Ex-hostage loses to incumbent in state Senate race

2COLUMBUS (AP) -- Former Mideast hostage Terry Anderson lost his race for a state Senate seat, falling to the Republican incumbent.
Sen. Joy Padgett, appointed to the seat in January, defeated Anderson 54 percent to 46 percent with 89 percent of precincts reporting early today, according to unofficial results.
The Appalachian district has not elected a Democrat since 1972.
Anderson, 56, was chief Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press when he was kidnapped in Lebanon by Iranian-sponsored terrorists in 1985. He was freed in 1991.
Since then he has become an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, a horse breeder, a blues-bar owner and a rich man, having received $26 million in a lawsuit against Iran.
He moved to Athens, a southeast Ohio town of 21,000, in 1998 to teach journalism and head an institute on international reporting at Ohio University. He retired three years ago.
Padgett is a former state representative and director of Ohio's Appalachian Affairs' office.