By Nathan Leaf
Enquirer Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - Things are starting to get nasty in Ohio's race for governor. With only two weeks left, both candidates are trading punches in a new round of negative television and Internet ads.

Democratic candidate Tim Hagan released his latest Internet message Thursday, this time featuring a singing Gov. Bob Taft who calls himself a "clown" with no solution to Ohio's budget crisis. This comes just one day after Mr. Taft started running his own TV ads that label Mr. Hagan a "mediocre," tax-happy liberal with no experience.

Although previous messages at Mr. Hagan's Web site, www.taftquack.com, featured the governor's head on the body of duck, this one shows Mr. Taft singing a song in which he proclaims himself as "The Great Postponer."

The ad begins with Mr. Taft being introduced by a voice reminiscent of Ed Sullivan's. As cartoon curtains open, a picture of the governor appears with an ear-to-ear smile that is quickly replaced with a cut-out mouth singing an altered version of the 1950s hit "The Great Pretender" by The Platters.

The animated governor calls his leadership "lame" and says he hopes voters won't notice he is "incompetent" and "bumbling."

Mr. Hagan's campaign adviser, Jerry Austin, acknowledged the ad was a personal attack.

"It's real personal, and it's real true," he said.

The inspiration for the spot came from a quote attributed to former President Theodore Roosevelt - who called his successor, Mr. Taft's great-grandfather William Howard Taft, "the great postponer."

Orest Holubec, campaign spokesman for Mr. Taft, dismissed Mr. Hagan's Internet ads as an embarrassment to the campaign.

"Yesterday he was calling the governor pal, and now he's calling him the postponer?" he said, referring to Wednesday night's gubernatorial debate.

It is unclear how much of an impact Mr. Hagan's ads will have on the election since far more people will see Mr. Taft's ads, appearing in television markets throughout the state.

Mr. Taft's own ad attacks his opponent for opposing the death penalty. It also uses Mr. Hagan's own words against him to question whether the Cuyahoga County Democrat is worthy of the governor's office.

In the ad, an announcer reads from newspaper articles including one in which Mr. Hagan is quoted as saying, "I'm in the twilight of a mediocre career."

The ad also uses passages that criticize Mr. Hagan for opposing the death penalty and his reputation as "Tax Hike Tim."

According to the latest Ohio Poll, Mr. Taft is maintaining a comfortable lead with 54 percent of the vote while Mr. Hagan lags behind with 38 percent.