COLUMBUS — Maybe there is some common ground at the Statehouse in this season of good will, glad tidings and hopes of big bucks’ Christmas shopping to wake up the economy.

Sen. Peggy Lehner and state Rep. Ted Celeste think so, even if they make a political odd couple.

They’re odd because they’re not fighting with each other.

That’s all the rage around Columbus.

Lehner, from Kettering, is a Republican. Celeste, from suburban Columbus, is a Democrat.

Last week they were named to jointly chair the legislature’s new bipartisan Children’s Caucus.

There are other issue-oriented caucuses at the Statehouse and Lehner acknowledges that it’s hard to measure whether they get much done.

“I don’t see a lot come out of it,” she said.

This could be different, she and Celeste said.

Even Republican Gov. John Kasich seems interested. After a luncheon to launch the caucus, six representatives from Kasich’s administration approached her about helping, said Lehner.

“We are aware of the group and are very interested in hearing what they have to say,” Rob Nichols, Kasich’s spokesman, said in an email.

Gayle Channing Tenenbaum, who’s been advocating for children at the Statehouse for 30 years, said there’s a reason for everyone’s interest, beyond the natural desire to help kids.

The welfare of Ohio’s 2.7 million children is directly related to the economy, said Tenenbaum, director of policy and governmental affairs for the Public Children Services Association of Ohio.

To learn, kids must be healthy. If they don’t learn, they can’t work. And if they don’t work, they’ll be a drain, not a boost, to the economy.

“Children in poverty come to school so far behind they never catch up,” said Lehner.

“We can predict how many are going to drop out of high school.... All of that can be remediated by good early childhood programs.”

The time is beyond right. Take your pick of data assembled by groundWork, a Cleveland-based campaign to make high quality early care and education available to all Ohio children, from birth through 6.

• In 2009, there were about 570,000 Ohio children living below the federal poverty line, an increase of 75,000 from two years earlier.

• Ohio was ranked 36th out of 50 states for the “potential for children to lead healthy lives” in a report released by the Commonwealth Fund in 2011.

• In 2010, about 20 percent — 24,000 — of Ohio’s entering kindergartners tested significantly below target school readiness levels according to a state education department assessment.

Tenenbaum has known Celeste, brother of former Gov. Richard F. Celeste, since 1970. She met Lehner after the Kettering lawmaker won election to the House in 2008. Although Lehner had served on Kettering City Council, she was best known as a staunch pro-life opponent of abortion and had been president of Ohio Right to Life.

Tenenbaum, who like Celeste supports abortion, said Lehner’s advocacy starts before a child is born and continues through high school, college and beyond.

Lehner is her “go-to-person” on children’s issues in the Senate, said Tenenbaum

She admired Lehner’s tenacity in getting an amendment removed from a bill earlier this year that Tenenbaum said would have stigmatized a child put into foster care.

If the child had been in trouble, the amendment would have required making neighborhood notifications similar to those made when sexual predators move in, said Lehner.

“She fought like a tiger over her cub to get that language removed,” said Tenenbaum.

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