Strickland’s support made a difference

March 7, 2008 at 1:10a.m.

Barack Obama won only two precincts in Mahoning County outside Youngstown.

YOUNGSTOWN —¬†U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose campaign seemed to falter during the past month, needed to win the Ohio primary to remain a viable contender for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Though there were factors working against her heading into Tuesday’s Ohio primary, such as losing 11 straight state Democratic races, Clinton won Ohio by 10 percentage points.

At or near the top of the list of reasons Clinton won is the strong endorsement the New York senator received from Gov. Ted Strickland, said local politicians and political experts. The Democrat, formerly of Lisbon, traveled across the state campaigning with and for Clinton.

“If you had to draw a cartoon of the primary, it would be a finish line with Hillary Clinton being carried by Ted Strickland,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th. “Ted Strickland single-handedly blunted [U.S. Sen.] Barack Obama’s momentum from Super Tuesday. He gave her a lot of credibility.”

Strickland’s tireless campaigning for Clinton, particularly in eastern Ohio, was key to her victory, said state Rep. Tom Letson of Warren, Obama’s Trumbull County chairman and an Obama delegate.

“It’s pretty difficult to overcome a popular governor who did such a great job in helping her campaign,” said Letson, D-64th. “He did a marvelous job for them. No one is going to underestimate Ted Strickland’s draw in this state for a long time to come. I directly relate her strength in eastern Ohio to Ted Strickland.”

State Rep. Robert F. Hagan, a Youngstown Democrat and Obama’s Mahoning County co-coordinator, said Strickland provided “substantial help” to Clinton’s campaign.

“If you have a governor who’s that popular actively campaigning for you, it’s significant,” he said. “Ed Rendell will show that in Pennsylvania.”

Rendell, Pennsylvania’s governor, is a Clinton supporter. That state’s April 22 primary is seen as the next big prize in the Democratic race for president.

Strickland’s role in reviving Clinton’s campaign renews speculation that he is on her short list of vice presidential running mates. Strickland has said he wants to remain governor.

A CNN exit poll reveals another reason for Clinton’s Ohio win. She fared well with white working-class Democrats.

Among those who earn less than $50,000 annually, Clinton beat Obama 56 percent to 42 percent. She beat him 58 percent to 40 percent among those without a college degree.

“It doesn’t appear blue-collar voters like [Obama] as a candidate,” said Paul Sracic, Youngstown State University political science department chairman.

That exit poll shows Clinton beat Obama 70 percent to 27 percent among white voters in Ohio. She received only 12 percent of the black vote compared to 88 percent for Obama, D-Ill.

Voting data from Mahoning County reflects that statewide trend. The county data shows Obama won every precinct in Youngstown’s 1st and 2nd Wards, which are predominantly black, and overwhelmingly lost every precinct in the city’s 4th Ward, which is predominantly white.

In the city’s 7th Ward, which is predominately white, Obama won only two of its 13 precincts. In the predominately black 6th Ward, he won eight of 10 precincts. The city’s two other wards, 3rd and 5th, are a mix and the results echoed that racial makeup.

Outside Youngstown, Obama lost every other precinct in Mahoning County, which is largely white, except one precinct each in Boardman and Campbell.

“Those numbers jump out at you,” said Hagan, D-60th. “We have work to do on racism in this country. There is nothing else you can attribute those numbers to [except racism] ... We’re still one of the most segregated cities in the United States. Those numbers indicate our city needs to heal in more ways than one.”

Though it’s exciting to have the Democratic nomination go for the first time to either a woman or a black American, Mahoning County Democratic Chairwoman Lisa Antonini said it’s unfortunate that the results show a “racial divide. African-Americans voted for him. Women voted for her and white men came out on a racial side. I’m not sure how well that speaks.”

Rendell recently told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that some whites in Pennsylvania wouldn’t vote for Obama because of race, saying they “are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate.”

Though Obama typically attracted larger crowds than Clinton for rallies in Ohio, it didn’t mean anything, Sracic and Ryan said.

Clinton supporters — older, white and blue-collared — don’t go to political rallies, they said.

“Hillary’s supporters won’t come to Chaney on a snowy and cold night for a rally,” said Ryan in reference to her Feb. 21 event at Chaney High School in Youngstown. “They won’t sit at a high school for hours to hear her speak.”

Obama’s campaign appealed to young voters, and exit polls show the number of Ohio voters under age 30 increased from 15 percent in the 2000 primary to 25 percent on Tuesday.

“Those who depend on the youth vote are always disappointed,” Sracic said. “Even when younger voters show up in greater numbers, they don’t counteract the number of older voters. You had this quiet group of older voters who made up their minds that she was the safe choice.”

Trumbull County Democratic Chairman Christ Michelakis said Clinton did a better job articulating her message about job creation than Obama.

Some nostalgia helped Clinton win Ohio, Antonini and Ryan said.

“The Clintons have that appeal in this area,” Antonini said. “Voting for her is voting for him.”

“What I was hearing on the street was how things were great in the 1990s when Bill Clinton was president and we’d be getting two for one,” meaning the Clintons working together if she is president, Ryan added. “I felt the person who captured the imagination of the workers would win. She did better explaining how she’d create new jobs. At Chaney, I saw a lot of middle-aged white men nodding their heads when she talked about jobs.”

Ryan, a superdelegate, isn’t ready to commit to either candidate. But he was impressed with Clinton and expects her to do well in Pennsylvania.

“She has a hell of a chance to win there,” he said.

skolnick@vindy.com