The problem is, Gore won't be there.

Greg Richey, Hagelin's Ohio press secretary, issued the statement saying that only Republican Gov. George W. Bush of Texas declined the debate, which is sponsored by Judicial Watch and will be televised by C-Span.

Finally, Dr. Hagelin gets to share the same stage as Al Gore,'' Richey said. Now the voters will get to see a real debate and a real choice.''

But Kara Gerhardt of Gore's Ohio campaign said the vice president initially accepted as many as 30 debate invitations contingent upon Bush's participation. As for Friday, Gerhardt said, That's not on Gore's schedule.''

Those planning to take part in the 90-minute debate are Ralph Nader of the Green Party, Patrick Buchanan of the Reform Party, Libertarian Harry Browne and Howard Phillips of the Constitution Party.

The debate is to begin at 8 p.m. in the auditorium of the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C.

-- James Bradshaw

House candidate says schools

in need of more than money

Larry L. Flowers, Republican candidate for the Ohio House in the 24th District, said after working with four school districts for 12 years he sees a need for more than money to upgrade Ohio's public schools.

I do support an increase in state funding for the schools,'' Flowers said. I don't know what that magic number should be, but I think the problems of the schools also go far beyond the dollar to things like discipline and respect. I would work to get character-building programs in the schools.''

Flowers, who lives in Canal Winchester, has been a member of the Franklin County Educational Service Center Board, formerly the Franklin County School Board, since 1988.

The board oversees special-education classes for the New Albany- Plains, Canal Winchester, Groveport- Madison and Hamilton Township school districts.

Democrat Thomas C. Drabick Jr. of Blacklick and Libertarian Roy Wagner of Westerville also are competing for the House seat, which is being vacated by Speaker Jo Ann Davidson, R-Reynoldsburg, because of term limits.

-- James Bradshaw

Instructor disputes TV ad

lambasting Resnick's rulings

The Rev. Werner Lange of the Akron Clean Money Campaign contends a TV ad that says Justice Alice Robie Resnick of the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in favor of trial lawyers who contributed to her campaign 70 percent of the time is junk research.''

Lange, who has taught college- level social science courses for 20 years, said his own study, released in January, correlated decisions of the court in 226 cases argued in 1999 by attorneys from law firms that made campaign donations to members of the court.

Resnick ruled in favor of her contributors slightly more than half the time -- in 56.2 percent of the cases -- which Lange said gave her the lowest correlation score of any of the seven justices on the court.

To say that this manipulated 70 percent figure is misleading would be an understatement,'' Lange said. To describe it as a flat lie in a terribly negative campaign would be much more accurate.''

The commercials are sponsored by Citizens for a Strong Ohio, which is heavily backed by business and insurance interests, and uses the figure from a study by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

Lange's study was based on different criteria. The chamber did not rate cases in which trial lawyers represented clients directly but rather where rulings favored trial lawyers in general -- in a select number of cases the chamber chose to evaluate.

-- James Bradshaw

Libertarian candidate Smith

reveals issues for Congress

Scott T. Smith, Libertarian candidate for Congress in the 15th District, has released his platform statement of core issues calling for:

Smith, who lives in Grandview Heights, and Democrat Bill Buckel of Clinton Township seek to unseat Republican Rep. Deborah Pryce of Perry Township, who is seeking election to her fifth two-year term.

Buckel released a statement this week critical of the term budget surplus'' that candidates use. He said there is a deficit rather than a surplus if items not paid from general funds, such as Social Security, are isolated from the national budget.

The debt is about $5.5 trillion according to the midyear review by the president's Office of Management and Budget. The good news,'' Buckel said, is that it has not gone up much in the past two year. The bad news is that it is projected to start growing again soon.''

He included a table from the review projecting the debt will reach $6.2 trillion by 2010.