ISSUE 1 ADS TO START RUNNING

TV spots won't undercut Taft

COLUMBUS - Backers of Issue 1, who had considered pulling the plug on their
campaign, said on Saturday that they will begin airing television
commercials promoting the drug-treatment ballot initiative.

The decision means that the Ohio Campaign for New Drug Policies, which is
behind the Nov. 5 ballot issue, won't run commercials that undercut Gov.
Bob Taft.

The campaign threatened to run "issue advocacy" ads against Mr. Taft, a
Republican whom it has accused of corrupting the ballot-initiative process,
after polls showed support for the Issue 1 was lacking. Mr. Taft's team has
denied that accusation.

His Democratic opponent, Tim Hagan, said last week that he would not
support Issue 1 running ads in the governor's race even though Mr. Hagan
does not have enough money for his own TV commercials.

Ed Orlett, the Issue 1 campaign director, confirmed on Saturday that TV
airtime to promote the initiative had been reserved in Youngstown and
commercials were to begin running there Tuesday.

He said the campaign still is considering whether to run ads in other major
media markets, and could not say how much money it will spend on the ads.

Two newspaper polls show the proposed constitutional amendment, which would
require judges to offer treatment instead of jail to certain drug
offenders, is supported by only about 30 percent of likely voters.

Ohioans Against Unsafe Drug Laws, the group led by Mr. Taft to oppose Issue
1, is buying airtime in all major media markets across the state to air
commercials beginning late this week, said a spokeswoman for the group.