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Younger fixes appliances at the local college in Spokane for $1,200 a month and uses subsidized day care. The hardest part for him, he says, is saying no to his children. When they go to the supermarket, the kids put cereals and other treats in the shopping basket, and Younger has to take them back out. "You learn to shop by the sales--last week I found a sale on cream-of-mushroom soup, so instead of three cans, you're buying 10 or 12 because you know the price is going back up again." He explains, "I want to be a role model. I don't want my kids to grow up thinking that things in life are free."
There may be 10 million working poor in this country, but many of them say they are too discouraged to go out and vote, so it's easy for politicians to ignore them. Many millions more, however, are perched near the bottom of the middle class, worried about what would happen if their jobs were eliminated, or they got sick, or for some reason lost their homes. In the campaigns to come, the politician who can speak to these fears will unleash vast political energy for good or ill.
--Reported by Cathy Booth/Miami, Ann Blackman and Ann M. Simmons/Washington, Dan Cray/Los Angeles and Elizabeth Taylor/Indianapolis