BY RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Nancy Hollister
Ted Strickland
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MASON -- One of the issues voters in the 6th Congressional District will decide in November is whether they prefer their representative to wage war against terrorism or poverty.
Two months before the election, the campaign platforms of Lt. Gov. Nancy Hollister and Democratic incumbent Ted Strickland are shaping up to focus on very different issues.
At a stop at a high-tech company in Mason on Wednesday, Mrs. Hollister, a Republican, said she intends to make national defense a major campaign component. In the wake of U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa by terrorists, Mrs. Hollister is betting that constituents in the state's largest congressional district want to see more money spent to thwart terrorism and beef up missile defense programs and the military.
With unemployment rates above the state and national average in nine of the 14 counties in the 6th District, Mr. Strickland said he thinks people would prefer that he concentrate on a domestic agenda. Among those issues: education, Social Security and health care.
Focusing on the national issue of defense may be a misstep for Mrs. Hollister, said University of Dayton political science professor Gerald Kerns.
"I don't see that as necessarily an issue occupying the public mind at this moment," he said. "I'd be more interested in knowing her position on (domestic affairs)."
While fighting terrorism is important, Dr. Kerns said, he suspects voters would rather know her views on Social Security and education, issues that directly affect them.
Mrs. Hollister conceded that national defense is a tough sale during peacetime. But incidents of terrorism are snowballing, and Congress must equip the military with the tools to fight this unseen, insidious enemy, she said.
"Terrorism is a threat that impacts each and every one of us," Mrs. Hollister said. "Just when you think it doesn't affect you, it will."
Mrs. Hollister toured Hi-Tek Manufacturing, a Mason company that has seen its defense contracts plummet from 80 percent of its business in the 1980s to only 20 percent today.
Increasing defense spending has the support of Hi-Tek employee Donnie Dryden. "With all the terrorism going on in the world," said the Morrow resident, "I don't think we're adequately prepared to deal with it."
Defense cuts forced Hi-Tek to look to the private sector for contracts, company President Cletis Jackson said. While business continues to grow, he fears research once spurred by the defense industry will slow or sputter out in an era of cutbacks.
After a tour of the company, Mrs. Hollister said she supports "slight increases" in defense spending, especially in the areas of training and equipment. And she wants Congress to re-evaluate the military's peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia and Haiti.
While Mrs. Hollister stopped short of saying how much the increases should be, she said the money could come from streamlining the budget and cutting extraneous spending in other areas.
Both candidates said they agreed with President Clinton's decision for a cruise missile attack against terrorist facilities in Afghanistan and Sudan. Mr. Strickland was quick to say in an interview that he supports a strong military and has voted against funding for only two national defense projects, the B-2 bomber and the Trident missile.
"I believe we should put more resources into military personnel," Mr. Strickland said. "I think it's wrong that some members of our armed forces qualify for food stamps."
Still, he said, considering the needs of southern Ohio, domestic affairs remain at the top of his agenda. "Coming from my part of Ohio, a part of the state that has serious problems in infrastructure, education and health care, (domestic affairs issues) need to be my major emphasis," Mr. Strickland said.
Mrs. Hollister was joined on the campaign trail Wednesday by former Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour. The race is one of the most competitive in the country, said Rep. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and he said Republicans want to boost their numbers by adding a representative, such as Mrs. Hollister, who is sensitive to military and defense issues.
About the 6th District
One of the nation's most-watched congressional races this year is in Ohio's 6th District, which meanders from the West Virginia border to the Warren County communities of Lebanon, Mason, Maineville and Morrow.
The district covers a large chunk of Southern Ohio. It also offers a striking contrast: To the east are some of the poorest counties in the state -- most of them in Appalachia -- and traditional blue-collar cities such as Ironton and part of Chillicothe. But to the west is fast-growing Warren County and its affluent communities.
There are no large central cities, such as Cincinnati or Toledo. Its largest city is Portsmouth, population 22,500, in Scioto County. The district has been a battleground this decade. It has changed hands in every election in the 1990s. Democratic incumbent Ted Strickland of Lucasville, who won back the seat two years ago, faces a tough race against Ohio Lt. Gov. Nancy Hollister.
Mrs. Hollister, Marietta's former mayor, comes from the moderate wing of the Republican Party and survived a primary against four more conservative opponents.
She took just 39 percent of the vote. Many observers think her first job is to solidify support among 6th District Republicans in a district that is split between Republicans and Democrats.
