POLITICS McKelvey takes pro-Bush message national

The mayor doesn't have 'a lot of faith in John Kerry.'
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- After crossing party lines to support President Bush, Youngstown Mayor George M. McKelvey is making the rounds of national political television shows.
McKelvey, a Democrat, made a brief appearance Tuesday on CNN's "Inside Politics," hosted by Judy Woodruff. McKelvey said he doesn't have "a lot of faith in John Kerry," his party's presidential nominee. He called him a "traditional politician," and then repeated a line he gave during his Monday announcement.
"If I asked [Kerry] what he had for breakfast, he'd say to me, 'What did you have for breakfast?' And then after I told him, he'd say, 'I had that too.'"
McKelvey said Bush is the stronger candidate and "the best man for the job. It's that simple."
Air base
Woodruff asked McKelvey, mayor of Ohio's eighth largest city and one of the higher profile Democrats in the country to back the president, about previous statements he made about Bush's helping the Mahoning Valley with economic assistance. McKelvey said the area's No. 1 economic development issue is saving the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna, and it will compete with the 911th station in Pittsburgh, the home of Kerry's wife, Theresa Heinz Kerry.
"I'm not the brightest guy in the world, but I can figure out that there's a Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, and that there's a ketchup made in Pittsburgh, and that if John Kerry is the president of the United States, I know which base is going to close," he said.
Officials with The Spectrum Group, a Washington, D.C., consulting firm that conducted a study of the Vienna base, have previously stated the proximity of the two facilities would probably have no impact because the two have different recruitment base groups.
McKelvey is scheduled to be a guest tonight on the Fox News program "Hannity and Colmes," and expects to make other national TV appearances.
McKelvey said 20 minutes after appearing on CNN, Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Bennett called and relayed a message that White House communications officials were pleased with his appearance and want him to do more TV shows.
Convention
McKelvey will interrupt a family vacation to the Caribbean to attend the Republican National Convention in New York City on Tuesday. McKelvey said Republicans are setting up interviews for him with various media outlets, and he plans to speak at an Ohio-California delegate meeting. McKelvey doubts he would speak at the convention.
Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. John Edwards, Democratic vice presidential nominee, was to deliver a speech on jobs today in Warren, and Theresa Heinz Kerry was to speak today in New Castle, Pa., about rising health care and prescription drug costs.
Also, the Democratic National Committee's "America Can Do Better" 15-city bus tour arrives about 9 a.m. Thursday at Waddell Park in Niles to drum up support for the Democratic ticket days before the GOP convention.
skolnick@vindy.com