APPLAUDING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION--State Rep. Lloyd Lewis, D-Dayton, stands near a plaque honoring Abraham Lincoln, as he applaudes comments by State Sen. Jeffery Johnson, D-Cleveland, at the Ohio Statehouse, in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday, Nov. 13, 1997. Johnson, pres. of the Legislative Black Cacus, held a news conference in response to a plan for a proposed constitutional amendment that would end the state's race and gender preference programs and others in Ohio municipalities.

SPEAKING FOR THE MINORITY--State Sen. Jeffrey Johnson, D-Cleveland, speaks to reporters following a news conference concering a proposed constitutional amendment that would end the state's race and gender preference programs, at the Ohio Statehouse, in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday, Nov. 13, 1997. Johnson is the president of the Ohio Legislative Black Cacus.

HOPES TO GO INSIDE--Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Taft is joined by his wife Hope in front of the Governor's Office, at the Ohio Statehouse, in Columbus, Ohio, on Thursday, Nov. 13, 1997. Taft ended a two-day, nine-city tour of the state at the place where he hopes to call home.