"The 32nd District of the Ohio State Senate:
A Completely Biased, But Well-Informed Analysis of the 2000 Democratic Party Primary"
By Christopher R. Geidner
Contents:
Foreword
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Foreword
Before reading this account and analysis of the 32nd District State Senate race, it is important that you, the reader, understand the vantage-point of the author. As the former Deputy Campaign Manager of the Marc Dann for State Senate campaign, I come from a very clearly biased vantage-point. It is my clear and complete understanding that, as such, this analysis should by no means serve as an objective analysis of the race. At the same time, however, it will hopefully serve as one of the most complete investigations into the race. As an "insider" in the race, there is much knowledge that is available to me that one would not normally be able to report. There is six months of research that has been built up about the seat, the area, the candidates and the issues. There is much to be gained from an "insider's" perspective.
I hope that this analysis will help both myself and others understand the time and effort that goes into a campaign, regardless of the prestige of the seat. I also hope that others will see the irreparable harm caused to our political democracy by negative, personality-based attacks. Attacks may stave off victories, but they do not succeed. In the course of this campaign, I met not a single person who was looking for negativity. I met people looking toward the future, looking for hope. They may not have voted for Marc Dann, but they did not vote for Darlene St. George either. They voted for Tim Ryan as their voice of hope for the future. Let that be the lesson of this campaign.
I hope that anyone involved in politics or campaigns will take the high road in all of their actions. In so doing, I also hope that all take the democratic former Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel's words to heart, and know that campaigns, as well as politics, are about "the art of the impossible, namely the art of improving ourselves and the world."
Christopher R. Geidner
March 16, 2000
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I. Introduction: A Nice Place to Start Politics
On March 7th, 2000, Tim Ryan, a 26 year-old law student and former Congressional aide to Representative James Traficant, emerged victorious from the heavily contested five-way Democratic primary for the 32nd District Ohio State Senate seat. Overcoming all odds, Ryan soundly defeated Darlene St. George, a seven-year Howland Township Trustee, and Marc Dann, an attorney and Democratic campaign consultant. Although exact spending figures will not be reported until the middle of April, estimates place Dann as having spent around $150,000 on the primary race and St. George well over $50,000, while Ryan spent less than $40,000.
The race was one of the three most closely followed races in the Mahoning Valley, only bested in Trumbull County by the grueling primary challenge to the sixteen-year incumbent Rep. James Traficant. The State Senate race, however, received greater than 2,000 more votes in Trumbull County than did the Congressional race. In fact, the State Senate race received more votes than did any other race on the primary ballot.
Ryan ran on a platform of being a young, fresh face, someone who could change the image of the Mahoning Valley. He also ran on "get[ting] our fair share" from Columbus and providing every opportunity to bring jobs back to the Valley (Tribune, 2/13/00). St. George ran on a platform of experience and local roots. Dann ran on a platform of issues: a progressive prescription drug plan for senior citizens, a constitutional and equitable school funding system, and good, high-paying jobs for the area.
The last weeks of the campaign saw St. George on the attack against Dann - in print, on TV and in the news. The Trumbull County Democratic Party also went on the attack against Dann, who had earlier called the party a "historically corrupt political machine" (Tribune, 2/25/00).
The attacks worked. Dann, who had been slightly ahead of Ryan in polls, fell to third on election night. St. George, while never gaining significant momentum, maintained her solid base of between 22-30% of the Democratic electorate. The unofficial final results were as follows:
GRAND TOTAL - DEM - 32ND STATE SENATE DISTRICT:
LEIF PAUL DAMSTOFT ...698 ..1.4%
MARC DANN 13,025 26.3%
GEORGE FREEMAN, JR 3,139 ..6.3%
TIMOTHY J. RYAN ..18,044 36.4%
DARLENE M. ST. GEORGE .14,655 29.6%
TOTAL 49,561
Source: Trumbull County Board of Elections (March 9, 2000)
The end of the evening found Ryan with a lead of well over 3,000 votes, a difference of nearly 7%.
The focus of this paper will be to explore the District itself, the candidates for the Senate seat, the major candidates' methods of campaigning and finally, some possible explanations of Tim Ryan's victory.
II. The Seat: Geography & the People of the 32nd District
The 32nd State Senate District of Ohio, which consists of the counties of Trumbull and Geauga, is unique. The District serves as a microcosm of the state.
