Campaign 2006: The Battle for Ohio, Round Two

(2 of 3)

So it's a straight-ahead battle between two candidates who are emphasizing the same themes their parties are offering nationwide. DeWine and the national Republicans are running ads attacking Brown for his opposition to the Patriot Act, the Bush tax cuts and some measures the G.O.P. has pushed to stop illegal immigration, such as the immigration bill the House passed last year that didn't have a guest worker program. Brown is attacking DeWine for supporting trade agreements like NAFTA that he says have cost jobs in Ohio, backing President Bush on the war and not doing enough to hold down the cost of prescription drugs. Brown has long been a critic of these trade deals, which more moderate Democrats such as President Clinton have in the past supported, and if his populist rhetoric works, expect to see other candidates adopt such anti-trade rhetoric in the Midwest in 2008 to appeal to voters worried about the continuing decline of manufacturing jobs. DeWine has a history of winning close races, and for all the attention focused on it as a swing state, Ohio has long had two Republican senators and a Republican governor. But nearly all the polls over the last two months have shown Brown ahead.

HOUSE

Rep. Deborah Pryce (R) vs. Mary Joe Kilroy (D)

If Kilroy, a Franklin County Commissioner, wins this race, it would be the biggest individual victory for the House Democrats on election night, because Pryce, as the chairman of the House Republicans, is the No. 4 member of the leadership team. The Democrats see this district in Central Ohio as an opportunity to make a huge splash, as MoveOn.org and Americans United for Change, which opposes Bush's plan to revamp Social Security with private accounts, have been among the groups attacking Pryce in ads.

This race gets at one of the central questions of this campaign: will voters choose to dump incumbents who they think are perfectly nice people and good members to send a message to Washington and President Bush? Pryce is well-liked in the district and won 62% of the vote there in 2004, even while Bush and Kerry were split about evenly. And over the last few months, she's tried to reassure voters of her centrist views, by voting for and bragging about her support of embryonic stem cell research and raising the minimum wage, which most of the House Republican leadership opposed. Of course, on almost all the big issues, starting with the Iraq War, Pryce has supported Bush, and that's what Kilroy is hoping can sink the seven-term incumbent.

GOVERNOR

Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell (R) vs. Rep. Ted Strickland (D)

This was supposed to be one of the most interesting races in the country, as the two candidates both have resumes that make them stick out in their parties. Blackwell is the controversial Ohio Secretary of State, whom many Democrats blame for problems some voters had, such as long lines at polling places, on Election Day in 2004. He's one of the major figures in the rise of the conservative, evangelical wing of the Ohio Republican Party and won a difficult primary over a more moderate opponent. And he's one of the few African-American Republicans running statewide in the country. Democrats are often unfairly described as a party that doesn't appeal to religious voters, as African Americans attend church in high numbers and tend to vote Democratic, but Ted Strickland is an unusual candidate as well: the congressman has a master's degree in divinity, has worked as an administrator at a Methodist children's home and talks openly about his faith in campaign ads.