Blackwell has 11-point lead with 5 weeks left (in Ohio R. primary) [View All]

Sunday, March 26, 2006
Darrel Rowland
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell holds a double-digit lead in Ohio’s GOP gubernatorial primary race in the first Dispatch Poll before the May 2 election.

While Attorney General Jim Petro trails by 11 points, nearly a third of Republican voters remain undecided. That means Petro must win two out of every three of those uncommitted voters just to draw even as the candidates fire up their TV ad war over the final five weeks of the campaign.

Blackwell’s margin might help explain his decisions not to debate Petro and to limit media access. The front-runner will face a crucial decision as the primary approaches on whether to spend the bulk of his campaign cash to counter a probable all-or-nothing Petro onslaught or to save some money for the fall campaign.

On the Democratic side, U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland has a commanding 43-point lead over former state Rep. Bryan Flannery with 41 percent saying they are undecided. That means Strickland probably can preserve most of his cash reserves, although he is currently airing his first TV ad.

~snip~

http://www.dispatch.com/?story=dispatch/2006/03/26/20060326-A1-02.html





/edited to use actual source of poll