Ohio GOP bracing for tea-party impact

April 15, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

As Ohio’s tea party movement celebrates its first birthday, mainstream candidates are trying to read the tea leaves for how the angry surge will impact them at the polls.

Leaders of the loosely allied tea party or liberty groups around the state are increasingly on record saying their frustration with government has spanned both the Republican Bush and Democratic Obama administrations. They argue that advocating a return to the values laid out in America’s Constitution and Bill of Rights isn’t partisan. Hefty government-backed social programs and Wall Street bailouts are equally within their sights.

Yet, in statewide races, the movement’s influence is being felt almost exclusively on Republican candidates.

The Ohio Democratic Party has fanned the flames of dissent among conservatives by buying Facebook ads targeting tea-party voters with keywords such as “Glenn Beck,” “912 Project” or “The O’Reilly Factor.” An early example suggested Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich has contradicted himself on whether the state should take federal-stimulus dollars.

Ohio State University political science professor Paul Beck said the tea party is bringing economic conservatism back to center stage — and that puts Republicans who espouse fiscal discipline in the hot seat.

“Ohio, like the rest of the nation, is reacting to what it sees as unbridled government spending engaged in by both Democrats and Republicans,” he said. “What they’re wanting to do is push the Republicans in a much more conservative direction on economic issues than they have been in the last 10 years.”

Take a look at the lineup for the fall primary as evidence. Not a single Democratic primary is on deck for statewide elective offices. But Republicans face challengers in two races: secretary of state and auditor.

In both cases, an Ohio Republican Party favorite faces a challenger that’s touting tea-party themes such as lower taxes, gun rights and fiscal discipline.

Secretary of state candidate Jon Husted, a state senator and former House speaker, is a GOP rising star well positioned to beat conservative Sandra O’Brien, who lost her 2006 bid for state treasurer.

But Husted is taking nothing for granted. Despite his significant fund-raising lead, he is making obvious accommodations to the tea party movement.

Alongside “Volunteer” and “Request a Yard Sign” on his campaign Web site, for example, is a “Tea Party” link that leads to his stands on issues tea-party backers care about and photos of him at area liberty events. A campaign ad speaks of stopping “immoral government debt to protect our children’s liberty,” though Husted has voted in favor of higher taxes as a state lawmaker when they were needed to balance the state budget.

Some tea-party backers have said he’s taken his ties to their movement too far.

Ohio Right to Life and gun groups, including the National Rifle Association, are high on his list of posted endorsements.

Meanwhile, in the race for state auditor, GOP-endorsed candidate David Yost is locked in a heated primary battle with state Rep. Seth Morgan.

Morgan announced his candidacy after Auditor Mary Taylor was plucked to be Kasich’s running mate, and many in the tea party were angered when the state GOP seemingly ignored his announcement and recruited Yost out of another race against a party favorite, former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, to pursue the job.

The nascent Ohio Tea Party political-action committee named Morgan in its first official candidate endorsement, pitting its wishes against those of the party.

Even the PAC that’s been created doesn’t represent more than a handful of tea party groups, though.

Justin Binik-Thomas, a core member of the Cincinnati Tea Party, said it’s not a movement about 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin or talk-show host Glenn Beck or maverick Democrat Jim Traficant, the former Ohio congressman recently released from prison.

“All these people have had some opportunistic interactions, but this isn’t about the candidate, it isn’t about the official, it’s about spreading conservative values,” he said.

He said Ohio’s tea-party movement is “one of the strongest and most organized in the country right now.” Allied groups are holding major rallies, such as those scheduled for today in cities including Cincinnati and Columbus.