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DAYTON — Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell and Democrat Ted Strickland tangled on a wide range of subjects Wednesday before Dayton Daily News reporters and editors, but one issue dominated: Blackwell's role in the legal challenge to Strickland's voting status.

On Tuesday, Monty Lobb, assistant Ohio secretary of state, instructed the Columbiana County Board of Elections to hold a hearing on a challenge filed Oct. 4 by Jacquelyn Long of East Liverpool.

The county board tied 2-2 last week on whether to hear Long's challenge, which asserts that Strickland's actual residence is in Columbus, not Lisbon where he is registered to vote.

Depending on how the hearing goes, Blackwell in his status as secretary of state could determine the issue.

Just what's at stake is hard to say.

Long is represented in the case by Pittsburgh lawyer Heather Heidelbaugh, who served as Pennsylvania legal counsel for the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2004 and is vice president of the Republican National Lawyers' Association. Heidelbaugh said she was misquoted in Wednesday's Dayton Daily News and did not say, as reported, that "if Strickland is thrown off the voter registration lists ... he also could be thrown off the ballot."

Instead, Heidelbaugh on Wednesday referred a reporter to a section of the Ohio Constitution that says "no person shall be elected or appointed to any office in this state unless possessed of the qualifications of an elector."

An issue is whether Strickland's eligibility to vote would affect his "qualifications as an elector" and what role Blackwell might play in making the determination.

On Wednesday, Strickland asked: What if the board — with two Republicans and two Democratic members — deadlocks on his registration?

"If it comes back to me on the merits, 2-to-2, then my office will resolve it," Blackwell said.

During his campaign for governor, Blackwell has delegated authority to Lobb to make certain decisions such as breaking tie votes on county election boards.

Strickland said Lobb ordered the hearing in violation of Ohio law that requires such a hearing to be held within 10 days of a challenge being filed.

"He (Lobb) decided to go ahead and say a hearing should proceed before my side even had a chance to file any briefs on the matter," said Strickland.

Because the case could end up with his office, Blackwell said he would not "talk about the merits."

But, he said, "I will talk about the duplicity of you talking about how you love your district and you want to care for your district ... but you don't love it enough to live in it."

Strickland, a U.S, House member, said he has residences in Lisbon, which is in the northern part of the district, and Columbus, which is not in the district but where he flies into when returning from Washington.

He said he made these arrangements in 2003 after new U.S. House districts drawn by the Republican-controlled state legislature left him with a district that reaches 330 miles from the suburbs of Youngstown to southern Ohio.

"I can leave Marietta, Ohio, and drive to Washington, D.C., in less time than I can drive from the northern to the southern part of my district," he said.

Long's challenge says that because Strickland pays income tax from his Columbus residence, does his banking in Columbus and claimed a homestead exemption in Columbus, his residence is actually in Columbus.

"In Lisbon I get mail, I have my driver's license there, I pay rent there, I pay utilities there, I've got furniture there ..." said Strickland.

Blackwell was asked if he was running away from his principles by not making a commitment to having two candidates for governor on the Nov. 7 ballot.

"I would hope that he (Strickland) hasn't made a mistake in judgment that would cost me the opportunity of having an opponent," Blackwell said.

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@DaytonDailyNews.com.