Calling out the big guns: Mr. Right Stuff

When the going gets tough, Democrats running for statewide office in Ohio always have an ace in the hole.

That ace is John H. Glenn Jr.

Glenn is a lengendary figure in Ohio politics, elected to to four terms in the U.S. Senate in the '70s, '80s and early '90s.

Glenn's appeal, of course, transcends politics; the last few generations of schoolchildren in Ohio have been introduced to him as an authentic America hero, the Mercury astronaut who, in 1962, became the first American to orbit the earth. Roads, highways, schools all over Ohio are named after the man; his childhood home in New Concord is an historic site, toured by busloads of school kids.

So it is little wonder that Sherrod Brown, the Democrat who wants to up-end incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine, called on Glenn to cut a 30-second TV spot for his campaign - no bells and whistles, no attacks on DeWine, just Glenn talking to the camera about his "good friend" Sherrod Brown.

It comes at a time when Brown, ahead in most polls, is being hammered in a barrage of attack ads from the DeWine campaign and the Republican National Committee.

Glenn - who is the headliner at a John Cranley fundraiser in Cincinnati Thursday - may be especially motivated to do whatever he can to elect Brown.

In 1992, then-lieutenant governor DeWine was the Republican party candidate's for Glenn's senate seat. DeWine, in the heat of the campaign, suggested that, if Sen. Glenn had his way, "the Berlin Wa'' would still be standing and the former Soviet Republicans still would be enslaved."

Glenn, who fought communists as a fighter pilot in the Korean war, smacked DeWine down for that crack, as did the voters of Ohio a few weeks later.

Moral of story: Don't mess with John Glenn. He may come back to haunt you.