Iowa Too Important? Obama Wonders If Ohio And Florida Carry Too Much Clout

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A lot of people who don't live in Iowa seem to be saying the rural prairie state carries too much clout in presidential politics with its quadrennial candidate-winnowing caucuses. But Illinois Sen. Barack Obama -- who is leading in the Iowa polls -- has wondered aloud if key swing states Ohio and Florida get too much attention after the major party nominees are chosen. It is a fact that in 1976, 1980, 1988, 1992, 2000 and 2004, Ohio and Florida were the big battlegrounds. In 2004, President Bush and John Kerry seemed to be somewhere in Ohio every week, and they appeared ready to apply for residency, or start wearing sweater vests if it would give them an edge. It is widely believed by political strategists of all stripes that a candidate probably cannot reach the White House without carrying Ohio.

Democrat Obama told an Iowa audience earlier this week that a presidential campaign should be fought across more states than Ohio and Florida, because doing so creates a risk an election can be stolen. He decried the focus on the two. He did not say the 2000 or 2004 elections were stolen, but his comment could be viewed as feeding off suspicion among numerous Democrats that something must have gone terribly awry to put Bush in office. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Obama would build a coalition of Dems, Republicans and independents nationally. That coalition would lessen his need to rely on votes from Ohio and Florida.

"We aren't going to have 47 percent on one side, 47 percent on the other side, 5 percent in the middle and they all live in Ohio and Florida and you only campaign in two states."

He also sounded like he would wage trench warfare if there was any suspicion of voter fraud.

"If for any reason this thing is close, we will fight it tooth and nail till the end. The nice thing is, I'm a voting rights attorney as well as civil rights attorney."

Ohio: Term-Limit Easing Move May Come

COLUMBUS (TDB) -- A move to ease the term-limits placed on Ohio lawmakers in 1992 by a statewide constitutional vote appears to be in the wind again this year. Many incumbents in the Ohio General Assembly detest being churned out of office. But efforts to stretch the years that legislators can hold power could generate a hurricane of anti-incumbent sentiment.

Check out what happened in Florida last year when lawmakers tried to ease the restrictions on how long they could hold office.

In the early 1990s, social conservatives and Republicans were allied when the term-limit movement caught fire as a way to push entrenched Statehouse Democrats out of power. Now the GOP holds the Statehouse and the party's ardor has cooled. Democrats were never enthusiastic. But many social conservatives are still committed to term limits, and some Democrats could join them in a movement to battle repeal. Why? There is a chance the Statehouse could turn blue in 2008 -- a presidential year with an unpopular President term-limited out of the White House. The Democrats could run strong in Ohio General Assembly contests and pick up seats that term-limited Republicans such as State Rep. Tom Brinkman of Cincinnati must vacate.

Today's Columbus Dispatch reports on the latest repeal move in Ohio.

Here's information about term limits across the nation from the National Conference of State Legislatures. And here's Ohio's law as it stands now:

"Ohio Constitution, Article 2, § 2
Election and term of legislators.

"Representatives shall be elected biennially by the electors of the respective house of representatives districts; their term of office shall commence on the first day of January next thereafter and continue two years.

"Senators shall be elected by the electors of the respective senate districts; their terms of office shall commence on the first day of January next after their election. All terms of senators which commence on the first day of January, 1969 shall be four years, and all terms which commence on the first day of January, 1971 shall be four years. Thereafter, except for the filling of vacancies for unexpired terms, senators shall be elected to and hold office for terms of four years.

"No person shall hold the office of State Senator for a period of longer than two successive terms of four years. No person shall hold the office of State Representative for a period longer than four successive terms of two years. Terms shall be considered successive unless separated by a period of four or more years. Only terms beginning on or after January 1, 1993 shall be considered in determining an individual's eligibility to hold office.

"(Adopted November 3, 1992.)
(As enacted Nov. 7, 1967. Former § 2 repealed, see SJR 24, 107th General Assembly.)"