Campaign 2002

CANDIDATES TAKE SHOW ON THE ROAD - PART 2 OF 2

Taft Encounters Tough Questions

KETTERING, Ohio -- Nema West made a beeline for Gov. Bob Taft, who was
sitting among NFL fans yesterday at a table under four giant television
screens at a Damon's restaurant.

The governor had back-slapped his way through the smoke-filled bar,
reveling with the crowd in the Browns' victory and lamenting another
Bengals' loss. But West had something deadly serious to discuss with Taft
as she invited herself to sit down.

"Sometimes,'' she said later, "marijuana is the only thing that works for
pain.''

West, 52, a nurse at the 48-bed Hospice of Dayton, asked Taft to reconsider
his opposition to the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Although she
opposes legalizing the sale of illicit drugs, West said she had seen
marijuana ease the suffering of dying patients.

Taft's Democratic opponent, Timothy F. Hagan, supports the use of so-called
medical marijuana, but Taft reiterated his opposition while expressing
"sympathy for anyone who's in pain'' and admiration for West's dedication
to the dying.

The encounter proved anew that even on the friendliest of campaign routes,
candidates never know what hot buttons constituents might push.

On Day 2 of their three-day bus tour across Ohio, Taft and his running
mate, Columbus City Councilwoman Jennette Bradley, made their way south
from Toledo to Cincinnati, greeted by enthusiastic supporters at stops in
the strongly Republican counties of Allen, Miami, Butler and Hamilton.

Only in Dayton-dominated Montgomery County, a swing area that Taft lost in
1998 by one-tenth of a percent, was the governor in territory he cannot be
confident of carrying by a large margin.

Taft, taking nothing for granted, said he was mindful that a last-minute
push by organized labor and voter interest in school levies in five of
Ohio's six biggest cities could increase turnout in Democratic strongholds
on Nov. 5.

"People say I'm leading. But forget the polls,'' Taft told nearly 100
supporters at brunch in a Lima hotel. "They don't mean a thing. We need
Allen County to come through to offset the Democratic areas of Ohio.''

Calling Lima "a blue-collar town that actually votes Republican,'' Allen
County GOP Chairman Keith Cheney predicted that the city will give Taft a
big vote, because residents credit him with providing state money for new
schools.

Along the campaign route, it was apparent that Taft's barrage of 30-second
TV ads is paying off. Voters readily recognized him and the accomplishments
he claims in the spots. Meanwhile, name identity continued to be a problem
for Hagan, who is expected to appear in TV ads today for the first time.

"I can't remember,'' said Cherry Williams, 23, of Trotwood, when asked to
name the Democratic nominee. She said she planned to vote for Taft because
"he keeps his word'' and she wants her daughter to attend charter schools
supported by Taft.

Yet, a few deeply conservative rural voters said their backing of Taft
comes with reservations. At a restaurant in Troy, where Taft ate lunch with
supporters, John Kowalski, 33, a Troy loan officer, said he may sit out the
election because he does not like Bradley's abortion-rights stance.

And although he supports Taft, Ned Burden, 38, a Honda employee from
Sidney, said he would like the governor to get behind a House-passed bill
permitting law-abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons. Taft
consistently has said he will support the position of major law-enforcement
agencies, most of which oppose the bill.