Montgomery to quit governor’s race

By Joe Hallett

The Columbus Dispatch

Monday, January 23, 2006 7:31 PM

State Auditor Betty D. Montgomery on Tuesday will quit the Republican race for governor and announce her candidacy for attorney general, relegating the GOP gubernatorial nomination to a slugfest between two statewide heavyweights.

Sources said Montgomery will announce her withdrawal from the governor's race this morning in Bowling Green during a press conference at the Wood County Courthouse, where she served eight years as county prosecutor beginning in 1981.

Mark R. Weaver, Montgomery's campaign spokesman, would not comment Monday night.

Although she could seek re-election, Montgomery will opt to run for attorney general, a post she relished but had to give up in 2002 due to eight-year term limits. State Sen. Timothy J. Grendell, a Chesterland Republican, said Monday that he intended to stay in the race for attorney general. The third announced GOP candidate, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien, said he was shocked by the news but that he plans to proceed with his campaign.

"I've been campaigning for nine months and I've been to 54 counties," Grendell said. "I'm running not because I need the job, but because I want the job."

Montgomery's exit from the governor's race creates a likely GOP showdown between Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell and Attorney General Jim Petro. A lesser-known Republican, Cleveland contractor Pete Draganic, also has announced plans to run for governor.

Viewed as more moderate than Blackwell and Petro, mainly due to her support for abortion rights, Montgomery has finished third in recent polls of Republican voters and has lagged Petro and Blackwell in fund-raising. In campaign-finance reports filed at the end of June, Petro had raised $1.36 million, Blackwell $1.2 million and Montgomery $772,246. Campaign reports due Tuesday are expected to show Petro and Blackwell widening their money-raising lead over Montgomery.

Republican Gov. Bob Taft, who is serving his second term, cannot run again because of term limits.

 

 

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