Democrats return to their old stomping grounds, Ohio

Washington -- It's never too early to collect chits in Ohio if you're a 2008 Democratic presidential wannabe. More than two years before Election Day, Oval Office aspirants are already trekking through the political battlegrounds that decided the 2004 election.

Former Democratic nominee John Kerry has a busy Ohio schedule Saturday that reprises the hectic pace of his presidential campaign. In the morning, he will deliver a commencement speech at Kenyon College in Gambier, where polls swamped by eager voters stayed open until nearly 4 a.m. in 2004.

Then, Kerry will visit former Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Gene Branstool's farm in Licking County followed by a pair of appearances in Toledo that will raise an estimated $50,000 for the Ohio Democratic Party.

"If you are even thinking about 2008, you need to be doing things like this," says Kerry's former Ohio campaign chairman, Jim Ruvolo. "He is getting around the country to thank people who helped him in 2004 and help candidates running in 2006."

Several other 2008 Democratic possibilities have already been to Ohio this year. 2004 retreads John Edwards and Wesley Clark raised about $130,000 between them for the Ohio Democratic Party, and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack recently visited Columbus for congressional candidate Mary Jo Kilroy.

Next month, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama are scheduled to address the Ohio Democratic Party's yearly dinner in Columbus. Last summer, Vilsack, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana attended a Democratic Leadership Council conference in Columbus.

"Ohio is getting to be like Iowa and New Hampshire, with all these political figures coming in," says Ohio Democratic Party spokesman Brian Rothenberg. "Candidates realize Ohio was pivotal in the last race and will probably be pivotal in 2008."

Not as many GOP contenders for 2008 have been through the state, reports Ohio GOP spokesman John McClelland, although President Bush and Vice President Cheney have visited and Arizona Sen. John McCain campaigned in Ohio last month for gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell and U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot. McClelland attributes Democrats' interest to their anger over losing the state in 2004 and the fact they have made Ohio their top election target this year.

"They know there is no way they can win the White House without Ohio, so they are all trying to get a head start on each other," McClelland said.

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