From Openers

The Plain Dealer poll, to be published in full tomorrow, has good news for Democrats: Ted Strickland leads Ken Blackwell by 17 points, 53 to 36 percent, and Dems lead for most other state executive offices.

But the race for Senate looks tight, with Democrat Sherrod Brown leading GOP incumbent Mike DeWine by just two points, 45 to 43. That's within the margin of error in the poll, conducted for the PD by Mason-Dixon. The poll of 625 respondents has a 4-point margin of error.

From Openers

A statewide poll conducted for The Plain Dealer by Mason-Dixon will be published in Sunday's paper. Topics covered included the races for governor and Senate, statewide ballot issues such as gambling and the minimum wage, and how Ohioans feel about George Bush, Bob Taft and the war in Iraq.

Sneak preview: Saturday approx. 6 p.m.

We already can tell you the polling results

Blackwell will be down by 72 points

Brown will be up by 10 points

Taft will have a 1.5% approval rating

Bush will have a 5% approval rating

The War in Iraq will have a 3.2% approval rating

The minimum wage issue will have 98% support

Will we be proven wrong?�

Bobby Eberle has a posting worth reading on his (and GOPUSA’s) weblog The Loft concerning form Missouri Senator John Danforth’s effort to, in actuality, bring the Republican Party back to the left.

In a news story running this morning, former Missouri GOP Sen. John Danforth is hoping to take the Republican Party back from the religious right. The report, which is headlined“Ex-senator wants to save GOP from itself,” misses the point. The GOP does not need to be saved from its conservative base. What it needs to be saved from is its leadership which has driven the base to apathy.

The news story goes on to note that Danforth feels energy is“wasted” debating issues like gay marriage and also“diverts attention from important matters like the budget that are the proper province of government.”��

While not mentioned in the article, but known to all Ohio Conservatives, Republicans, and Libertarians is our very own Mike DeWine. DeWine is one of many sheep called to the piped piper John McCain bent on removing traditional and Reagan conservatism from the party.

Eberle concludes that there is nothing wrong with the Republican core belief, rather the problem resides in the party leadership. This is extremely true in the case of the Ohio Republican Party. One only need to remember how the ORP thwarted the Pierce Senatorial run, and how they have treated Ken Blackwell.

The big question for Ohio’s Republicans is how can we take the ORP back from the likes of DeWine, Dansforth, McCain and Bob Bennett? One thing is for sure Bennett needs to go; 18 years has been more than enough. Just take a look at where Ohio’s economy has gone for the last 18 years and that should be more than enough to say we need a change. Let’s hope that after Ken Blackwell is elected Governor he forces Bennett out.��

The question I raise to the Republican Party leadership is what good is it when at the end of the day when you have the largest and richest party, the Democrats are scattered, and yet you do not represent the people’s beliefs and norms?

Conservatives I say, stay the course, but do not give up. Do not turn your back on the GOP just yet. We must defeat those that will move the Party to left and educate those that do not know the real substance of Conservatism. After all we have send Whinovich� packing.

Strickland Calls Ohio a "Backwards State"

Is there any doubt�that if Blackwell�had made such an insulting statement during a campaign- publicly, on tape!-�that it would be plastered across every front page and lead every newscast- TV and radio-�in the State. That's not bad enough. He then gives our "backwardness" (defined as: restrictions- of which there are essentially none- on abortion and embryonic stem cell research; and presumably our defense of marriage amendment) as the reason(s) for Ohio's sluggish economy.

If any Republican had ascerted such stupidity,�they would then be hounded daily for comment about why they hate Ohioans and to defend their economic moonbattery- and rightly so! But "The Stealth Candidate" gets a pass; and not just a pass, but gets�protected from criticism.

Sometimes bias is exhibited by what you don't�report as much as�how or what you do.

Read the story HERE.

