DeWine points to aid for Valley

DeWine criticized Bush and Rumsfeld's handling of Iraq.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine said Ohioans are too smart to vote against him because of concerns they have with fellow Republicans, including President Bush and Gov. Bob Taft.
Ohio Democrats and some news commentators have said DeWine uses Bush to raise money for his re-election campaign and avoids the president on other occasions so he isn't closely tied to him.
"It's a misconception," DeWine told The Vindicator on Friday while repeatedly slamming his hand on a table. "I vote with [Bush], and I vote against him sometimes. Sometimes we match up. Sometimes we don't."
DeWine didn't attend events in Ohio with Bush recently because in one case he went to see his 83-year-old father in Florida, and in another case, as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he was attending a federal judiciary confirmation of a Toledo attorney.
"Voters won't make a decision on Mike DeWine or Sherrod Brown on who's with George Bush and who's not," DeWine said. "In the end, this isn't about Bob Taft or George Bush or Bill Clinton or Mike Dukakis. This is about Mike DeWine and Sherrod Brown."
DeWine is considered the front-runner in Tuesday's three-man Republican primary, and Brown, a U.S. House member since 1992, is considered the favorite in the two-person Democratic primary.
DeWine doesn't dismiss his two lesser-known challengers in Tuesday's primary but said he is confident he'll win.
Other views
Brown links DeWine to Bush and Taft, saying the three are out of the mainstream.
DeWine says he's an independent voice in the Senate but has voted 96 percent of the time with Bush, said Karl Frisch, a Democratic Senate Campaign Committee spokesman.
"Mike DeWine goes along to get along," he said.
DeWine criticized the Bush administration's handling of Iraq, emphasizing that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made "very serious mistakes" regarding troop levels. The administration needs to develop a plan to remove troops from Iraq, he said, but added he doesn't favor setting a specific date for the withdrawal.
DeWine said he wouldn't call for Rumsfeld's resignation because that decision should be made by the defense secretary and Bush.
When asked about criticism from some members of his party's conservative wing about his voting record, DeWine said, "When you're in the Senate, you take positions that some people don't like. Being a United States senator, you can't worry who you'll make mad with your votes. You do your best and do what's right."
Record
DeWine said he has a long record of accomplishments in the Senate. With a seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, he has brought about $20 million in federal dollars to Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties since 2000, he said. He also said he was instrumental in the 2004 reopening of the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown.
DeWine, who held a fundraiser Friday at Avalon Inn in Howland, said he's worked well with U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, the leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate, in the past on mental health court issues.
When asked if Strickland would make a good governor, DeWine declined to comment.
DeWine also declined to comment on the bitter Republican gubernatorial race between Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell and Attorney General Jim Petro.
skolnick@vindy.com