Sen. Jesse Helms dies at 86
Spotted at the Cityfolk Festival
July 4th celebrations nationwide
Fairborn's DeWine seeks key Ohio GOP post
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
COLUMBUS — State Rep. Kevin DeWine, R-Fairborn, is running for a job that would put him in line to become the next Ohio Republican Party chairman.
DeWine is one of three announced candidates for deputy party chairman, a position proposed by current state GOP Chairman Robert Bennett to groom a successor to Bennett.
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Bennett, re-elected to a 10th two-year term last month, has said he will step down when his term ends in 2009.
The other two candidates for the deputy job are Stark County Republican Chairman Curt Braden and Lake County GOP Chairman Dale Fellows.
"Chairman Bennett has rightly put together a transition plan and the party needs to go through that transition," DeWine, 39, said Tuesday.
DeWine, a second cousin to former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, now holds the number two job in the Ohio House, speaker pro tem. He is prohibited from seeking re-election term due to term limits.
In a letter to the 66 members of the state GOP Central and Executive Committee, DeWine said that in the House, "I have helped recruit, train, fund and elect candidates across Ohio. Over the last two years alone, I raised more than $500,000 for my campaign and helped the Ohio House Republicans raise a record $8.4 million."
Braden said that his seven years as county chairman in the politically competitive Canton area have prepared him for the job. Fellows, Lake County chairman since 2000 and a former Young Republicans' state chairman, said the "length and breadth of my involvement" make him the right candidate.
The Central and Executive Committee will vote March 9 on Bennett's proposal to create the deputy chairman position and if they approve it pick someone fro the job in April or June, said a party spokesman.