Here are some Republicans who have recently been endorsed by the Plain Dealer

From usnews.com

Fueled with immense sums of dues money, which of course come directly from the taxpayers from whom they are, if necessary, forcibly extracted, then channeled to public employees and deducted from their paychecks and sent to their unions, whether they like that or not. The power of public-employee unions varies by state, but in most states they're a major political force. They had a huge victory in California last year, when they poured in more than $100 million to defeat Arnold Schwarzenegger's ballot propositions, including one (which Schwarzenegger supported only lukewarmly but that got the largest percentage) that would have required public-employee unions to get employees' authorization to pay dues. The public-employee unions fought that hard, and with megabucks, because their leaders know that many public employees don't want their dues sent to unions who spend them on political causes they don't agree with. The huge flow of taxpayers' dollars to the union leaders would be vastly reduced.

Now comes the interesting news. This week the Supreme Court has granted certiorari to review a decision of the Washington Supreme Court overturning a law passed by referendum that would require public employees to give consent before unions would get that portion of their dues money spent on politics. I haven't read the state Supreme Court's decision, but the newspaper account referenced above makes it sound specious: Evidently, it's based on the theory that union members' First Amendment rights are violated if they're not forced to hand over their money to allow their union's leaders to exercise their First Amendment rights the way they want to. It looks very much like the decision of Democratic judges to keep the money flowing to what is probably the state's strongest Democratic lobby, the Washington Education Association (i.e., the teachers union). Congratulations to the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, which has fought to get the law implemented over the powerful opposition of the WEA. And congratulations to Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna, who defended the law by appealing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. McKenna is a Republican, elected by a 52-to-44 percent margin in 2004. The governor's race that year, as you may recall, was exquisitely close and was litigated over many weeks until Democrat Christine Gregoire, then attorney general, was declared the winner despite much fishiness in the ballots from heavily Democratic King County.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the pro-union ruling of the Washington Supreme Court could have important reverberations for many years. These so-called paycheck protection laws are one way to cabin and reduce the power of public-employee unions, by reducing the flow of taxpayers' dollars into their coffers. And that in turn would tend to reduce the power of public-employee unions to increase their share of the private economy.

This is why the Supreme Court is so important.�

has more nice things to say about Sherrod Brown and Ted Strickland.

Since Victoria Wulsin and BSB have been slamming Jean Schmidt for "plagiarism,"�they may find this interesting.�From a Wulsin release that BSB calls tenacious.

Asked by a Community Press editor on Tuesday about her use of a canned op-ed, the Honorable Congresswoman used the timeless middle school excuse ”” "they told me to do it."

"We have a communications department in Congress'it's not plagiarism if they tell you to use it," said Schmidt, proving, once again, that this US Representative is a fantastic role model for our children and youth. She has refused to retract her statement or apologize for misleading the public for issuing a press release authored by the House Republican Caucus and circulating it under her name.

Those are the first words Schmidt has uttered to a reporter in a long time. On Monday, Schmidt campaign manager Barry Bennett justified Schmidt's dishonesty by telling the Enquirer that "everybody does it." He was unable to point to any other member of Congress who does it.

Well, today the Schmidt Campaign has pointed to another member of Congress who does it: Ted Strickland.

Compare this to this or this or this.

Or compare this one to anything on this page.

Are we seeing a pattern yet? The exact same press releases issued by different Democratic Representatives. But when a Republican does it, Wulsin and the liberal blogosphere cry foul.

I expect BSB and the Wulsin Campaign to either voice their disgust with Ted Strickland, or admit that their attacks against Schmidt have been petty and hypocritical.

I'm waiting.

The PeeDee reported this would be in Cleveland and Toledo starting today

And Aaron Marshall is a DUMBASS. Taft is a member of the RGA, just for being a Governor. Gov. Mitt Romney and Gov. Sonny Perdue run the RGA.

What a shame

Ohio's abortion pill law rejected

Judge: Legislation restricting RU-486 unconstitutional

BY DAN HORN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

An Ohio law restricting the use of an abortion-inducing pill is unconstitutional because it is vague and could jeopardize the health of women, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

The decision is a victory for Planned Parenthood, which argued that limiting the use of the drug, RU-486, could put women at risk.

