Sen. Voinovich strangely absent from McCain’s victory strategy

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Sen. George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio

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U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Avon)

The two politicians have disagreed on several issues.

COLUMBUS (AP) — The presidential candidates and their running mates have canvassed every corner of Ohio this election season, often with high-profile state politicians in tow.

Sen. Brown — as in Sherrod, Ohio’s Democratic junior senator — has been omnipresent at campaign events. Which begs the question: Where is George Voinovich?

Voinovich, Ohio’s senior senator and two-time governor, has been strangely absent from Republican presidential nominee John Mc- Cain’s victory strategy in this prized 20-electoral-vote swing state.

No Republican has won the White House without it.

“George Voinovich is our most prominent and successful public official in the state,” said fellow Cleveland-area Republican Jim Trakas, a candidate for Congress. “My view is he would be the person you’d want front and center if you wanted to win Ohio. Obviously, Jim Rhodes isn’t available.”

Rhodes, the populist former governor and GOP icon, died in 2001.

The disconnect between McCain and Voinovich was apparent Thursday. Both Republicans were in the state: McCain on a campaign swing through Voinovich’s native northern Ohio, and Voinovich at a news conference and McCain campaign office in central Ohio. His appearance last week in Findlay was Voinovich’s only official campaign event for McCain since Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was announced as his running mate in Dayton on Aug. 29.

It may be that Voinovich, 72, is being swept aside to give face time to the Ohio Republican Party’s rising stars. Those include former U.S. Reps. Rob Portman and John Kasich, Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted and State Auditor Mary Taylor. Taylor was the sole Republican to retain a statewide office for the once-dominant GOP in 2006.

Voinovich insists he will run again in 2010, but his long-held seat is viewed as a coveted prize for GOP up-and-comers.

Another theory involves personal disagreements between McCain and Voinovich.

The two reportedly clashed behind closed doors last July over Bush’s policy in Iraq. McCain asserted al-Qaida was the most dangerous threat to U.S. troops there, while Voinovich argued the terrorist group wouldn’t even exist in Iraq if U.S. forces weren’t there.

Witnesses called it the most serious fight the Senate had seen in recent memory.

The two have also disagreed over McCain’s stance on reducing carbon emissions, which Voinovich sees as potentially harmful to Ohio’s industrial sector. And Voinovich waited to endorse McCain until February — the day after Mitt Romney, his favored candidate, dropped out of the race.

A statewide ballot issue that would authorize the state’s first-ever casino has also come between them, with McCain favoring the issue’s job-creating potential and Voinovich abhorring its likely social impact.

Over the years, Voinovich has clashed with others within the Ohio GOP, including former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, who is running McCain’s Ohio campaign.

But most likely the primary motivation is political, said Democratic political consultant Gerald Austin. With the selection of Palin, McCain turned his campaign toward a younger, more conservative demographic within the Republican party.

Austin said having Voinovich on the stage might serve to remind rally-goers of “the good old boys in Washington” that McCain and Palin are campaigning against, and on-the-trail support from McCain’s longtime Senate colleague would conflict with the campaign’s direction.

McCain campaign spokesman Paul Lindsay dismissed the notion that Voinovich has not been involved in the campaign, noting his participation in issue-oriented conference calls with reporters, occasional rallies and fundraisers.

In 2000, then-Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore was criticized for building an Ohio victory strategy that excluded former astronaut and U.S. Sen. John Glenn. Gore was viewed as having squandered an important political opportunity that could have won him more Ohio votes.

Voinovich has twice won the governorship and consistently won Senate re-election with solid margins, including garnering 66 percent of the vote in 2004, winning every one of 88 counties.

But Austin said Voinovich is not the folk hero that Glenn is and probably could not help McCain in quite the same way that Glenn might have boosted Gore.

Voinovich’s popularity and power within the Senate have diminished, and he is largely viewed as too liberal for today’s Republican base, Austin said.