How to lose a race and a reputation

(Cleveland Plain Dealer)

How to lose a race and a reputation

As he plumbs the depths of the Statehouse sewer system in a des perate search for sludge that might stick to his opponent, Secretary of State Ken Blackwell might want to spend a moment contemplating how he wants to be remembered.

At the rate he's going, Blackwell is exactly 14 days away from being memorialized as a classless loser who selfishly endangered the entire Republican ticket by engaging in despicable, 11th-hour campaign tactics that didn't gain him six votes.

If Blackwell had a conscience, it would bother him greatly that history will treat his campaign for governor with such contempt.

Then again, if Blackwell had a conscience, he wouldn't be gay-baiting the next governor of Ohio, Ted Strickland. He wouldn't be suggesting that Strickland doesn't care about sexually abused children. And he surely wouldn't be running around southwest Ohio with Fox News' mindless, right-wing nut-job, Sean Hannity, trying to drum up support that doesn't exist for his doomed candidacy.

On Sunday, an editorial in Blackwell's hometown newspaper, the Cincinnati Enquirer, said of Blackwell, "He has attempted to falsely smear Strickland as a supporter of child sex. He has used surrogates to suggest that Strickland, married for 18 years, is gay. Such tactics are blots on Blackwell's character, and he owes the state of Ohio an apology. Strickland is an honorable man who has served the state with integrity."

In the very next paragraph, the Enquirer endorsed Blackwell for governor, becoming the first big-city daily newspaper not to endorse Strickland. Blackwell's race to the bottom has vindicated those many thoughtful Republicans who have avoided any association with his campaign. Republicans with common sense - and there are a lot of them - have known for years that Blackwell cares about only one person. And now they know that Blackwell couldn't care less if his sleazy campaign brings down the entire Republican ticket.

Blackwell's efforts to convince voters that Strickland has protected pedophiles is remarkably similar to the way the late Jim Rhodes ended his career - with a lopsided loss in the 1986 campaign for governor. Trailing badly in the polls, Rhodes tried a tactic so disgusting it had Republicans all over the state - including his own running mate, Bob Taft - diving for cover.

Rhodes was one of the greatest politicians in Ohio history. But the last two weeks of his last campaign probably rank as the filthiest political strategy in the state's history.

First came newspaper advertisements from some Rhodes front group, headlined, "Why homosexuals support Celeste." A couple of days later, Rhodes advocated putting people with AIDS in containment centers. And he accused Celeste of hiring "homosexual sympathizers" whose policies would increase the spread of AIDS.

"There is just no end to the spreading of AIDS in Ohio," said the four-time governor.

Finally, some principled Republicans began to fire back at the living legend. "I've tried to make it my business not to comment, but this is too much," said State Sen. Paul Pfeifer, now an Ohio Supreme Court justice. "My initial reaction was to get the Republican leaders together and disavow the SOB for doing this, but I thought better of it. The voters will take care of it."

Did they ever.

Celeste received 61 percent of the vote, crushing Rhodes by 22 points - about the same overwhelming margin, give or take a few points, that Ohio voters will soon hand Strickland.

But unlike 1986, not a single prominent Republican has had the courage to speak out against Blackwell's desperate attempts to suggest that Strickland condones child molestation, or his subtle questioning of Strickland's sexual preferences.

Blackwell's tactics might well push the entire Republican ticket over the edge. And if that happens because others whose names appear on that GOP sample ballot cower in silence, they'll all deserve what they get.

Larkin is director of The Plain Dealer's editorial pages.

To reach Brent Larkin

blarkin@plaind.com, 216-999-4252