Friday, March 19, 1999
Strickland may seek DeWine's Senate seat
Money's a factor in making decision
BY PAUL BARTON
Enquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Rep. Ted Strickland is weighing a bid to oust Sen. Mike DeWine from his Senate seat in 2000, saying the freshman Republican has not been aggressive enough in representing Ohio on major issues.
Mr. Strickland, D-Lucasville, said that if he ran, it would be a campaign “that doesn't depend on powerbrokers or the almighty dollar to get me elected.”
A potential Strickland candidacy drew praise Thursday from David Leland, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party. “He's Ohio's Mr. Smith goes to Washington,” Mr. Leland said.
Mr. Strickland said Mr. DeWine has been absent for Ohio on major issues such as education, pension security and health care.
“I don't believe he has distinguished himself,” Mr. Strickland said. “The Senate office is a very powerful office, and I don't believe he has performed in that office the way a senator should perform.”
Mr. Strickland said he planned to run a positive campaign: “I would not run by trying to emphasize what's wrong with Mike DeWine.”
His campaigning would emphasize the grass roots. “If I run, it would be a people's campaign,” he said, adding, “It would be obvious from the beginning that I would be heavily outspent.”
Mr. Strickland said he was first encouraged to consider a candidacy when he met with Ohio Democratic Party officials and representatives of labor groups in Columbus about two months ago. Since then, he said, he has met with Sen. Robert Torricelli of New Jersey, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
More important, he said, are his talks with his wife, Frances, and friends and supporters in Ohio.
Major considerations, he said, include whether he would have a reasonable chance of winning, could raise enough money, and “whether I could do more for my district and the entire state as a senator than by remaining in the House.”
Mr. Strickland, 57, is a former college professor and prison psychologist who first won election to the 6th Congressional District seat in 1992.
He narrowly lost the seat in 1994, regained it by a narrow margin in 1996 and won re-election handily in 1998 over former Lt. Gov. Nancy Hollister.
Mr. DeWine's office had no comment about Mr. Strickland's potential candidacy or criticism of the senator.
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