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Chabot holds off Democratic challenge
ATLANTA (AllPolitics, November 3) -- Republican Rep. Steve Chabot has held off the challenge of Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls to win the 1st congressional district seat in Ohio.
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Steve Chabot
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The sophomore congressman had been identified by Democrats as one of the more vulnerable GOP incumbents seeking re-election. The district, which includes most of the city of Cincinnati and some suburbs, has a 30 percent African-American population, which made it an attractive Democratic target.
The district was one of about two dozen in which Republicans ran ads in the closing days that alluded to President Bill Clinton's misbehavior.
Though he lacks charisma, Chabot is a tough campaigner and portrayed his challenger as too liberal. A conservative member of the conservative class of 1994, he emphasized fiscal responsibility and stressed the failures of the entire budget process.
Qualls had attacked Chabot for voting to use some of the budget surplus for tax cuts instead of devoting it all to saving Social Security. She insisted that the congressman has been too ideological during his tenure -- he has voted against things that were good for Cincinnati -- and pledged to be more pragmatic.
The mayor is a popular veteran of the city council and is known as upbeat, articulate and poised.
In his campaign, Chabot emphasized his blue-collar beginnings, Catholic roots and down-to-earth approach to problems. He reached out to the mostly white voters of Cincinnati's working-class neighborhoods and western suburbs.
Though he sits on the critical House Judiciary Committee that is in charge of the impeachment inquiry of President Bill Clinton, the Monica Lewinsky matter was not much of an issue in his campaign beyond the late ads.
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