GALLIPOLIS — Energy and enthusiasm were in abundance during Ohio First Lady Frances Strickland’s stop Thursday in Gallia County. Mrs. Strickland met with local Democrats at the party headquarters in Gallipolis, encouraging them to back Gov. Ted Strickland’s reelection bid and to support other Democratic candidates on Nov. 2.

The governor is locked in a tough battle with former U.S. Rep. John Kasich in the race for the governor’s mansion. According to this week’s polling data recorded on the Web site realclearpolitics.com, Kasich is ahead by anywhere from 7 to 17 points. The Republican holds 7-point leads in both the CNN/Time and Rasmussen Reports polls, is ahead by 12 points in the latest SurveyUSA poll and leads by 17 points in the most recent Quinnpiac poll. The most recent Columbus Dispatch poll shows Kasich leading by 12 points.

Despite the poll numbers, Mrs. Strickland said her husband’s camp gained some confidence in the wake of Tuesday’s debate in Columbus. She said that the televised event gave Gov. Strickland the chance to articulate his position on key issues in the campaign, including the state’s economy and employment situation.

“The hardest thing in the campaign is having six weeks of Kasich’s ads with the 400,000 job loss thing, trying to hang that around Ted’s neck, without us answering it,” she said. “That has really caused a lot of stress, I think, on the troops (supporters). So I’ve been really amazed at how well people have been standing in there, even though they were wishing for the very kinds of things that Ted was saying the other night in the debate.”

Mrs. Strickland informed Gallia County Democrats that the governor’s campaign has just started a television advertising blitz that will continue through Nov. 2.

“(The campaign) didn’t want to spend the resources during the summer,” she said. “They wanted to save them so that we could be on the air solid from here on out.”

The First Lady also encouraged party members to support the Democratic candidates running for state and local office.

“The other important thing is not just about putting the administration back in, but making sure that we have people who will want to work for the people of Ohio, rather than get in a game of winning and losing, which is what we’ve had going on in the statehouse and legislature,” Mrs. Strickland said. “We have to get people that want to help Ohio move forward and that’s why we need to make sure we put Fred (Deel) in there, we put Justin (Fallon) in there, and that you have these strong local candidates.”

Several candidates attended the function, including Fallon, who is running for Ohio’s 17th State Senate District; Deel, a candidate for Ohio’s 87th House District seat; Jason Sherrill, a county commission candidate; and Darla Saunders, the Democratic candidate for county auditor. Mrs. Strickland specifically noted that she was pleased to see Saunders running for the local office.