Republican woes make Democrats optimistic

Republicans are facing a huge challenge, the state GOP chairman says.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- In Ohio, where President Bush's ratings are low and support for scandal-scarred Gov. Bob Taft even lower, Republicans are in trouble.
Which is why Democrats sound uncommonly optimistic as they look ahead to the fall elections in the state that crushed their hopes for the White House in 2004 and has sent only Republicans to statewide political office for more than a decade.
"The voters want a change in direction. ... They don't want more Bob Taft and they don't want more George Bush," says Rep. Sherrod Brown, challenging Republican Sen. Mike DeWine in a close race that figures prominently in the Democrats' hopes for the midterm elections.
Other races are drawing attention in what already is blossoming into a campaign of unpleasantness. Up and down the ticket, Democrats hope Ohio will reward them at the same time it retains its standing as a national barometer.
"I don't think there's any question about it. This is going to be our toughest challenge yet that we've had recently," said Bob Bennett, the state Republican chairman. He says Republicans need to focus on new schools built and other accomplishments. "I'm not the least bit pessimistic, but I think we have a struggle."
Apart from the Senate race, voters will pick a new governor. That makes Ohio one of several large states -- New York, Florida, California among them -- where Democrats sense a chance to reclaim lost territory.
House races
The national battle for control of the House has arrived with an early vengeance. Democrats are targeting Rep. Deborah Pryce, a member of the Republican leadership, as well as other veteran lawmakers.
Some Republicans say privately they hope that Rep. Bob Ney, mentioned in the scandal spawned by lobbyist Jack Abramoff, will withdraw after he wins his primary May 2.
At the same time, Republican strategists are waging a counterattack to offset any losses. Their top focus is the House seat vacated by the likely Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Ted Strickland. Democrats hope that automated telephone calls by former President Clinton will trump the Republican maneuvering.
"We all run in the environment that exists," says DeWine, who has run -- and won -- races in difficult Republican years in the past. "I can't change it."
Strickland told an audience of retired union workers his recent campaign poll found that 72 percent of Ohioans believe the state is headed in the wrong direction. That's 10 percent worse than the national mood.