McCain Woos Ohio Independents

Republican presidential candidate John McCain raced across Ohio on Saturday, campaigning in a state where he is counting on the huge number of registered independents to power him to a primary victory.

Almost two-thirds of Ohio’s voters are unaffiliated with either major party, giving McCain the chance to build the type of coalition that propelled him to wins over George W. Bush in the New Hampshire and Michigan primaries.

In recent days, McCain has focused on trying to improve his standing among GOP voters. But with Ohio’s demographics in mind, he returned Saturday to stressing that his campaign is a crusade against special interests.

“With your support, things will never, ever be the same in Washington, D.C., again,” the senator from Arizona said at one of his appearances. “I think we’re going to win. We’re going to beat back the forces of evil.”

Ohio joins California and New York as the major Republican primaries on March 7, and of the three it is the only one in which any voter can cast a ballot that helps determine who wins the state’s 69 GOP convention delegates.

In New York, with 101 delegates at stake, the contest is open only to Republicans. In California, any voter may participate in the GOP primary, but only the votes of registered Republicans will determine who wins the state’s 162 delegates. (A Time/CNN poll released Saturday showed Bush with a large lead among California’s likely Republican voters, 48% to 23%.)

McCain’s first stop in Ohio was at the West Side Market in downtown Cleveland. Butchers carrying huge trays of ground beef and shoppers picking through mounds of fresh carrots bustled about as McCain slowly made his way through the collection of stalls, shaking hands and signing copies of his recently published family memoir. He stopped to buy smoked kielbasa and beef jerky from Czuchraj’s meat market.

One person held aloft a sign that said “Vegetarians for McCain,” a reference to his oft-repeated comment that he welcomes the support of “independents, Democrats, Libertarians and vegetarians.”

Outside the market, a rowdy crowd of several hundred swarmed around McCain as he held a news conference. He was interrupted at one point when the crowd spontaneously broke into a chant: “Ohio for McCain! Ohio for McCain!”

Still, the event illustrated how difficult a task McCain faces making the chant a reality. The only elected official accompanying McCain was Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio); the rest of the state’s GOP establishment, led by Gov. Robert A. Taft, is solidly behind Bush.

DeWine, however, said he could feel McCain’s momentum building. “What has worked in other places is going to work in Ohio,” DeWine said.

At a town hall meeting later at Ohio State University in Columbus, McCain declared himself a “proud fiscal conservative.” And he did not hesitate to focus on differences between tax-cut plans he and Bush have offered, differences the Texas governor has said shows McCain is timid about wanting to reduce the size of government.

McCain noted that his tax plan provides a more moderate tax cut than Bush’s in an effort to pay down the national debt and shore up Social Security. Arguing that his plan is more prudent, McCain said, “There’s a difference between the candidates, and you should know about them so you can make an informed decision.”

McCain’s speech was interrupted several times by hecklers. One pair of protesters shouted, “Give us a living wage!”

McCain responded: “I’d be glad to. Go to work.”