McKelvey's political career comes to screeching halt

I guess we won't have George M. McKelvey to kick around anymore.
The ex-Youngstown mayor went from the White House to the outhouse with a major thrashing Tuesday in the Democratic primary for Mahoning County commissioner. Incumbent David Ludt of Poland received more than 70 percent of the vote easily fending off Mc-Kelvey's challenge.
McKelvey has lost and come back before. But his embarrassingly poor showing against a somewhat vulnerable incumbent probably spells the end of his long political career, outside of a possible race for city council.
McKelvey's campaign strategy was simple: He has strong name recognition in the Mahoning Valley and people would either vote for or against him. No amount of campaigning would change their minds so why bother.
Because of that, McKelvey avoided candidate forums, which traditionally do very little to help those seeking office. He also didn't do any door-to-door campaigning.
McKelvey ran television commercials and placed a few advertisements in The Vindicator. One ad had two of his children urging people to vote for their father. "At the end of the day, isn't the love of our children the only endorsement that really matters to us?" the ad read.
What was extremely peculiar was the picture. It had to be at least 15 years old because his youngest is 21 and the two daughters look like they're in elementary school.
The former mayor also called Mahoning County residents in the days leading up to the primary using a pre-recorded message "apologizing" for the campaign waged against him by Ludt.
Ludt aired a commercial that started with a picture of McKelvey and then-buddy President Bush during a 2004 presidential campaign stop. Most of the commercial had Harry Meshel, a former state Senate president who despises McKelvey, take a few shots at the ex-mayor and tout Ludt as a real Democrat.
McKelvey endorsed the Republican president two years ago. Only days before the endorsement, McKelvey said his public support of Bush would mean nothing.
Besides getting to hang out with GWB at the White House and at campaign stops, McKelvey was dead-on with his original assessment of the impact of his endorsement. As expected, Democrat John Kerry won in the Mahoning Valley and lost in Ohio. Neither result had anything to do with McKelvey's support for Bush.
But Ludt's campaign had to be concerned that McKelvey could win or the Bush-McKelvey commercial would have never aired.
Ludt will face Jamael Tito Brown, a Youngstown school board member who served as manager of Jay Williams' successful Youngstown mayoral campaign last year, in the November general election.
It's too early to tell, but Brown, running as an independent, could be a formidable opponent. It will be interesting to see if he can duplicate Williams' success.
Some of Ludt's support obviously came from those who can't stand McKelvey. But more than 25,000 Democrats voted for Ludt, and it wasn't only because they don't like McKelvey.
While McKelvey failed in his political comeback, another longtime Youngstown politician, whose political career was on life-support, made somewhat of a comeback Tuesday.
After finishing second to Williams in last year's Youngstown mayoral race, it looked like the lengthy political career of state Sen. Robert F. Hagan was just about finished.
Three months after his mayoral defeat, Hagan filed in February to run in the Democratic primary for the 60th Ohio House District seat. He was among six candidates seeking the post.
Hagan ran a low-key but smart campaign. Unlike the aggressive and sometimes angry tone of his mayoral campaign, Hagan was much more relaxed in the Ohio House race. He ran an amusing TV commercial playing the guitar admitting he can't sing or dance [and believe me, he can't], but this area needed an experienced legislator in Columbus.
Hagan essentially reinvented himself. The outspoken liberal became the voice of experience, and the Valley punched his ticket for at least two more years in the state Legislature.