One of the most Democratic counties in the state is Trumbull County. Geauga serves as a Republican stronghold, having only one Democratic County official - the Sheriff, "Red" Simmons. Much of Trumbull County is looking for jobs and more development, while one of the top concerns of Geauga voters is suburban sprawl, the county having become a bedroom community of Cleveland.
Some of Ohio's best public schools, with the highest per-pupil expenditures, are found in Geauga County, while Warren City Schools in Trumbull County achieved only 2 of the 27 state criteria for school district achievement. The per-pupil expenditures for several school districts in Trumbull County are also among the lowest in the state.
Geauga County contains several upscale and farming communities, while Trumbull County consists of a few urban centers, with surrounding suburbs and some rural farming towns. The union influence in Trumbull County is unmistakable, whereas unions seem to be politically non-existent in neighboring Geauga.
The Trumbull County Democratic Party is a strong institution of influence and tradition, whereas Geauga's fledgling Democratic Party is beset with political power-grabs and infighting, rendering the small Party nearly nonfunctioning.
From Hubbard Township in the southeastern part of Trumbull County to Chardon Village outside of Cleveland in the far northwest corner of Geauga County, across Route 422 and up Route 44, the District is looking toward the future. From our children's education to area jobs and from our parents' health care to farmland preservation, the new century has the voters of Trumbull and Geauga Counties thinking about what they would like to see for their townships, villages and cities in the next decade. The race for the 32nd District State Senate seat served as an exploration of those issues and these hopes.
III. The Candidates: Tim Ryan, Darlene St. George & Marc Dann
Tim Ryan, a 26 year-old law student and former Congressional aide to Rep. James Traficant, was raised in Niles, Ohio, was a star football player for Warren JFK in his high school years, and attended Bowling Green State University after having been injured while playing football for Youngstown State University. He then went on to Franklin Pierce Law Center, where he expects to receive his law degree in May 2000. He returned home to Niles to run for State Senate.
Ryan ran a grassroots campaign, not having the resources of either of his major opponents to raise funds. He, along with St. George, George Freeman, Jr., and Leif Paul Damstoft, agreed to "not spend more than the seat pays," or $42,500. The major theme of his campaign was that the Mahoning Valley is too often "left behind," that Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, and Akron get all of the money from Columbus, and that we, therefore, need to work to "get our fair share from Columbus" (Tribune, 2/13/00). In the closing weeks of the campaign Ryan also proposed that he promote pharmaceutical company indigent customer programs in order to assist seniors in paying for the costs of prescription drugs. He suggested that he would "personally initiate it in Trumbull and Geauga counties and use my office as a bully pulpit to get it started" (Tribune, 3/2/00). Ryan often talked about how his "fresh face" could change Columbus' perception of the area (Vindicator, 2/28/00).
While The Vindicator's editorial response to Ryan was that "We doubt it" (2/29/00), the vote total suggests that the voters side with Ryan. Ryan received nearly 37% of the vote in Trumbull and Geauga counties. Ryan garnered the most votes in a nearly every political subdivision of Trumbull County. He received the most votes in 4 of the five Trumbull County cities, including Warren, Niles, Girard and Cortland - 44.6% of the city population. Only Hubbard City went to one of Ryan's opponents. Of the 29 townships and villages in Trumbull County, 12 went to Ryan, including one-third of the six largest Trumbull County townships and villages, resulting in the impressive 37.6% victory in Trumbull County. Even in Geauga County, where Ryan spent little money or time, he received 25.4% of the vote.
Darlene St. George, 52 years old and the mother of two sons, was first elected Howland Township trustee in 1993 and was easily reelected in 1997. Howland Township is the fastest growing political subdivision in Trumbull County. In the seven years St. George served as a township trustee, Howland did not impose any additional tax levies. The township also coordinated several successful projects within the schools and in the community.
From the beginning of her campaign in August 1999, St. George's message was clear: "I have lived in Trumbull County, worked and volunteered for the betterment of our community for a lifetime" (St. George Press Release, 8/16/99). Throughout the campaign, St. George pointed to the facts that Dann had not grown up in the District and that Ryan had "never held a real, full-time adult job" in the District. St. George was also the only leading candidate in the race to attack her opponents, using methods referred to by her opponent, Marc Dann, as "vicious and negative" (Vindicator, 3/8/00).
