Ohio Poll: Taft lead over Hagan holding steady, Taft fundraising eclipses Hagan

The latest Ohio Poll, released Wednesday, October 23 by the University of Cincinnati’s Institute for Policy Research, shows Governor Bob Taft with a 54 to 38 percent lead over Tim Hagan. In a similar poll released last month, Taft had a 53 to 35 percent lead.

Recent anti-Concealed Carry Reform comments by Hagan have highlighted this race in the eyes of self-defense reformers more than some would have expected.

On Monday, Gov. Bob Taft's campaign bought $2.7 million worth of television time in Ohio, more than twice as much as Taft's opponent, Democrat Timothy F. Hagan, has raised for his entire campaign.

The starkness of that comparison tells the tale of Ohio's race for governor between an incumbent whose face repeatedly appears every night on TV screens across the state and a challenger still struggling to be recognized by Ohio voters.

Campaign-finance reports filed yesterday, 12 days before the Nov. 5 election, show Hagan's campaign operating on a wing and a prayer, while Taft continues to stockpile record amounts of cash to carry his message to Ohio's estimated 7 million voters.

Read about the poll at the Ohio News Network.

Read about the fund raising in the Columbus Dispatch (subscription site - paid access only).

Read OFCC PAC's position statement on the 2002 Governor's race.