By Cindi Andrews
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnati Councilman John Cranley exited the Hamilton County commissioners' race Friday before ever formally entering it.

Cranley, who asked the county Board of Elections to pre-check the signatures on his petitions Thursday, said Friday that he has decided not to run after all. He had aimed to run against three-term incumbent John Dowlin, a Republican.

"I just got done raising over $200,000 for the (November) council race, and I would have to raise half a million for the commissioners' race," Cranley said.

Dowlin is a stronger candidate than a recent Republican poll indicated, Cranley said. Cranley's own poll, conducted by Anzalone-Liszt Research, suggested a Cranley-Dowlin matchup would be a statistical dead heat, with 42 percent for the Democrat and 40 percent for the incumbent.

The poll for the county Republican Party, on the other hand, reportedly showed Cranley with a measurable advantage.

"That would lead a lot of people to believe John Dowlin is not a strong opponent and should get out of the way," Cranley said. "The Republican Party is trying to disingenuously smear him to serve the interests of younger Republican candidates."

Dowlin said Friday he didn't know if the GOP poll was an attempt to push him out of the race, but he didn't put any stock in its findings. He's still running, he said.

Councilman Pat DeWine and ex-Councilman Chris Monzel are among a half-dozen Republicans considering running for commissioner. Their most obvious target is Democratic incumbent Todd Portune, also up for re-election, but Monzel hasn't ruled out running against Dowlin.

Depending which Republicans run for Portune's seat, the Democrat is considering switching races and challenging Dowlin. Portune would have a 45 percent to 39 percent edge against Dowlin, according to Anzalone-Liszt's phone poll of 400 likely voters.

A Portune-DeWine race would be a tossup, on the other hand, with each getting 43 percent support in the poll.

The results have a 4.9 percentage point margin of error.

---

E-mail candrews@enquirer.com