Blackwell Wins Primary in Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio —  Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell won the GOP nomination for governor Tuesday after campaigning as the candidate who could best deliver his party from a year of political scandals and infighting.

Late returns had Blackwell with 57% of the vote to 43% for Atty. Gen. Jim Petro.

The gubernatorial primary was seen as a test of voter dissatisfaction that could foreshadow Republican prospects in November.

“The Republicans have a problem,” said Carl Rullmann, a GOP voter who said he supported Blackwell.

Two other states also held primaries, including North Carolina, where the district attorney prosecuting the Duke University rape case fought off two challengers, and Indiana, where congressional incumbents easily won their party nominations.

Blackwell’s prominence as a leading black voice in the GOP could be pivotal to Republicans. He is the first black candidate to run for governor in Ohio. His ads sought to link Petro to the state’s investment in rare coins that went awry and to Gov. Robert A. Taft, who pleaded no contest to four ethics violations last year involving a failure to report free golf outings and gifts.

Petro hammered Blackwell as a hypocrite who opposes abortion and gambling even though some of his multimillion-dollar stock portfolio is invested in those interests.

The GOP disunity may have turned off some voters.

“I saw a lot of backstabbing, name-calling, character assassination. I don’t go for that kind of stuff,” said James Martin, 66, leaving a polling place in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville. He said the negative campaigning influenced his choice in the Republican primary, but he would not say in which way.

The Ohio scandals also emboldened Democrats, who hope to end the Republicans’ 15-year hold on the governor’s office.

Blackwell will face U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland in November. Strickland is viewed as the Democrats’ best chance to regain some control over a state government in which Republicans control all three branches, as well as statewide offices and a majority of congressional seats.

Strickland handily defeated a former state legislator for the nomination with 78% of the vote.

Republicans have targeted the House seat Strickland leaves as one of their best shots to gain a Democratic congressional spot. They have been helped by the fact that the Democrats’ leading candidate for the seat must run as a write-in because of a filing mistake.

Ohio’s U.S. Senate race will also be closely watched in the fall as incumbent Mike DeWine and his Democratic rival, U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown, easily emerged from the primary.

In Indiana, all nine congressional incumbents advanced to the November election. Most challengers were short on money and party support. Sen. Richard G. Lugar, one of the most popular politicians in state history, had no Republican opposition.