BY MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
With opinion polls showing a third of Ohio voters undecided about the candidates for governor, Republican Bob Taft concentrated Tuesday on encouraging GOP faithful to show up at the polls next week.
In a series of made-for-TV events down the western spine of the state, Mr. Taft pledged to support economic development in Toledo, greeted senior citizens in Lima, read to children in suburban Dayton and touted job training with Gov. George Voinovich at Western Hills High School.
But if Mr. Taft was looking for attention on the evening TV news, he didn't get any until a late afternoon rally at Memorial Hall in Over-the-Rhine with two fellow Cincinnati natives running for statewide office: State Treasurer Ken Blackwell and Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters.
Exhorting the crowd not to take for granted his lead in opinion polls, Mr. Taft said turnout among Republican voters in Hamilton County is crucial in his race against Democrat Lee Fisher.
"It's really in your hands," he said. "If we want to keep our quality of life . . . we need to make sure all Republicans in Hamilton County get to the polls."
U.S. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, stressed the need for local GOP turnout in three key races: U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot's campaign for re-election against Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls in the 1st District, Mr. Blackwell's bid to replace Mr. Taft as secretary of state and Mr. Deters' campaign to replace Mr. Blackwell as treasurer. For Mr. Taft, the day provided a study in contrasts that mirrored his TV ad strategy in the final days of the campaign.
In one-on-one conversations with voters, he introduced himself and steered clear from attacking or even mentioning his opponent. The positive tone was similar to the Taft campaign's latest TV ad, which features the candidate speaking directly into the camera for the first time.
Shown sitting on desk in a wood-paneled office, Mr. Taft refers to his famous family's political legacy and outlines his views on education, health care reform and taxes.
"I'm Bob Taft, and I would like your vote for governor on Nov. 3," he says.
By the time he reached Cincinnati, Mr. Taft was armed with more caustic rhetoric. At the GOP rally, he sounded at times like another TV ad his campaign is running statewide that ends with the words, "Lie. Lose. Lee."
That commercial mimics a Fisher spot that tells voters "to send politicians a message. If you lie, you lose." The ad seeks to capitalize on the Ohio Elections Commission's unprecedented ruling that the Taft campaign lied twice in a previous anti-Fisher ad. Mr. Taft defended the ads, saying he was forced to air another negative ad in response to Mr. Fisher's spot.
Of the positive ad, he had this to say: "We're running that so people clearly understand who I am, what I stand for and what I want to do as governor."
Several voters said they were tired of what they considered the negative tone of the campaign.
"I saw you on TV," a woman said wearily to Mr. Taft as he walked out of a Lima seniors' center.
"Don't worry," Mr. Taft said. "There's only eight more days left."
In Toledo, he promised state support to preserve a historic Indian battlefield that was key to securing Ohio's statehood. He also vowed to make replacement of the Interstate 280 drawbridge a top priority.
Despite pleas from his campaign aides for news coverage, TV cameras were conspicuously absent from Mr. Taft's brief stop in Lima. And they were nowhere to be found during his foray into the Murlin Heights Elementary School near Dayton, where he read a children's book, Arthur's Halloween, to a class of first graders.
Mr. Taft's aides brightened when they saw a crew from a Columbus TV station at Western Hills High School. But it turned out the crew was there following Mr. Voinovich around the state.
Wherever he went during the day, Mr. Taft's conversations with voters were peppered with references to his father and grandfather, both of whom were U.S. senators.
"I remember your dad when he was in Congress," said Harold Ferrell, a 74-year-old retiree from Lima who pledged his support for Mr. Taft.
Asked by a school administrator what advice his parents had given him in first grade, Mr. Taft mentioned the most famous member of his family and urged children to hone their reading skills.
"My parents told me about my great-grandfather, William Howard Taft, who was president of the United States," Mr. Taft said. "He read a lot of books. I think that's one of the reasons why he became president."