The voters of Trumbull and Geauga counties chose to not elect such contorted representation to the State Senate. Such negativity did not help St. George. Its impact is clear - both the receiver and the hurler of such attacks are harmed, as well as the community at-large. The victor in St. George's attacks on Dann was simple - Tim Ryan. The purpose and use of political consultants in St. George's campaign was also clear.
Vic Rubenstein, of Rubenstein & Associates, as an advisor to St. George, provided nothing less in this race than the negativity of which both Ryan and Dann were attempting to rid this area. In both her printed and her television ads, as well as in her media quotes, St. George did not present any of her own ideas for improving our area. She simply put down others and their ideas for improving Trumbull and Geauga counties.
St. George received less than 30% of the vote in the Primary Election. None of the cities in Trumbull County chose her to represent them in the State Senate. Nine of the 29 townships and villages did choose St. George to represent them, although over half of those subdivisions represented townships or villages of less than 500 Democratic primary voters. St. George only won one of the six largest townships or villages in Trumbull County, Howland Township. Only 52.6 % of the voters in Howland Township, where she had been an elected official for the past seven years, voted for St. George. Compare that with Ryan's 60.2% of the City of Niles and Dann's 50.2% of Liberty Township. Neither Ryan nor Dann had ever held an elected office in their hometowns. Also, as St. George often pointed out, Dann had only moved to Liberty Township in 1998 and Ryan had been "gone" from Niles while attending college since 1993.
Marc Dann, a 37 year-old attorney who lives in Liberty Township, served as both a campaign manager and a campaign consultant to several campaigns across the nation, from Arlo Smith's 1990 California Attorney General's race to Mary Boyle's 1998 U.S. Senate race in Ohio. Dann, the father of three, was married to Alyssa Lenhoff, an investigative reporter with the Tribune Chronicle of Warren, who had taken a leave of absence from the Tribune during Dann's campaign for State Senate.
Dann ran "on an issue-oriented platform" (Vindicator, 3/8/00), researched several topics of concern through surveys and town hall meetings, and presented plans and programs to address the problems he found. P.S.-Ohio, Dann's plan to address the "skyrocketing costs of senior citizens' prescription drugs" (Dann Press Release, 1/26/00) became the centerpiece of his campaign and a daily topic of discussion on area political talk radio. Dann was also the first area political figure to call for a moratorium on Ohio's proficiency tests (Vindicator, 2/1/00). Dann conducted a survey of doctors and another survey of educators, parents and education professional before coming to these conclusions. Dann took several other stands throughout the course of his campaign, calling for a repeal of the property tax for funding schools, asking the Governor to veto the tobacco settlement proposal passed by the Assembly, and helping Geauga County residents on multiple occasions to address suburban sprawl concerns.
While polls in the weeks before the election saw Dann with a slight, but consistent lead over Ryan, election night told a different story. Dann ended the night with 26.3% of the vote, a 3.3% gain since the Vindicator/21WFMJ poll was released on 2/29/00. In that time, however, Ryan gained 17.4% of the vote. Dann did win his township of Liberty, as well as the City of Hubbard, Geauga County and seven other Trumbull County townships and villages. This included half of the six largest townships and villages in Trumbull County. Dann won Geauga County with 32.6% of the vote, or 1,576 votes. Dann's margin of victory in Geauga County, however, was not enough to offset Ryan's 5,369-vote margin of victory in Trumbull County.
IV. The Secondary Candidates: George Freeman, Jr. & Leif Paul Damstoft
George Freeman, Jr., a labor organizer from Warren, had run for Warren City Council in the previous year's primary election. He had earlier been a Warren Township trustee. Leif Paul Damstoft, a mill operator for Unimast in Trumbull County, had run against State Senator Anthony Latell for the State Senate seat in the Democratic primary in 1992. Both candidates often criticized Dann's "campaign warchest," Ryan's "politician style," and St. George's "negativity."
Although their combined total was less than 8% of the votes cast, both Freeman and Damstoft influenced the course of the race. At a Warren G. Harding candidates' debate on January 5, 2000 Freeman called for a show of hands for all candidates to agree to spend less than $42,500 on the race, the amount that the State Senate job would pay. Damstoft passed out fliers at the Trumbull County Democratic Party endorsement meeting, calling for an end to Party pre-primary endorsements. Damstoft also put out several position papers, detailing his stand on issues from financing of campaigns to tax abatements and school funding. Both secondary candidates held the leading candidates to certain stands, calling them on contradictions and vague or unclear statements.
