
Ralph Nader's influence on Gore's duel with George W. Bush is another unknown. Minnesotans understand that a vote for the underdog is not necessarily a vote misspent. After all, they sent Jesse Ventura, the former wrestler, to the governor's mansion.
Etherton's first presidential vote went to Harry S. Truman. Ever since, he has voted for one Democratic president after another. Recently, he cast an absentee ballot for Nader, saying he would never vote for a Republican, but could not stomach Gore's stance in favor of gun control.
Buskovick, 56, who had stopped in at the antiques mall that his wife and daughter co-own on Main Street, said: ''The economy is very important to me because I've seen it both ways, up and down to the point where there are no jobs.
''But whatever happens has more to do with the administration before and Congress than what the president does,'' Buskovick added.
Whether it's because Buskovick may be right, or because the Gore campaign has opted to distance itself from President Clinton rather than capitalize on the expansion that they both observed, the people who live and shop and enjoy a beer on Owatonna's Main Street, found no connection.
Stephenia Bean, a sales clerk at another antiques mall and an abortion opponent who is backing Bush, said she doesn't blame the Democrats for the hard times her family has had.
Several others said Congress has more say on economic policy than the president, and a Republican, Gil Gutknecht, represents Owatonna, 60 miles south of Minneapolis, and the rest of Minnesota's 1st District in Washington.
''I keep hearing about all this prosperity, but we haven't seen it,'' said Bean, 46, whose husband was laid off from a trade association. ''But I'm not sure you could blame any one person.''
The Beans moved to Owatonna, a town of about 21,200 in Steele County 60 miles south of Minneapolis-St. Paul, two years ago, after her husband landed an executive position with Josten's Inc., known for producing class rings and awards plaques.
The county's four largest employers, a glass manufacturer and an insurance company among them, provide another 5,000 jobs among them and have helped cut the unemployment rate to about half the national average, according to the local Chamber of Commerce. Median household income exceeds $40,000 a year.
But the county seat's Main Street does not appear to be thriving, and it isn't even the picturesque and profitable downtown's main thoroughfare.
The county jail is on it, as well as the courthouse. Several storefronts are vacant on the small commercial stretch before Main gives way to stately homes that would cost upwards of $1 million in Boston with their sweeping lawns and immense porches.
For Dallas Ketchum, whose office fronts Main Street, changing the political party in charge makes no sense when times are so good.
But Ketchum, head of Steele County Abstract Co., said Gore would get his vote for reasons having more to do with his distrust of Bush than with the economy. He would have considered an alternative if he had liked a third-party candidate who he thought could win.
''When you get into such a battle between the two parties, what a great time for an independent to come in like a white knight on a horse,'' said Ketchum, 53, who supported Ventura. ''But I don't feel that way about Nader.''
At Hoff's Bar & Lounge, a dark establishment with a jukebox and a pool table, the patrons who had stopped in for a drink as sundown approached included three Bush voters, three Gore voters, one Nader voter and two nonvoters.
Next door, at the Office Bar, with a similar layout, voters were far outnumbered by nonvoters, including a convicted felon or two ineligible to vote.
''It does matter to me whether a Republican or Democrat is in the White House, but not enough to give one of them my individual,'' said Merton French, 47, a tile setter in the Office Bar who said he will vote for Nader.
''Sure, they probably influence the economy. But what's most important to me are emotional issues, like abortion or gun control. That's what gets your vote.''
