Conservative Governors endorse Blackwell

The following Press release is from the Blackwell campaign-----

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Former Democrat Georgia Governor and U.S. Senator Zell Miller endorsed Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell for governor in a speech to Columbus pastors and church leaders yesterday, saying Blackwell has the courage to stick to his principles. Miller joins governors Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Rick Perry of Texas in endorsing Blackwell in the last five days.

'Ken is my kind of Republican,' said Miller. 'He knows what is right, wants to accomplish great things for Ohio and has the courage to stick to his principles.'

'Ken and I have often locked horns with our party leadership. For example, Ken championed Ohio's marriage amendment (Issue 1) last year and has always fought for lower taxes, even when he was the only Republican to do so,' Miller concluded.

Miller, a Marine Corps veteran, served Georgia as Governor from 1991 through 1999 and U.S. Senator from 2000 through 2004. Miller was a keynote speaker at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City and leader of the Democrats for Bush campaign group in the 2004 election.

Blackwell currently enjoys a 15% lead in opinion surveys of Ohio Republicans over Auditor Betty Montgomery and Attorney General Jim Petro. Blackwell's July 2005 campaign finance report also topped Montgomery and Petro with 6,350 individual contributors and $1.24 million raised, and bested Democrat gubernatorial candidates Congressman Ted Strickland of Portsmouth or Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman in those categories as well.

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