Mike DeWine plans comeback

Mike DeWine plans comeback
By Howard Wilkinson • hwilkinson@enquirer.com • July 16, 2009

Former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine is expected to announce a comeback attempt next week - this time, as a Republican candidate for Ohio attorney general.

DeWine, who was defeated by Democrat Sherrod Brown in his bid for re-election to the Senate three years ago, has scheduled an announcement for Wednesday morning at the Greene County Courthouse in Xenia, where he began his political career as county prosecutor 33 years ago.

DeWine would not confirm reports that he plans to run next year for the attorney general's office, but that is what Republican Party leaders from around the state are expecting.

"All I can say is now is that I plan to announce my intentions for next year,'' DeWine told the Enquirer Thursday.

If DeWine enters the race, he won't be the only candidate for the GOP nomination. Delaware County prosecutor Dave Yost announced earlier this year he would seek the nomination to take on Richard Cordray, the Democratic incumbent, next year.

Thursday afternoon, just after reports about DeWine's candidacy began surfacing on news Web sites in Ohio, Yost's campaign released a list of 42 Republican prosecutors - and two independents - who have endorsed his candidacy.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph T. Deters was not on the list.

"I like Dave Yost; he's a good guy, but I'm going to wait to see who all is running before I get involved,'' Deters said.

DeWine, 62, who lives on his family's farm near Cedarville, has worked for the Cincinnati law firm of Keating, Muething & Klekamp since his 2006 re-election loss. He has also taught at Miami University and Cedarville University.

He had been in elected office continually for 30 years before his 2006 defeat. After four years as county prosecutor, he served in the state senate and spent four terms in the U.S. House before running as George Voinovich's lieutenant governor in the 1990 gubernatorial election.

In 1992, while lieutenant governor, he ran for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Democrat John Glenn and lost. But he came back two years later and won an open U.S. Senate seat. DeWine was easily re-elected in 2000, but lost to Brown six years later.