COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) _ Former and current chairs are clashing over the Ohio Democratic Party's treatment of a young challenger who's refused to leave the 2016 race for a U.S. Senate seat sought by former Gov. Ted Strickland.
 
Generations are reversed in the feud. A group of older Democrats from former Gov. Richard Celeste's era are standing behind 30-year-old P.G. Sittenfeld, a Cincinnati councilman, while younger party insiders, including fledgling party chair David Pepper, seek to promote only Strickland, who's 73.
 
James Ruvolo, who chaired the party through the 1980s, criticized Pepper in a Thursday teleconference for public comments urging Sittenfeld to stay focused on his council job. Ruvolo says Pepper meant to intimidate Sittenfeld out of the race. Pepper says he did not.