Ohio GOP kingmaker faces serious threats in '06 ...scandals, infighting

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Ohio GOP kingmaker faces serious threats in '06
Bennett-led party hit by scandals, infighting

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Columbus- Behind every political rock star who calls himself an Ohio Republican, there is Bob Bennett.

Bennett, an accountant and lawyer from Cuyahoga County, has spent the last 18 years at the helm of the powerful Ohio Republican Party, a well-oiled, well-funded machine he views as a "service organization" for pub lic officials.

It wasn't always that way. Bennett is cred ited with setting the party on a course to success in 1988 that helped Republicans seize control of every branch of state government and, with Ohio's important help, the White House.

This year, however, Bennett could face the biggest threat to the GOP's dominance in recent memory, with the party's image battered by scandal and infighting...

Just a convincing enough simulation.

.... This year, however, Bennett could face the biggest threat to the GOP's dominance in recent memory, with the party's image battered by scandal and infighting.

He ranks this year's bruising gubernatorial primary between Ken Blackwell and Jim Petro among his most disappointing moments as chairman - though not worse than the 1988 presidential election, when George H.W. Bush lost Ohio to Democrat Bill Clinton by 1.83 percent of the vote.

Over the years, Bennett, 67, has had the storied skill - some call it good fortune - to avoid nasty primary confrontations that pit Republican against Republican and cost the party precious cash.

"There comes a time if you want the top job when it's your last hurrah," he said. "It's a confluence of the desires and the timing and this being the last opportunity."