Politics

One Hot Seat

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

February 24, 2000 / 8:37 AM EST / CBS

Two term-limited state Republicans and a Democrat are in the hunt to replace John McCain in one of Ohio's central congressional districts.

The two GOP lawmakers are set to go head-to-head March 7 for their party's nomination. Both are being forced out of their old jobs in the state legislature by term limits.

The Kasich Irony?

One of the most respected Republicans in the House, John Kasich went to Washington after upsetting an incumbent Democrat in 1982. Voters kept sending him back, and he rose to become chairman of the House Budget Committee.

His staunch views on balancing the budget have quietly driven congressional politics for the better part of the 1990s. But last year, facing party-imposed term limits on committee chairs, Kasich opted to run as a long-shot for the presidential nomination.

Short on money and support, the 47-year-old Kasich disbanded his campaign last July and said he would leave Congress at the end of this term.

Democratic leaders, savoring a chance to close their six-seat disadvantage in the House, have settled on Maryellen O'Shaughnessy, 50, who is in her second year on the Columbus City Council. She is expected to win her primary against two little-known opponents.

The two Republicans prepared for battle by raising a combined $775,000 in 1999. Patrick Tiberi, 37, has been in the Ohio House since 1992 and has risen to the No. 3 position in GOP leadership. Gene Watts, 57, has served since 1984 in the state Senate, where he is often at odds with his party leaders but gets bills passed.

The Republican hierarchy is backing Tiberi. Watts, who ran an unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign in 1994, says he is getting a lift from independent TV ads started earlier this month by a pro-term limits group.

The seat is one of about a dozen the Democrats have targeted, said John Del Cecato, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Nationwide, 22 Republicans are retiring from the House while six Democrats will leave.

"This is a winnable open seat," Cecato says.

During a recent visit to his alma mater, Ohio State University, Tiberi said he didn't even consider political office until he worked for Kasich from 1985 to 1992, when he ran his first campaign for the Ohio House.

Watts has portrayed Tiberi as the candidate of the establishment and himself as an independent voice. "A friend of mine told me, 'Bring your own bottles of water to Washington. I think there's something in theirs,"' Watts said, drawing laughs during a luncheon held by the North Columbus Republican Women's club.

Whoever wins, one thing is clear: One of the well-respected Republicans in the House, a man who throughout the rancor of the last two years was able to reach across the aisle, will be moving on to other things.