The law would make it illegal for doctors to prescribe the drug after the seventh week of pregnancy, a restriction recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration six years ago.

Planned Parenthood - joined by a national doctors' group - complained that the FDA rules are subject to change and include caveats that would allow the use of RU-486 after the seventh week of pregnancy.

They said the law could put doctors at risk of criminal prosecution even if they provided proper care to their patients.

The law also included no exception for women to use RU-486 after seven weeks, even if they faced a greater health risk from surgical abortion.

"This is another piece of legislation that is intended to scare doctors away from providing reproductive health care," said Al Gerhardstein, Planned Parenthood's attorney.

Two points:

1) Who knew that a right to the abortion pill was in the constitution? I don't remember that Amendment.

2) I never knew "reproductive health care" was the same as giving women access to a human pesticide.

From the cantonrep

Rove, a White House adviser, had kept an eye on the Canton election. Not just because Creighton was vying to become the first woman mayor in the city. Not just because most large cities in Ohio have Democratic mayors. And not simply because Creighton is a staunch Republican who campaigned for President Bush.

Creighton’s race was one of several trial runs around the country that the Republican National Committee used to gauge how effectively it could get out the vote in anticipation of the 2004 presidential election, according to the book,“The Architect: Karl Rove and The Master Plan for Absolute Power,” released earlier this month.

From the Plain Dealer

In a victory for news-gathering organizations, a federal judge has ruled that members of the media may conduct exit polls within 100 feet of Ohio polling places.

The American Broadcasting Co., and other media, sued Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell two years ago after he limited access to the area within 100 feet of polling areas.

The ruling, handed down Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson, ends the battle between Blackwell and news organization over exit polls.

From the hotline

Today: the GOP threw a wrench into the Democrats' calculations. The RNC site selection committee wasn't supposed to choose its city until — at the earliest — December. But Republicans said the strength of the Twin Cities' courtship, combined with a desire to prevent the Democrats from choosing a blue-trending battleground state, necessitated the surgical action. Cleveland, another finalist, simply couldn't provide the RNC with assurance that it had enough hotel rooms. Tampa had hurricanes. And a well-timed convention announcement might help Gov. Tim Pawlenty survive a tough re-election challenge this cycle.

Add this to the list of stories covered-up by the Ohio legacy media:

Strickland Panders to Terrorist Front Group�

Says Ohio thanks CAIR for helping to kill Jews

“On behalf of all Ohioans, [my wife and I] appreciate your vision to promote justice and mutual understanding."

Remember this from last year? The voters never heard about it:

Strickland Calls Ohio a "Backwards State"

Blames economy's woes�on restrictions on abortion and embryonic stem cell research

“All of these things paint a picture of Ohio nationally and internationally as a backwards state," he charged.

Other headlines I'm still waiting for:

Strickland plans�massive expansion of�Medicaid

Believes adding hundreds of thousands to broken system and "living wage" revenue neutral

Looks like the Betty Montgomery campaign is blogging away.

(HT: SOB)

From openers

Brunner and Hartmann also discussed the pettiness of their campaigns, solutions for improving the number and quality of poll workers and how they would manage elections boards around the state.

They did what?�

From Bloomberg.com

Republicans plan to hold their 2008 presidential nominating convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman told reporters on a conference call today.

The main convention will be held Sept. 1-4 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Republican officials said they also expect to hold many activities during the week across the river in nearby Minneapolis.

That is a shame.

Hat tip: Little Green Footballs

Tucker Carlson’s interview with CAIR’s Ohio Chapter President Asma Mobin-Uddin is worth watching.

One of the interesting items in her response is how she connects the promotion by Dennis Mitsubishi as mocking the Pope; bizarre. She drops all the appropriate words to deflect from the real issue, Islamic terrorism. What is even more interesting she mentions that CAIR has not even seen the promotion they are attacking.

Her response is typical double-speak and noticeably demonstrates CAIRs culpable alliance with the thug terrorist. She and CAIR are nothing more than the soft front of the greater threat.