Times get tougher for Ohio's Republicans
2006-10-09
Source: Financial Times
email this
print this
del.icio.us
digg this
rss feedStanding in front of the fire department in Zanesville, a small Ohio town near the middle of the state, Republican Mike DeWine is doing his best to persuade voters to elect him to a third term in the US Senate.
Legislation he worked on has brought $100m to fire departments in the state, Mr DeWine says.
A few minutes later he shifts the topic to national security, holding up a sheet of paper that he says contains evidence of his opponent's past votes to cut intelligence spending.
But Mr DeWine, clad in a white shirt and tie, is having a hard time getting his message across. Only a handful of people - active Republicans in the community - had been alerted to his visit. The whistle of a passing train makes it hard to hear some of what he says.
He takes questions from the two reporters on hand - about congressman Mark Foley's exchange of suggestive messages with a young page and the need for more jobs in the region - and then mingles with the firefighters, one of whom complains about all the negative adverts this campaign season.
"It is not a great political climate," Mr DeWine says before setting off with his wife and staff for Tom's, an ice-cream parlour, for a bowl of peach ice-cream.
Click here to see the full article.