While neither candidate had a real chance at winning the Democratic nomination, both attended forums and debates whenever possible, and often added to the debate between Ryan, St. George, and Dann. The importance of Freeman and Damstoft should not, however, be underestimated. The two managed to garner 4,000 votes, enough to impact the result of the election.
V. Tim Ryan & the Role of Field: Organized Passion
When Tim Ryan announced his candidacy for the State Senate, he had two main qualifications. Ryan was the President of the Trumbull County Young Democrats and he had also worked as a legislative aide to Rep. James Traficant in both his Washington, D.C. office and his Niles district office. Ryan was also the star quarterback for the Warren J.F.K. football team and the 1990 Trumbull County Football Player of the Year. Ryan was young, and rather than allowing his age to become his weak point, he used it. From the start of his campaign through election night, Ryan emphasized his young age and declared that his campaign was "grassroots, baby, all the way" (Tribune, 12/27/99).
Grassroots it was, and it worked. Ryan's signature green-and-white yard signs seemed to take over Trumbull county overnight. Everyone seemed to have met Ryan, or at the least, they knew someone who had. While he let word-of-mouth spread his name in certain areas, he seemed to live in Warren and Niles throughout the campaign. It worked. Ryan ended up with 46.7% of the two cities' total votes, or 6,832 votes. These two cities provided Ryan with over one-third of his total votes.
Ryan managed to establish a certain passion that surrounds very few campaigns in the Mahoning Valley or, for that matter, anywhere in America today. Tim Ryan accomplished what Marc Dann had set out to do: convince the voters of Trumbull and Geauga counties that he could provide them with what they were missing. Ryan accomplished this feat with little money, and only the experience of having seen one true politician at work: James Traficant. Ryan's style reminded one of a refined James Traficant - one who would get his way, but without the strong-armed argumentative nature of Traficant. Ryan provided Trumbull County a style they understood, with a positive Kennedy-era twist.
Ryan is one of a handful of politicians who is able to pull off using Kennedy quotes without looking arrogant or downright foolish. He wins audiences over with his charm and air of compassion and understanding. When Ryan speaks, members of the audience, other than cold and calculating political hacks, are won over almost immediately. The substance is often lacking, but one can let it pass by because when Ryan leaves, the audience knows that he understands.
What it is that he understands, however, is not yet clear.
VI. Marc Dann & the Role of Money: Organized Communication
Marc Dann was able to convince over 500 people that he had met throughout his life to contribute to his campaign for State Senate. He was able to hire some of the best political consultants throughout the nation, including a nationally recognized pollster, a well-respected national political ad producer, and a direct mail consultant working on a presidential campaign. He was able to hire a Campaign Manager who had worked on several successful campaigns, a Deputy Campaign Manager who had spent time working in Washington, DC at the White House and for other organizations, as well as several other part- and full-time campaign staff.
Dann was able to purchase over $50,000 in TV time to get across his campaign themes and his qualifications for State Senate. Dann spent over $15,000 in direct mail targeted at potential voters outside of the Youngstown TV market. Dann's campaign had nearly constant communication with almost all of the media in the District, including the TV stations, the major newspapers, and quite a few of the local weekly papers in the District. Dann's campaign became known for its two or three times-a-week barrage of press releases, detailing Dann's stand on every issue of even minor importance, from proficiency testing to union project labor agreements in public construction and from rising gas prices to the WYTV poll on prescription drug prices for seniors.
Anything that could be done was done. A poll was conducted that detailed every possible area of concern to voters in the District, and also the relative favorable/unfavorable ratings of area politicians. Much of this data was used throughout Dann's campaign to define and refine his very clearly articulated message.
Dann very clearly shaped the messages of the State Senate campaign and, in fact, many of the legislative campaigns in Trumbull County. Dann's issues of senior citizens and their prescription drug costs and of school funding and proficiency tests have become some of the hottest issues in Mahoning Valley news. Dann's in-depth surveys, heavy-hitting news conferences, and progressive solutions were a solid and constant part of political news and talk radio in the area, and his clearly enunciated messages and concerns have continued to linger in the news in the weeks following the conclusion of the campaign.
