"Nothing much we can do"

As the second floor lounge of the Columbus Athletic Club fills up, aides to gubernatorial candidate Jim Petro are watching the results on TV, including reports from the camp of their opponent, Ken Blackwell.

Kim Norris, a Petro spokeswoman, said "there's nothing much we can do'' about the voting snafu in Cleveland, other than possibly wait a little longer for results.

She said she hopes the campaign got the message out that Petro "is the leader'' who can cut government, attract more jobs to Ohio and refocus on higher education.

"They just believe that he is the man who can do that,'' she said. "It's been a fantastic campaign. We've just had great support across the state.''

Norris said she didn't know when Petro would show up at the party.

Petro and his wife voted about 8:15 a.m., then he went to work at his attorney general's office for much of the rest of the day.