Winning streak continues for Ryan

Meanwhile, in the 6th District race, the Democratic incumbent won in each of the district's 12 counties.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- In the end, former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. wasn't a factor.
Democrat Timothy J. Ryan of Niles captured a majority of the votes cast in the 17th Congressional District race, easily defeating Republican Ann Womer Benjamin of Aurora and Traficant, a Poland independent serving an eight-year federal prison sentence for bribery, racketeering and tax evasion.
Also, U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, a Lucasville Democrat, won each of the 12 counties in the 6th Congressional District, including Mahoning and Columbiana, and easily defeated Republican Mike Halleck of Salem.
U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, a Madison Republican, had no trouble winning re-election to the 14th Congressional District, which includes seven northern townships in Trumbull County.
Ryan did better than Traficant did in 2000, the last time the expelled congressman was re-elected. Ryan, a former Traficant staffer, captured 51 percent of the vote in Tuesday's three-person race, compared with 50 percent for his former boss two years ago in a three-person race.
Traficant's take
That Traficant garnered 15 percent of the vote from a prison cell, relying on a group of political novices to run his campaign, would seem astonishing to some people, said John Green, director of the University of Akron's Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics.
But, Green said, the reality is that it shows that Traficant's supporters were relatively small in numbers, and the former congressman had no impact on this race.
The low vote for Traficant proves the former congressman is not a political wizard anymore, said William Binning, chairman of the Youngstown State University political science department.
Ads backfired
Political experts agreed that the voter registration numbers were strongly in Ryan's favor in a heavily Democratic district. But they also said Womer Benjamin's failure to capture the interest of voters in the Mahoning Valley, where a large majority of the district's vote resides, was another key reason why she lost.
The attack ads from the Ohio Republican Party against Ryan backfired and hurt Womer Benjamin, said Melanie Blumberg, a Mahoning Valley resident and an assistant professor at California University in Pennsylvania.
"Negative ads generally depress the vote, and it appears that's what the Ohio Republican Party tried to do by running negative ads," she said. "But there's a point where negative ads cross the line and hurt those running them. In this case, it made his supporters and those on the fence have much more resolve to vote for him."
Ryan agreed, saying: "The negative ads killed her."
Candidate reactions
Womer Benjamin said she was hoping Traficant would have received 20 percent to 25 percent, which would have eaten into Ryan's base of support.
"But I'm not sure how much it would have made an impact," said Womer Benjamin, who lost by more than 17 percentage points to Ryan.
Ryan soundly defeated Womer Benjamin in Mahoning, Trumbull and Summit counties. Womer Benjamin, a four-term state representative from Portage County, beat Ryan by 631 votes in her home county.
"If I did something different, I would have concentrated on Summit," she said. "Summit had more of a potential to vote against party."
Ryan's victory continued a streak he began in the May primary by defeating more experienced politicians to win the congressional seat. In the primary, he upset U.S. Rep. Thomas C. Sawyer, an eight-term congressman and former Akron mayor with 26 years of elected experience, and state Rep. Anthony A. Latell Jr., who has held political office since 1976. Between Traficant and Womer Benjamin, they had nearly 30 years of elected experience.
A red-eyed Ryan, who said he was going on vacation today, told a large crowd packed into a smoky Mollica's Banquet Center in Niles that his victory symbolized a new beginning for the Mahoning Valley. Ryan said he will do everything he can to bring high-paying jobs and economic prosperity to an area that has been without that for years.
"We're going to turn this Valley around, and we're going to turn Northeast Ohio around," Ryan said. "This is a monumental day."
Accusations of conspiracy
Although Womer Benjamin was graceful in losing, the Traficant camp was furious.
Jim Bunosky, Traficant's campaign manager, said there was a conspiracy by the boards of elections in the four counties in the 17th District to fix the outcome.
"He got at least 25 percent of the vote," Bunosky said of Traficant. "They should investigate the boards of elections. But who would do it? The FBI? I don't know what they did, but they were slick."
Bunosky said Traficant's campaign office in Girard was besieged with telephone calls of support, and they ran out of the 3,000 yard signs they had bought three weeks ago.
"Everywhere I went, people were saying they were voting for Jim Traficant," he said. "I wish I could have counted the votes."
As for congratulatory words for the winner, Bunosky said in classic Traficant-speak: "Tim Ryan couldn't make a pimple on Jim Traficant's a--."
As for Traficant's low turnout, Ryan said people realized they would be wasting votes if they cast them for a convict.
6th District
In the 6th Congressional District race, Strickland, a four-term incumbent, had no trouble beating Halleck, a former Columbiana County commissioner. Strickland won each of the 12 counties. Halleck's best showing was in his home county, where he lost by 119 votes to Strickland.
"Strickland significantly outspent his opponent, and Halleck wasn't known in the lower part of the district," Blumberg said to explain the incumbent's victory. "Strickland has never run strong in his home district, but people know him."
Strickland's 59.4 percent vote total is the highest he has achieved in his eight congressional runs.
Strickland said he will work beginning today to organize his staff and to look for office space for a congressional district office, probably in Boardman.
"I came into this community with a humble attitude," he said. "I knew I was a stranger, and I wasn't part of this community. I felt I needed to earn the respect and endorsement of the people of this area."
Halleck said he feels sorry for Columbiana County and the portion of Mahoning in the 6th District.
"I feel very strongly that not having someone from here in Congress who isn't from the majority party is going to shortchange this area," he said. "I don't say that with any sour grapes."