Despite having a message that truly appeared to hit home with voters and having spent more than $150,000 on the campaign, Dann lost. In spite of Dann having some of the best Democratic political consultants in the nation on his team, he lost the nomination by over 5,000 votes, coming in third place in a five-candidate field.
VII. Darlene St. George & the Role of Attack: Organized Destruction
Despite the fact that four of the five candidates for State Senate were able to run clean campaigns based on issues and ideas, Darlene St. George insisted on running a campaign of destruction and distortion. In the closing weeks of the campaign it appeared she had nothing to say, other than bad things about her opponents. Ryan resisted joining in her attack, refusing time on one of her attack ads against Dann. Dann refused to stoop to her level and attack back, believing that issues and plans for the future were more important than character attacks.
For every idea that was proposed by any of the candidates throughout the course of the campaign, most of the times St. George found it easier to attack and downgrade her opponents' suggestions for improvement rather than to propose her own suggestions. In the January debate at Harding High School, St. George criticized calls for smaller class sizes, but had no suggestions of her own for improving schools. In her TV ads, St. George lied about the costs and coverage of Dann's P.S.-Ohio plan for prescriptions for seniors, but offered virtually the same plan later in the ad. St. George initially offered no suggestions as to how to address the proficiency test problem, but later responded to questions about the test by saying that it "obviously wasn't doing the job it was intended to do" (TCSA Meeting, 2/3/00). At that time, however, St. George still refused to elaborate on any specific course of action.
This lack of leadership was seen throughout the campaign, as St. George refused to reveal her campaign contributors weekly on a website, or even in some other form of public posting. St. George claimed that Dann's calls for open government and clean campaigns were "blah, blah blah, blah" and unimportant to the campaign (Tribune, 12/27/99). It was later seen why St. George refused to reveal her contributors. From the beginning of the campaign through February 16, 2000, St. George reported having raised a total of $20,143.50. Sometime after the February 16th report, with $2,577.78 cash-on-hand, St. George purchased $26,608 of broadcast television time. This left approximately $24,000 in unpaid TV time for which contributions or loans would have to be raised. The names of the contributors of this $24,000 will not be reported until 38 days after the election.
In addition, St. George's refusal to sign the Fair Campaign Practices Ethics Pledge was made clear in the closing weeks of the campaign, when St. George broke nearly every promise of the pledge. Parts of the pledge are as follows:
In an attack ad flier that St. George distributed throughout neighborhoods, at public events and in the newspaper, she said that Ryan had "Left about 7 years ago." In doing so, St. George didn't find it necessary to inform voters that Ryan had maintained his legal residence in Trumbull County and had only left so that he could attend college. She also incorrectly stated that Ryan had never held a "real, full-time adult job." St. George used both personal attacks and demeaning references.
St. George did not report properly the $1,500 expenditure to the North East Ohio Democrat Coalition that was listed in the Pre-Primary Report as a contribution made from her campaign committee on 12/15/99. This should have been reported in her 1999 Annual Report. This expenditure is of particular interest because the North East Ohio Democrat Coalition is not a registered PAC with the state of Ohio. Also, the address listed is that of the Geauga County Democratic Party chairperson. St. George was neither open nor public with her campaign.
In an advertisement both on paper and on TV, St. George claimed that "Marc Dann Deceived Democratic Voters." The article that St. George uses to make this claim is from The Plain Dealer. It never uses the word "deceive." In fact, the article states several points of view on the matter in question, and only one person, Geauga Precinct Committeeman Greg Studen, who voted to endorse St. George, takes the point of view that he was misled. Later, when fully informed of the matter in question, Studen said he would not have made the comment had he been fully informed before being questioned. St. George never took responsibility for her inaccurate advertising.
According to sources, calls were made from the offices of Vic Rubenstein & Associates that could be seen as push polling, providing negative speculative, subjective information about one and only one candidate.
Such behavior clearly negatively affects "the integrity of our society" and should not be tolerated by voters.
VIII. Endorsements: Do They Make a Difference?
The Trumbull County Democratic Party, the Geauga County Democratic Party, the Niles Men's Democrats Club, The Plain Dealer, The Vindicator, the Tribune Chronicle, the West Geauga Sun, The Geauga County Maple Leaf, the Ohio AFL-CIO, Ohio UAW, Ohio AFSCME, the Trumbull County Superintendents' Association, the Board of Realtors, and the Council of Rural Governments all chose to consider endorsements in the State Senate race. Do endorsements make a difference in the outcome of the election?
