toledoblade.com --

Sherrod Brown and Ted Strickland have proposed dozens of policy initiatives between them this year.

Almost every time, the Ohio Republican Party's response was the same: The congressmen at the top of the Democratic Party's statewide ticket have no new ideas. But the only statewide candidate not to offer Ohioans a major policy proposal this year is Republican U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine.

Mr. Strickland, the Democratic candidate for governor, offered "nothing more than the usual mix of platitudes and promises" when unveiling his urban agenda, the state GOP said in an Aug. 21 press release. The congressman from Lisbon said "nothing of substance" in his gubernatorial debates with Republican Ken Blackwell, the party said on Sept. 5 and again last week.

On Sept. 14, the GOP noted similarities between tax-cut plans offered by Mr. Brown (D., Avon), who is running for U.S. Senate, and another Democratic Senate candidate in Missouri.

"Struggling to come up with any ideas of their own," a Republican release declared, "the Democrat candidates for U.S. Senate are apparently copying plans from the Democrat National Committee playbook."

Mr. Brown says he's using no one's playbook but his own. While he rolls out promises to revamp U.S. trade deals, set a timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, expand Medicare prescription drug benefits, and cut taxes on middle class families, the incumbent Republican runs on his record.

"If you want to see what we're going to do in the next term, I think people need to look at the long list of things I've done in the past," Mr. DeWine, from Cedarville, said. "I think that's a pretty good indication of what I'll do in the future."

Asked for specific plans, the senator rattled off a long list of pending bills, including expanding disability insurance, improving Medicare coverage for children, regulating tobacco through the Food and Drug Administration, and cleaning up the Great Lakes.

Mr. DeWine says he would use his spot on the appropriations committee to fund job creation and children's hospitals in Ohio. He would make President Bush's tax cuts permanent and push America to leave Iraq only after the Iraqi military is fully trained and able to secure the country.

Mr. Brown is unimpressed.

"Mike goes around the state announcing that he's giving out taxpayer dollars for individual projects," he said. "That's fine, but there's no new ideas there."

In some ways, the Senate race fits a pattern prevalent from school boards to the White House. Incumbents often run on their accomplishments. Challengers run on plans. This year, though, analysts and polls show voters overwhelmingly unhappy with the country's direction - often a sign that anyone tied to the Washington establishment is in for a rough Election Night.

That's why both sides of the Senate race in Ohio are trying to tar the other as part of the problem. A Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee television ad shows Mr. DeWine looking chummy with President Bush, whose approval ratings remain low here, and portrays the senator as overly linked to the President.

"You vote for Mike DeWine, you get more of the same," Mr. Brown said. "You get more tax cuts for the wealthy. You get more special interest government .•.•. In some sense, it's the Republican playbook this year. No new ideas."

A National Republican Senatorial Committee ad attacked Mr. Brown as if he were the incumbent in the race. Mr. DeWine often criticizes Mr. Brown's effectiveness in Congress.

"The difference between SB and myself is, I have accomplishments," Mr. DeWine said. "I'm just not coming up with some idea one day about something that sounds good."

Contact Jim Tankersley at: jtankersley@theblade.com or 419-724-6134.

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