MT. KISCO, NEW YORK February 28, 2004 — The polls open Tuesday for Democratic primaries in New York and nine other states. As we continue our look at issues facing different communities, WNYC's Fred Mogul went to the Westchester County town of Mt. Kisco.

For many Mt. Kisco residents, the day begins with a trip to the local station to catch a train to work in the city. Ryan Francis also comes here early in his day, but he commutes in the other direction, up from the Bronx. Mt. Kisco is where he gets a bus to his job managing a store at the Jefferson Valley Mall.

Francis: Up this side, you have a lot of rich people. Down the other side, you talking about Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, you know people need to start lookin around there. Right now, the jobs - we don't have no jobs.

Francis says President Bush is making the economy worse. He thinks the money being spent on Iraq should be used to improve urban neighborhoods like his, so he wouldn't have to travel to suburbia for work. The south-bound, white-collar commuters seem less troubled by the economy - whether down in the city or up here in the suburbs. But many of them still want to see Bush ousted from the White House. David Friedlander is an entertainment attorney.

Friedlander: I feel optimistic about my community. I feel pessimistic about my country. I think the US heading in a very precarious direction. I think we're not respected abroad. And I think we're doing imperialist activities everywhere, and I don't think that's the right thing for the country to be doing.

Mount Kisco has some 10,000 residents and 48-hundred registered voters. Roughly 40-percent of them are Democrats, and 25-percent of them are Republicans. Although parts of the town are as well-appointed as anything in Westchester, overall individual and household incomes are slightly lower than the county -- and much, much lower than toney nearby towns such as Armonk, Bedford and Chappaqua. But while people generally say they are comfortable, many also say they're anxious about the future. Commuter Victor Rosenzweig.

Rosenzweig: The deficit that the Bush administration has built up is growing by leaps and bounds. I think that is definitely going to affect everybody - Mt. Kisco and every other community in the country and our children.

Even John Vaccaro, a barber and upbeat booster of his town and President Bush, says he's begun to wonder what will become of areas like this one.

I look at the suburbs today, and I don't understand how our children could ever live here - 10, 15, 20 years from now I have a customer who moved probably about an hour north of here, cause his taxes on his house were up to 32-thousand dollars. But the funny thing is, he didn't want to leave. He wanted to stay here. He was retired. He really loves this area. He's very unhappy where he's living, but he really had no choice.

Over at the Saw Mill Fitness Club, Jackie Reilly, a psycho-therapist and expecting mother, says she knows who's to blame for her rising taxes. She doesn't think it's what John Vaccaro calls the tax-and-spend Democrats.

Reilly: Our local communities and our states have to make up for the removal of federal funds. That directly affects us.

Reilly doesn't like how Bush is handling the deficit the environment abortion rights and the federal judiciary. She believes he's compromising civil rights for national security and unfairly doling out tax cuts.

Reilly: In Westchester county they're talking about a raise in taxes. We have very high taxes already. If it's going to excellent things, I don't care, it's fine. But if it's going into the pockets of a few elite folks that I don't even know. It's absurd. It's ridiculous. For what? To give money to your friends? Give money to my friends!

Reilly hasn't made up her mind whom to support in the Democratic primaries, but she's leaning toward John Kerry, because she thinks he can beat Bush in November. So does a nearby man wearing a weight belt and a crimson Camp HyannisSport T-shirt - politically connected Robert Kennedy. Kennedy is working closely with his Uncle Teddy to get Kerry elected.

Kennedy: John Kerry is treating the race like he's still an underdog, and I think that's smart. I think he's gonna fight for every vote in New York. I think he's turning his attention towards battling George Bush, rather than his Democratic opponents, so I think that that's a wise thing as well.

Mitchell and Susan Feir aren't enthusiastic about John Kerry as a candidate. They don't mind him, but they marginally prefer John Edwards. Sitting at the Mount Kisco Coach diner talking politics, they say they liked Howard Dean and the way he attacked the establishment with some fire in his belly. For Mitchell Feir, Edwards is the next best thing

Feir: The more I see, the more I like Edwards. He's fresh. I like his feel for the common man, so to speak.

Mitchell Feir thinks Kerry will probably get his party's nod, and he can live with that. He shares the opinion that Edwards would give the ticket some north-south heft as vice-presidential candidate. As far as the Feirs are concerned, though, it doesn't really matter: they say that if the Democrats nominate Mickey Mouse, they'd still vote for him.