The answer is, as with many things, yes and no. For Tim Ryan's campaign, receiving the Trumbull County Democratic Party endorsement in January validated his candidacy. Had he not received the Party endorsement his campaign may not have picked up the momentum necessary to win the nomination. The Party endorsement gave his campaign the legitimacy necessary to get itself off the ground.
Similarly, Dann's Geauga County Democratic Party endorsement gave his campaign the credibility it needed to join St. George's campaign in the early "front-runner" position. Also, St. George's failure at receiving either of the Party endorsements led her to seriously consider whether or not to stay in the race. (Tribune, 1/14/00)
Twelve of the 14 organizations listed above chose to issue an endorsement in the State Senate race. Over half of the endorsements went to Dann, including the endorsement of the Trumbull County Superintendents' Association. Dann's endorsement was "the first time the association has ever endorsed a candidate" (Tribune, 2/15/00). While this endorsement gave Dann some education credentials, it was obviously not seen as significant to The Vindicator. When The Vindicator endorsed St. George two weeks later, the editorial board wrote that "she is the only candidate in the race to fully understand the problems facing education in Ohio" (Vindicator, 2/29/00).
While The Plain Dealer wrote that Dann "has an excellent understanding of the issues" (2/21/00), The Vindicator countered that Dann "presented a cursory analysis of those issues with unrealistic solutions" (2/29/00). "Dann is superior to his opponents," wrote the West Geauga Sun (2/17/00). What reasonable person can draw a workable conclusion from these three endorsement editorials?
Many endorsements leave even the most attentive of voters with such mixed messages, leaving their only value in the number of voters that the endorsing organization represents. For this and many other reasons, such as the political nature of newspaper and union endorsements in particular, many endorsements do little, if anything, to affect the final outcome of a race.
IX. The Issues: What Happened to Them?
Early in the campaign, Dann made a statement that he was going to run "a positive, issue-oriented campaign" (Dann Speech, 9/29/99), and that he did. From his early survey of educators to his detailed plan for addressing seniors' prescription drug needs, Dann did run on the issues. These were issues that caught the media, the political establishment and the everyday voter's attention. So, what happened to them?
Dann learned the hard way that if you have a good idea, everyone else is going to have the same good idea - and say that it was his or her own idea. Many of Dann's statements, which at the time were stand-alone political comments, became the popular opinion of the Mahoning Valley. Dann was the first area political candidate to address head-on the problems of proficiency testing and prescriptions for seniors. Both of the issues have since been leading news stories in the Valley.
Even though Dann was the only candidate willing to step out and show leadership on several issues of importance to the Valley, his ideas were quickly echoed by the hollow calls of politicians running to overstep him as they caught up. State Senator Robert Hagan, State Rep. Chris Verich, the entire Geauga County Democratic Party, Dann's opponents for State Senate, and several other local legislative candidates only became vocal on the topic of prescription drug costs for seniors in the months following Dann's proposed plan.
By March 7th, the issues were so muddied and clouded with plans, criticisms, and counter-plans that the early leadership taken by Dann on several issues did not even enter into the minds of voters.
X. Earned & Paid Media: Help or Hindrance?
Marc Dann was written about in a positive story in a major 32nd District newspaper (The Vindicator, the Tribune Chronicle, or The Plain Dealer) on over 50 occasions throughout the campaign, while St. George and Ryan were cited in less than 10 stories each. Dann was referenced in a positive way in pre-endorsement editorials of both The Vindicator and The Plain Dealer, however, both papers later chose to endorse Darlene St. George. In fact, The Vindicator's earlier editorial, after noting the positive efforts of both Dann and Ryan to bring information to the voters, made the following editorial comment:
" A third candidate in the Democratic primary, Darlene St. George, a Howland Township trustee, has yet to adopt electronic filing.
Information is power - and in politics, the power should be in the hands of the voters." (12/13/99)
Not three months later, after never having opened her campaign up to public investigation by posting her contributions, The Vindicator made the following statement:
"Darlene St. George should be at the top of any thinking voter's list." (2/29/00)
Voters had no chance to think about her campaign, because, as The Vindicator had earlier implied, the voters did not have the information necessary to come to a rational conclusion about her campaign.
