By Howard Wilkinson
Enquirer staff writer

Ohio voters may see John Kerry and John Edwards in places where, four years ago, Al Gore rarely trod.

Places like the counties of southeastern Ohio, where the natural beauty of the Appalachian foothills barely disguises the joblessness and hopelessness many of the residents there have felt for decades.

Or places like the inner city neighborhoods of Ohio's largest cities, where young African-Americans by the thousands have yet to be inspired to go to the polls.

Gore lost Ohio to George W. Bush in 2000 by about 3.5 percentage points. Many Ohio Democratic leaders believe not enough was done to drive up turnout among traditional Democratic constituencies, such as blacks, and because the Gore campaign wrote off the vast but sparsely populated Appalachian region of southeast Ohio.

Ohio Democrats are determined not to let that happen again.

And they are particularly keen to see Edwards, Kerry's running mate, carry that message because of his own pulled-himself-up-by-the-bootstraps personal story.

"No one feels the pressures of the economy more than the people in Appalachia, and no one feels more left behind,'' said Dan Trevas, spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Party. "Edwards is the perfect candidate to appeal to those voters.''

It is also a region, though, where social conservatism runs deep and where, on issues such as abortion and gun control, voters agree with Republicans. But, this year, Democrats believe economic issues will trump the social issues.

Many Ohio Democrats say they would like to see Edwards hop on a campaign bus in Portsmouth and ride it all the way up the Ohio River to Steubenville, stumping through some of the most economically distressed areas of the state.

Eric Rademacher, director of UC's Institute for Policy Research, which conducts the Ohio Poll, said such a campaign trip "would make perfect sense.''

"That's a part of the state that has been left behind in every economic upturn for decades,'' said Rademacher. "And it is a place full of voters who pay a lot of attention to economic issues.''

Southeast Ohio is the least populated area of the state, which is why many candidates over the years have tended to overlook it.

In 2000, 253,777 votes were cast for president in tbe region, compared to 723,488 in southwest Ohio, Rademacher said.

One who did not overlook southeast Ohio was Bill Clinton, who campaigned there in both 1992 and 1996, and ended up winning the region and the state.

Because the election is expected to be close - and because Ohio is expected to be crucial to the outcome - neither campaign can afford to ignore the largely rural counties of southeast Ohio.

"If it comes down to a battle between the two campaigns for southeast Ohio, we will know for certain that this is an election where every vote counts,'' Rademacher said.

Susan Gwinn chairs the Democratic party in Athens County, one of the few southeast Ohio counties Gore won in 2000, mainly because Ohio University students voted there by the thousands.

She is coordinating a get-out-the-vote campaign in 22 southern Ohio counties. "In this election, it's not so much about persuasion as it is about turnout,'' Gwinn said.

Having a candidate like Edwards, with his son-of-a-millworker populism and ability to relate to rural voters, "would help tremendously. It would fire people up.''

But while the Kerry-Edwards campaign is likely to put substantial resources into southeast Ohio, it will not forget where the Democratic base in Ohio lies - in big cities and among African-American voters. There, the goal will be to drive the turnout as high as possible.

Cincinnati Vice Mayor Alicia Reece said she has already delivered her advice to Kerry campaign officials in Ohio - bring Edwards into predominantly black neighborhoods in Cincinnati and other cities to excite black voters and get them to the polls.

"John Edwards showed during the primary that he has enormous appeal to African-American voters,'' Reece said.

Republicans have criticized Kerry's choice of Edwards, saying he is an inexperienced, first-term senator. But Reece said his lack of Washington experience might be what attracts young black voters.

"He's unique,'' Reece said of Edwards. "He seems to me to be the one candidate who can speak as well to rural folks as he can to young African-Americans in the inner city. We need to use that.''

Email hwilkinson@enquirer.com