BY HOWARD WILKINSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Usually, the challenger fires the first shots in a political campaign, but U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot is starting early with a radio ad campaign challenging his Democratic opponent, Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls, to debate him.
Starting this morning, most of Cincinnati's largest commercial radio stations will begin airing a 60-second Chabot campaign ad that will cost the Republican 1st District congressman's campaign about $25,000 and probably run for the next two weeks.
It is the earliest volley in a battle that is expected to be one of the most competitive congressional races in the country, as Democrats try to regain control of the U.S. House.
The ad, with actors portraying a mother and young son talking about Mr. Chabot at a church festival, touts his support of welfare reform and lower taxes and criticizes Ms. Qualls for refusing to debate him.
Chabot campaign aides say they are trying to force Ms. Qualls into debates with the incumbent Republican, but Ms. Qualls said Sunday the Chabot campaign is responding to polls that show the race a dead heat.
Sunday night, at a campaign rally for volunteers at her Garfield Place headquarters, Ms. Qualls said she was surprised the Chabot campaign is "acting this desperate this early."
"They must know they are in trouble," Ms. Qualls said.
Chabot campaign manager Shannon Walker Jones said the Chabot campaign does not think it is starting out behind or dead even with Ms. Qualls. The campaign, she said, is taking the unusual step of running the first broadcast advertising in order to "force Roxanne Qualls into engaging us on the issues."
"If people find out her positions on the issues and compare them to Steve Chabot's, then we win," Ms. Jones said. "We want to make it clear early on that there are big differences."
Ms. Qualls said Sunday there will be debates between her and Mr. Chabot -- in the fall.
"And it won't be just two people shuffling around on stage," Ms. Qualls said. "They will be real debates, with real issues." Ms. Qualls, in her announcement speech in mid-February, outlined an agenda that was strikingly similar to President Clinton's State of the Union address agenda -- support for targeted tax cuts for education, saving budget surpluses "until we've saved Social Security," and creating a "simpler and fairer" tax code.
Since then, Ms. Qualls has made few campaign pronouncements and has done no advertising.
In February, shortly after Ms. Qualls announced her candidacy for the 1st District seat, Mr. Chabot issued a challenge for a head-to-head debate early in the campaign. Ms. Qualls refused, saying she would be glad to debate him in November.
The radio ad starts with background noise from a festival; and begins with the boy asking his mother who the man is passing out cups. Passing out plastic cups has been a staple of Chabot campaigns since his days as a Cincinnati councilman.
The "mother" explains that it is Steve Chabot, a "very good" congressman who "actually does what he says he'll do."
Mr. Chabot, the ad says, "promised to fight for welfare reform: and he won." Now, the ad says, "welfare rolls are down by 30 percent." The ad claims that Ms. Qualls "hemmed and hawed" on welfare reform and said "she's not supporting Chabot's strong call for lower taxes."
"Congressman Chabot has invited Miss Qualls to discuss all the issues with him, but she's been refusing to debate," the "mother" said. "If she'd debate him, we'd know where she stands."
"Maybe that's what she is afraid of," the "son" replies. The Chabot-Qualls contest is expected to be the most expensive in the history of the 1st District, which includes most of Cincinnati and much of Hamilton County's western suburbs.
Both candidates are expected to spend close to $1 million; and hundreds of thousands of dollars in "soft money" are likely to be spent by independent groups supporting each candidate.
The AFL-CIO, which spent more than $1 million in TV ads attacking Mr. Chabot two years ago, has already targeted the 1st District race for special attention in 1998.
Mr. Chabot, a former Cincinnati councilman and county commissioner from Westwood, has held the seat since taking it away from Democratic incumbent David Mann in the GOP landslide of 1994.
Democratic Party leaders in Washington spent months trying to recruit the three-term mayor of Cincinnati to run against Mr. Chabot this year, convinced that she was the strongest possible Democratic candidate.
