May 3rd, 2006 9:35 PM
By David Hammer / Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Democrats counting on Ohio to cut into the Republican edge in the House got strong showings from party-backed nominees, setting up some sought-after showdowns in November.
Two candidates, including an unusually well-funded congressional write-in, won Tuesday's primaries after early struggles or missteps. Strong Democratic challengers already were in place in two districts in which Republican Reps. Deborah Pryce and Steve Chabot are considered vulnerable.
Political outsiders in the state for more than a decade, Democrats needed clear victories in two open districts, a critical element of the party's hope that wins in scandal-tainted Ohio will help erode or overcome the GOP advantage in Washington.
Democrats need to capture 15 seats to regain the majority in the House.
"Now that the strongest candidates have emerged in Ohio, Democrats are 100 percent on offense while Republicans are forced to defend districts all across the state," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Republicans argued that Tuesday's results produced some bad news for the Democrats, including a party-backed candidate who lost to an underfunded opponent in GOP Rep. Bob Ney's district.
"I have a healthy campaign account, in contrast to the Democratic Party, which is deeply divided and has a candidate with almost no campaign cash," Ney said.
The six-term Republican remains entangled in the scandal surrounding disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Nevertheless, he won his first opposed primary easily.
In one of the open races Democrats needed to hold, their House campaign organization put plenty of muscle — and hundreds of thousands of dollars — behind a write-in candidate who wasn't able to collect 50 valid signatures to make it on the ballot.
Some 44,757 voters wrote in state Sen. Charlie Wilson's name, giving him the Democratic nomination. That ensured that the seat wouldn't be ceded to state Rep. Charles Blasdel, a Republican who was expected, even before Wilson bungled his ballot-petition signatures, to challenge for the open seat.
Six-term Democratic Rep. Ted Strickland opted to run for governor.
Democrats said Wilson would be stronger for coming through such an ordeal. Republicans argued that he had gained nothing but a reputation for incompetence.
"Charlie Wilson's friendliest test took place last night," Republican campaign committee spokesman Ed Patru said Wednesday. "From here on out, he has to contend with Republicans and independents."
In blue-collar northeast Ohio, former state Rep. Betty Sutton had a hard time gaining traction against a self-financed millionaire and a former congressman. However, union loyalists who canvassed the district and a crush of spending in the final days ensured the Democrat of the primary win.
Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown is running for the Senate.
The picture is fuzzier in the district represented by Ney. In focusing on corruption, Democrats cite Ney; Gov. Bob Taft, who pleaded no contest last year to not reporting gifts; and fundraiser Tom Noe, who has been charged in the state scandal over rare-coin investments.
But the party-backed Democrat, Joe Sulzer, finished third out of four candidates looking to take on Ney despite a sizable fundraising advantage. Zack Space, a city law director, could hardly get the national Democrats to pay attention to him during the campaign, but after he won Tuesday, he was squarely in the fold.
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