Clinton targets Ohio voters
In 2004, the election handed President Bush the electoral votes he needed for a second term.
COLUMBUS (AP) — With no clear frontrunner so far emerging in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, supporters of Hillary Clinton’s campaign have started organizing in Ohio ahead of the March 4 primary.
Because so many state parties moved up their primary to Feb. 5, most election watchers in Ohio had thought that nominees for both parties would be as good as chosen before Democrats and Republicans here had a chance to vote.
Then Ohio could resume its role as a difference-maker in the general election in November, which in 2004 handed President Bush the electoral votes he needed for a second term.
Clinton and Barack Obama go into South Carolina with the nomination picture still clouded. If the tight race between the two continues for at least a few weeks, waiting until the day after Super Tuesday to start forming an Ohio operation here would be a risky move, said Clinton’s Ohio delegate coordinator, James Ruvolo.
“If we wait until Feb. 6 to get organized, and it does matter, we’re in trouble,” Ruvolo, the former Ohio Democratic Party chairman, told more than 300 supporters at a union hall on Saturday. “So we’re not waiting.”
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, a Clinton supporter, also spoke at the rally before leaving for South Carolina to campaign for Clinton ahead of that state’s primary, to be held Saturday. He urged supporters to help Clinton in other states through phone calls and fundraising.
But Strickland said he still thinks it’s likely the Democratic primary will be over after Super Tuesday, when Democrats vote in 22 states.
“If the contest is still alive at the time of the Ohio primary, I hope Ohio is the state that clinches the deal,” he said.
The other campaigns are thinking ahead as well.
“I’m figuring it just might come to Ohio,” said former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine of Cedarville, who was chairman of John McCain’s 2000 presidential campaign in Ohio and has been helping to organize an Ohio campaign for McCain this year.
“I’ve been on the phone talking to people all over the state, “ he said. “We’ve got no meeting planned, but we’re very involved putting things together. The reality is that until the show moves to Ohio after Feb. 5, you’re not going to see the candidates campaigning here.”
Rep. Kevin DeWine of Fairborn, deputy chairman of the Ohio Republican Party and a second cousin to Mike DeWine, agreed.
“I think Republican candidates have a presence in Ohio, but they are spending time where they need to be.”