Monday, September 29, 2003
Numerous state and federal GOP politicians were named vice chairmen.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- Ohio Republicans are unleashing their most powerful state and federal officeholders to help carry Ohio for President Bush in next year's presidential election.
Bush-Cheney '04 named Gov. Bob Taft on Friday to be its Ohio campaign chairman and U.S. Sens. Mike DeWine and George V. Voinovich to be co-chairmen.
The president's re-election campaign also named every Republican nonjudicial statewide officeholder, the leaders of both houses of the GOP-controlled Legislature and every GOP congressional member from Ohio to be vice chairmen.
"Ohio is a tough state; Ohio is a 50-50 state," Taft said in an interview. "This is going to be a battleground.
"That's why we're getting organized early. That's why we're focusing on the grass roots. We've got to drive our turnout," the governor said.
Taft said the president can't be re-elected without winning Ohio.
"We're going to work day in and day out to get our vote out," Taft said.
Gathering for support
Republican leaders from throughout the state showed up at the Statehouse to offer support for the president's re-election effort.
"Our president has more on his plate than any president in my memory," Voinovich told a crowd in the Statehouse atrium. Voinovich ticked off issues including the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the overall war on terrorism.
Voinovich, a former two-term Ohio governor, said the president has also tried to help the manufacturing industry.
The president has indicated he will create an assistant commerce secretary for manufacturing, Voinovich said.
Voinovich's support for the president came despite a publicized rift earlier this year over the president's proposed tax cut.
Voinovich voted for President Bush's proposal only after it was clear it would add no more than $350 million to the federal budget deficit.
DeWine was unable to attend Friday's announcement, Republicans said.
In addition, former Ohio House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson, a central Ohio Republican, has been named to lead the president's Ohio Valley regional effort involving Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Indiana.
Previous election
In 2000, the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore abandoned Ohio in the waning weeks of the contest to concentrate efforts in other states only to see the election end in a dead heat, with Bush winning Ohio by less than 4 percent.
Bush won the presidency after controversy over hanging chads in Florida that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Dennis White said the party has been gearing up for next year's presidential campaign, building local party organizations, revamping voter databases and doing training.
White said potential voter unrest over a slow economy could be driving Bush's many trips to the Buckeye State.
The president's trip to Richfield in northeastern Ohio this past Labor Day was his 11th to Ohio since becoming president.
"He knows he's in trouble in the heartland; that's why he's here so much," White said.