By Carl Weiser
Enquirer Washington Bureau

BOSTON - Oliver Baker of Clifton will visit nursing homes and pass out absentee ballots. Mayor Jack Ford of Toledo will stop by black churches on Sunday. Steve Reece of Bond Hill plans a road trip to black colleges and fraternal lodges.

2004 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

• America can do better, Kerry says • Text of John Kerry's acceptance speech • Pollster finds Kerry a hit with 'swings' • Delegates promise immediate Ohio blitz • Crew tells the nation about 'Nam exploits • Notes from Boston • Multimedia: Democratic convention • Gannett News Service convention coverage • Enquirer's election section

Ohio's delegates to the Democratic National Convention return to Ohio this weekend determined to win the state for Sen. John Kerry. It's a state so important to the 2004 presidential election that both Kerry and President Bush will visit this weekend.

"Ohio is going to get more - more spending, more visits, more attention - than any other state," said Jim Ruvolo, chairman of the Kerry campaign in Ohio.

Democrats plan to link Bush to the less-than-popular Gov. Bob Taft and to scandals in Columbus.

During the convention this week, State Sen. Marc Dann, a Youngstown-area Democrat, offered delegates not only a guidebook but a training session on how to translate recent GOP scandals in Columbus into votes for Kerry.

Voters will hear plenty of condemnations of "Bush-Taft" economic policies, of the arrogance of one-party rule, of shenanigans in Columbus.

The goal: "Help connect the dots between one-party rule in Columbus and Washington," said Dann. "If every surrogate for George W. Bush in Ohio is being followed by process servers, that's going to hurt the credibility of the campaign."

Two top associates of Republican state Treasurer Joseph Deters pleaded guilty Tuesday to misdemeanor charges involving campaign fund raising. Another investigation is under way into the campaign finances of House Speaker Larry Householder and former staffers.

"Democrats want to talk about everything and anything except John Kerry's record," said Bush campaign spokesman Kevin Madden. "John Kerry's record is wrong on the issues important to Ohioans, so it comes as no surprise that his campaign is trying to divert attention away from it."

" Because Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky voters tend to be conservative, Democrats say they will try to appeal to them by pointing out how far Bush has deviated from conservative principles.

A budget surplus when Bush took office has become a $477 billion deficit.

"Explain to me what's conservative about a $500 billion deficit?" asked delegate Brad Burtner, 52, an air traffic controller from Villa Hills.

Former Sen. John Glenn noted that Democrats used to be the party accused of spending too much and getting entangled in foreign intervention.

The six Democrats who represent Ohio in the U.S. House plan a bus tour immediately after Kerry's post-convention bus leaves the state. The Congress members will hit smaller towns, said Rep. Sherrod Brown, D-Lorain.

"You will be seeing the Ohio delegation all over Ohio," said Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Cleveland.

E-mail cweiser@gannett.com