'Hot-button' issues energize fewer voters this year
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Darrel Rowland
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH The two e-mails arrived exactly 69 minutes apart last week. And they couldn’t have painted a more different portrait about what Ohio voters supposedly want in this year’s election. One was from a new group called Christians for Social Justice about "Ted’s Truth Truck." Looking like a delivery truck, the vehicle will be driving around Ohio over the next several days sporting large billboards on both sides and the back saying Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ted Strickland "supports abortion" and "supports homosexual unions." The former message is accompanied by a picture of a bloody fetus; the latter by a pair of men’s hands wearing wedding rings. The other e-mail came from the University of Cincinnati’s Ohio Poll saying almost no voters have those issues at the top of their lists this year. Of the 63 percent who said a candidate’s position on the issues is uppermost in their electoral decisionmaking process, only 1 percent of likely voters said abortion "will make the biggest difference in how you vote" in the race for governor; the same percentage cited homosexual rights or marriage. "It’s not just single issues that people are going in and voting on," said the poll’s co-director, Eric W. Rademacher, a political-science professor at the University of Cincinnati. The controversy over the importance of such hot-button issues has only grown since the 2004 election in which "values voters" were widely credited with putting George W. Bush back in the White House. Important or not, many of these issues represent a sharp dividing line for Ohio’s major-party gubernatorial candidates. Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell was a leader of the 2004 campaign to amend Ohio’s Constitution to define marriage as solely between a man and a woman. While Congressman Strickland says he agrees with that definition, he opposed the ballot measure and favors allowing civil unions between gays. Blackwell, currently secretary of state, says embryonic stem-cell research is immoral. Strickland says Ohio should be investing in it. Blackwell opposes abortion rights and would sign an abortion ban with only a partial exception to save the life of the mother. Strickland favors abortion rights but opposes so-called partial-birth abortions. Strickland, who grew up in southeastern Ohio but now lives in Lisbon, is co-sponsor of a bill designed to reduce the number of abortions. He says the wide-ranging proposal would provide "age appropriate" birth-control information; health care and other services for pregnant women who choose to give birth; financial aid for adoptions; more money for family planning; and a new prohibition against pregnancy being regarded as a pre-existing condition by insurers. "I support a woman’s right to be able to choose an abortion if she determines her life circumstances are such that that is the best choice for her," Strickland said. "However, I do not believe that there should be no restrictions." Strickland’s running mate, Lee Fisher, went after anti-abortion counseling centers when he was attorney general in the early 1990s for allegedly masquerading as health clinics. Strickland said he sees no need for such action unless a facility uses deceptive advertising. He opposes "conscience clauses" that would allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense such prescription drugs as birth-control pills or "Plan B" emergency contraceptives, which some say induce an abortion. Blackwell would allow such provisions. "I think the law must protect pharmacists who for moral or religious reasons object to dispensing contraceptives," he said. Blackwell’s ban on abortion would allow medical procedures necessary to save the life of the mother even if they cause the death of the child. "There’s no intentional taking of a human life, so that’s not immoral," he said. But Blackwell said medical science has advanced to the point that dilemmas of having to choose between the life of the mother and that of her unborn child are nonexistent. "If a woman needs treatment, the unborn baby is not the illness," he said. Blackwell would not allow abortions in the case of rape or incest. "I come from a people who historically witnessed and experienced some brutal sexual assaults, but women’s first instinct was not to take the life of the baby that might have been a consequence of that assault," he said. Blackwell extends his "pro-life" philosophy to opposition to embryonic stem-cell research because he believes life begins at conception. "I think science and many legal scholars and theologians … are moving closer and closer to validating that point," he said. "We now have very little scientific debate that at seven or eight weeks there is a brain wave, a heartbeat, a fingerprint, all of those things we use to indicate life." Blackwell said Ohio should be advocating research using adult stem cells. He dismisses contentions the state will fall behind if embryonic stem-cell research is not encouraged. While Strickland opposes the creation of embryos simply for experimentation, he favors embryonic stemcell research itself. "For me, the most moral choice is to enable medical science to have access to some of these embryos so we can hope to create cures for the diseases that kill so many people," he said. "We are in danger, if we aren’t careful, of losing our leadership in this incredibly promising approach to curing disease." Although Strickland favors gay civil unions, he said he would obey the 2004 constitutional amendment approved by 62 percent of Ohio voters. "I think it’s wrong that discrimination is tolerated in our society, and I basically said that I will follow the law, but that doesn’t mean I think it was a wise decision," he said. Blackwell opposes civil unions. "If you want to have the benefits of marriage, you need to be married, and I believe that marriage is only between a man and a woman," he said. The candidates took opposite stances on an executive order routinely signed by governors forbidding discrimination based on race, religion and other categories. Gov. Bob Taft, reversing the positions of Govs. George V. Voinovich and Richard F. Celeste, removed sexual orientation as a protected class in 1999. Blackwell said he would continue that policy; Strickland said he would reverse the change. Both Blackwell and Strickland support the death penalty and oppose most gun controls. Both support a legislative proposal that would make secret the list of Ohioans given permits to carry concealed weapons. Currently journalists (but not the general public) can obtain such records. And both generally favor cracking down on illegal immigrants. That includes the proposed 700-mile fence along the Mexican border, although both also would seek alternatives such as high-tech security. drowland@dispatch.com
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