The media does not have the time to dedicate to lower level races to make the coverage worthwhile. What voters receive is a piecemeal story that only represents one casual observer's opinions about any given number of campaigns and races. The Vindicator had three different reporters who reported on the State Senate race, none of whom knew the whole story about the campaign. Until journalists, newspapers and their publishers dedicate themselves to truly informing the electorate, their opinions, editorials and articles are no different than the union endorsements and the barber shop political talk.
According to The Vindicator, Dann and St. George spent nearly $100,000 on broadcast TV advertising. This is in addition to the approximately $10,000 spent in cable TV advertising by Ryan and St. George. The results on March 7th were, perhaps coincidentally, the opposite of the amount spent on TV time.
Dann and Ryan's commercials were positive, with Dann discussing his experience, qualifications and plans for the State Senate and Ryan presenting his areas of concern in the race. St. George spent over $20,000 in TV advertising attacking her opponents, their upbringing and questioning their dedication to the area. The level of innuendo and attack in St. George's commercials was singular and unnecessary in the race. From her campaign slogan of "She's one of us!" down to the attitude she took on at events and public forums, St. George's actions show that she saw no better way to inform the electorate than to attack her opponents. While this may have benefited Ryan on Election Day, St. George's attacks did nothing to aid her or the public.
XI. Negative Campaigning: Do the Issues Really Matter?
"Marc Dann Deceived Democratic Voters!" blares across the top of the glossy sheet of paper. On a TV commercial, in deep red lettering on a black screen, the announcer reads, "HE GOT CAUGHT!" While neither of these statements are accurate accounts of the occurrence, both were used by the St. George campaign to attack and at least attempt to destroy Dann's character. St. George's continual lies on TV and in print did nothing to aid in the Democratic process. They did, however, aid in Tim Ryan's Democratic nomination to the State Senate on March 7th, 2000.
The outcome of this three-way race was determined by the simple fact that one of the candidates was continually attacking one of her other two opponents. This tore down Dann's character, while leveling out St. George's credibility. This left Ryan in the ideal position of being the only squeaky-clean ethical candidate in the race.
In addition, Dann's comments about the "historically corrupt political machine" of the Trumbull County Democratic Party (Tribune, 2/25/00) led the Party Chairman to call Dann a "carpetbagger," a charge used by the St. George campaign both on TV ads and in print ads. The Party also purchased a 1/4-page newspaper ad on the Monday before the election blasting Dann by name. The ad said "ATTENTION/ TRUMBULL COUNTY VOTERS/ DON'T BE MISLED" by Dann's "erroneous statement" about the Party (Tribune, 3/6/00). The ad also pictured some of the endorsed Party candidates, including Ryan. Incidentally, two of the seven endorsed candidates pictured in the ad are under either state or federal ethics violation investigations. This attack by the Party leadership, although unrelated to St. George's other allegations, gave credence to St. George's earlier charges, while at the same time furthering Ryan's "clean" image.
In the end, all that mattered in this hard-fought, heavily covered, quarter-of-a-million dollar race was the following:
The voters overwhelmingly chose the football hero to be their Democratic nominee for State Senator.
That is the result of negative, "attack," campaigning.
XII. Conclusion & Afterword: Beyond the Primary
Darlene St. George is back at the Howland Township Administration Building, Marc Dann is back at his law offices, and Tim Ryan is "sit[ting] back and enjoy[ing] his victory" (The Vindicator, 3/8/00). Life goes on, as they say, and the former candidates and the newly nominated Democrat will continue their lives. Whether or not Tim Ryan will truly change Columbus' perception of the area remains to be seen. Whether or not the voters made the right decision remains to be seen.
Tim Ryan is young, motivated and very persuasive. He has an opportunity to come forward and show leadership in Columbus and in the Mahoning Valley. He has a responsibility to the residents of Trumbull and Geauga counties to do just that - to raise our expectations, as his signs read. The Mahoning Valley can change, and Ryan could be a part of that revitalization, if only he is willing to truly dedicate himself to accomplishing the flurry of objectives he has scattered forth throughout his campaign.
Tim Ryan can sit back and enjoy his victory, but not for too long. If he truly does want to be a leader, then Ryan's got work to do.