U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown speaks at the NAACP conference on Saturday at the Marriot in Canton. Brown spoke primarily about labor, education and the bill on minimum wage increase. ELIZABETH MYERS | DAILY KENT STATER

Credit: Steve Schirra

Democratic candidates for the upcoming Nov. 7 election were campaigning in Portage and Stark counties Saturday.

Ohio governor candidate Ted Strickland rallied a crowd of about 200 Saturday afternoon outside the Portage County Courthouse in Ravenna.

With strident tones and exclamations recalling his past as a Methodist minister, Strickland blasted Republican opponent Ken Blackwell as “too extreme” and promised an administration that would focus on “dinner-pail issues” like health care and the economy.

“We’ve had a political leadership in Columbus that has been inept, incompetent, corrupt and in some cases illegal, and we’ve had enough! We’ve had enough!” Strickland said. “Ohioans deserve better. They deserve better than what they’ve gotten from the Taft/Blackwell regime.”

Among the rally-goers were members of the Kent State College Democrats and Black United Students. Christopher Taylor, the president of PRIDE!Kent, predicted Strickland’s message will win big with college students.

“Ted Strickland really hits home with a lot of college-aged people because they don’t want to have to be paying loans that are just completely ridiculous for their education,” he said.

Sherrod Brown and other candidates in the upcoming Nov. 7 elections appeared at the NAACP statewide convention in Canton Saturday.

The convention was held to raise voter awareness and decrease voter apathy, said Tom West, a candidate in Ohio’s 29th Senate district. Strickland also attended the convention after his stop in Ravenna.

Brown’s address focused on employment for Ohio laborers.

“Our government has simply turned its back on manufacturing,” he said.

Brown also addressed education, voicing his intention to fully fund the No Child Left Behind Act, which calls for improvement in school systems across the nation.

Representatives from the Kenneth Blackwell gubernatioral campaign, as well as other candidates, were also present.

To read more about these campaign stops, read Monday’s edition of the Daily Kent Stater.

Contact public affairs reporters Adam Milasincic and Abbey Stirgwolt at [email protected] and [email protected].