Win-Win for Willkes

If pro-life voters in the 2nd Congressional District are looking to John and Barbara Willke, the patriarch and matriarch of the right-to-life movement, for guidance on who to vote for in the May 2 GOP primary, they're on their own.

The Willkes like both candidates.

Tuesday, the North College Hill couple whose activism sparked the right-to-life movement nationally over 30 years ago, were among the crowd who showed up at the Eastgate Holiday Inn for Rep. Jean Schmidt's $150-a-plate fundraising lunch.

Exactly one week before, the Willkes were front and center at the Queen City Club, where Schmidt's primary opponent, Bob McEwen, was having a fundraising breakfast.

Just too old pols working both sides of the street? Guess again.

"We like both of them,'' said Mrs. Willke said. "We really can't lose in this race.''

Schmidt is the immediate past president of Cincinnati Right To Life, the organization the Willkes founded in 1971; and McEwen has solid anti-abortion credentials dating back to his days in Congress in the Reagan years.

The Schmidt-McEwen race, John Willke said, is a race between "a feisty advocate for life and an experienced congressman with a good record. It's win-win for us.''