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COLUMBUS — Bill Clinton had a victory-hungry crowd of Democrats clapping and jumping to their feet Monday as he denounced the Republican-controlled federal government and urged the election of Sherrod Brown, Ted Strickland and other Ohio Democrats.

There's a reason the federal government has blundered in Iraq, on the economy, health care and other areas, the former president said.

"If all you care about is the concentration of wealth and power and you are an ideologue who already knows all the answers ... you're going to get bad decisions," Clinton told a standing-room-only crowd of more than 600.

The occasion was a fundraiser in the Governor's Ballroom at the Hyatt On Capitol Square Hotel.

He said that he and Brown, a U.S. House member from Avon who is running for the U.S. Senate against Republican incumbent Mike DeWine, had serious arguments when both served in Washington. In fact, Brown opposed a number of Clinton programs, including the North American Free Trade Agreement. Unlike ideologues, Clinton said, both were willing to admit when they were wrong.

In their discussions, Brown always asked how policies would "improve the lives of average people," Clinton said.

John McClelland, Ohio Republican Party spokesman, lashed back at Clinton.

"I guess it just depends on what kind of world Ohioans want. If they want a world where the tax burden continues to grow and our economy is handcuffed because we won't trade with other countries, and our children and families are less safe because we're giving in to the terrorists, then I guess they can vote Democratic," McClelland said.

Brown and Strickland, a U.S. House member from Lisbon running for governor against Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell, warmed up the crowd for the former president.

Randy Borntrager, spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Party, said the event raised an estimated $300,000 to be divided between Brown's campaign and the state party.

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