Democrats Sense Chances in Ohio for 2006 Vote

UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio., -Democrats are hard to find in this upscale Columbus suburb, home to Representative Deborah Pryce, the highest-ranking Republican woman in the House. Yet Democrats now think they can do the unthinkable: unseat Ms. Pryce in 2006.

She is not their only target. These are tough times for Republicans, and nowhere more so than in Ohio, a Republican-dominated state that has become a political crucible, testing the party's strength nationally as next year's mid-term elections approach.

The Republican governor, Bob Taft, is ensnared in an ethics scandal that has sent his approval ratings into a freefall. One House Republican from Ohio, Representative Bob Ney, has been implicated in a federal fraud investigation. Another, Representative Jean Schmidt, has been ridiculed on late night television for sharply criticizing a prominent Democrat over the war in Iraq.

With President Bush's popularity ratings dropping, Republican candidates in Ohio say they will run on their own records, not that of their party or the president. They are mindful that in Central Ohio, as in the rest of the nation, unease over the economy and the war in Iraq runs deep....