Region needs Strickland in fight to save air base

It is telling that Congressman Ted Strickland doesn't have any significant opposition this year in his bid for a sixth two-year term.
What it tells us is that the Democratic member of the House of Representatives has developed a legislative record and a reputation for constituency service that potential contenders viewed as insurmountable.
It is also telling that the 6th District, which Strickland, of Lisbon, represents, has a 51 percent to 49 percent Republican advantage, and yet no member of the GOP chose to file against the incumbent this year.
Don't forget that this district has been in existence since only the 2002 election. It stretches 300 miles from Boardman in Mahoning County to Salem in Columbiana County all the way down to Lawrence County.
But while we aren't surprised that Strickland hasn't attracted a formidable opponent, he does have to clear a minor hurdle in the March 2 primary.
Diane DiCarlo Murphy of Canfield, a teacher in the Youngstown schools system, is making her first bid for public office -- and it shows.
From her decision to spend only $3,000 (of her own money) on the race to her superficial grasp of the issues, Murphy's candidacy cannot be viewed as anything more than an attempt to build up her name recognition. She had previously talked about running for mayor of Youngstown and not too long ago had applied for the position of Youngstown schools superintendent.
Her positions on the major issues of the day are not well developed and are exposed when you hear Strickland talk about the economy, the war in Iraq, trade policies that have drained manufacturing jobs from the United States and the Bush administration's turning its back on veterans, senior citizens, the middle class and the poor.
Potential crisis
But if Strickland's solid understanding of those and other issues don't grab your attention, then a closer-to-home potential crisis should sway any doubters about the need to make sure he remains in office.
Next year, the federal government will make public its list of military installations that should be closed. The list will be presented to Congress by the Bush administration.
The challenge facing the Mahoning and Shenango valleys is to keep the Youngstown Air Reserve Station, which is adjacent to the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna Township in Trumbull County, off the list.
If it is on the list, the challenge will be to garner support in Congress to prevent the devastating outcome.
Strickland has established strong ties with the Democratic leadership, but also has a working relationship with Republicans such as Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine.
Those connections are absolutely necessary, especially because the Valley's other congressman, Tim Ryan, D-Niles, is still relatively new, completing his first two-year term in the House.
The Vindicator strongly believes that Strickland's presence on Capitol Hill is essential to the economic future of this region -- a future that will be greatly undermined without the air reserve base and the $90 million a year it pumps into the local economy.