Jeff Kleist is the owner of Frontier Spirits in Westfield. This election season, he's concerned about jobs. "I've got so many friends who can't find work," he said. "As a small business owner, I don't know how anybody could want to vote for Obama.” Kleist bought his liquor store about five years ago and since then has almost doubled its business. After working for a liquor distributor based in Arizona for 5 years, he moved back to his homestate to buy Frontier Spirits because he thought it was a better opportunity. He didn’t feel a sense of job security in Arizona. In 2008, shortly after he bought his business, Kleist believed President Obama could be a voice for small business owners and help the working class. Four years later, he regrets that vote. “He just didn’t do what he said he was going to. I’m not voting for him again,” Kleist explained. When Governor Mitt Romney announced Janesville Congressman Paul Ryan would be his running mate, it made up Kleist's mind he would vote for the former Massachusetts Governor. He thinks with Ryan’s help, Romney will create jobs. “He may be rich, but I still think he’ll do a better job than Obama,” he said. Maureen McCollum and I asked Kleist if Romney or Ryan walked through the door of his store, what he would recommend for them; he walked to the shelf with the expensive liquor and picked up a bottle of Glenmorangie 10-year old scotch. “I’d give him this. It’s smooth, and I think it’s a respectful thing to give someone,” Kleist said. Even though Kleist doesn’t drink alcohol [Editor's note: neither does Mitt Romney], he says a hard-working, honest man deserves a high-quality cocktail. This week, WPR's Maureen McCollum and Lindsey Moon are traveling north along Highway 51, hearing what voters are thinking ahead of November's election. Hear reports mornings this week at 7:30 on WPR.
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