From the Enquirer

Rep. Ted Strickland, the Lisbon Democrat who is Blackwell's opponent for governor, said Friday that he just started reading Blackwell's book and said he was struck by Blackwell's call for "an end to the welfare state, so that no welfare state remains at all, not even an altered state that is radically different from the one we have today."

"There have been aspects of government programs that have had a negative impact in some cases," Strickland said, "but does he really want to do away with government programs that really work, programs like Medicaid, children's health insurance, and adoption assistance?"

From the Dispatch

Laid end-to-end, every dollar that Ohio House Republicans have given to their caucus campaign fund since 2003 would stretch from Columbus to Wichita, Kan.

For House Democrats, the trail would end in Dayton.

Stressing that all Republicans benefit when the party holds strong majorities, GOP lawmakers have been pushed hard to not only raise enough money for their own races but also to raise extra cash for the caucus.

A caucus is a group of all lawmakers of the same party from the same legislative chamber. Both branches of the legislature have them, so Ohio has four.

Most expect Republicans to raise more money. They have more members in the House (60-39) and Senate (22-11), chair every committee, and run in GOP-drawn districts that nearly guarantee continued success.

Lobbyists and special interest groups give more money to lawmakers who have power. But some are still surprised by the size of the disparity between the two parties.

Since 2003, current House Republicans have given more than $8.1 million to their caucus, nearly 11 times what Democrats have donated to theirs. In the Senate, Republicans have given their caucus $4.9 million, 15 times what Democrats have raised.

From the Blade

Mr. Irvine’s organization and other pro-gun groups praise both Republican Ken Blackwell and Democrat Ted Strickland, the leading candidates for governor. Gun-control proponents prefer Republican Mike DeWine and Democrat Sherrod Brown, who are running for Mr. DeWine’s U.S. Senate seat.

Both contests have drawn national attention, but the gubernatorial candidates are firing more freely on the gun issue.

Mr. Strickland is a southeast Ohio congressman who touts his “A” rating from the National Rifle Association and says he’s bucked party leadership for years on guns, though he does not own one personally. He voted against President Bill Clinton’s ban on assault weapons and for a measure last year to shield gun manufacturers from liability in crimes involving their products.

In a press release last week, Mr. Strickland criticized Republican leaders in the Ohio legislature for not passing a bill that would wipe out municipal gun restrictions in several cities, including Toledo.

Mr. Blackwell, Ohio’s secretary of state, is a gun owner who traces his Second Amendment support to his days on Cincinnati City Council. He opened a trapshooting tournament on Tuesday; his campaign and the state Republican Party spent part of the rest of the week questioning Mr. Strickland’s commitment to gun rights.

I wish that while Democrats are pondering how "hard" it is to register to vote, they would take a moment to ponder how hard they and their precious big government have made it to:

Start a small business

Pay your taxes

Renew your driver's liscense

Die

In a column, Rose Russell, an associate editor at The (Toledo) Blade, takes race-baiting to a new level:

CONGRESSIONAL Republicans' actions Wednesday on the issue of renewing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were scornful.

However, the Republicans' whammy raises questions about that commitment.

Southern House Republicans' refusal to remain under federal oversight that ensures no voter is subjected to barriers led them to cancel a vote to extend the law scheduled the other day. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert of Illinois insists that his Republican colleagues are "committed to passing the Voting Rights Act legislation as soon as possible." From that vantage point then, it doesn't appear there is a threat to the need to extend the law for another 25 years.

Oh it does, why? It was not a Republican who stood in that school house door demanding segregation. It was not a Republican who invented the poll tax. It was not a Republican who created the literacy test. What in the previous 30 years would give any rational onlooker the notion that it was Republicans who stood in the way of racial equality? I have indeed had to spank the GOP recently for racial shenanigans, but unfortunately they were doing just as the Congressional Black Caucus had requested -- they again gave the OK to congressional districts created for the sole purpose of electing black and Latino representatives. The slimy insinuation that racism is the cause of the delay is the product of a small mind which has no other recourse but name-calling.

The voting rights law requires the Justice Department to give approval before changes are permitted in voting practices in nine southern states that have been documented to bully black voters.

The purpose of the law is to prevent the return of scare tactics that whites used to hinder black voters from exercising their right.

An accurate statement -- 40 years ago. Though I have no doubt that I could produce for you several (well-hidden) incidents of voter intimidation, the 60s are long gone that fight has already been won. Leftists like Miss Russell keep the specter of this wide-spread racism alive for only one purpose: to keep the black vote in the Democrat's pocket through fear. Bull Conner must be rolling over in his grave at the sight of the theft of his greatest weapon!

After all, African-Americans have become full members in the political process. Black southerners enjoy both voting in elections and holding public office at every level of government - although none of the Republicans seemed to point out that there is no black senator from the South yet.

That's one explanation the rebellious southern Republican congressmen gave as to why they don't need federal oversight of voting practices anymore.

But they are wrong, and what they did Wednesday by stopping the vote proves it.

Wade Henderson, the executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, put it succinctly when he said, "Those members who held up today's vote represent retrogressive forces that America hasn't seen at this level since the 1960s."

The southern states are not as squeaky clean as they want the public to believe. A bipartisan commission found proof of voting rights violations recently in Georgia, Texas, and in other southern communities, according to Barbara Arnwine, executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

With polls of Americans showing that over 35% believe in flying saucers, I have no doubt that the engineers of the race industry can produce anecdotal evidence of anything that they desire, but color me unconvinced (pun unintended). After the 2000 election, I watched nearly the entire proceedings of the US Commission on Civil Rights hearings held to investigate reports of racial shenanigans after that election and I witnessed rampant racism alright. Unfortunately, most of it came from the then-head of the commission itself -- Mary Francis Berry.

I will give Miss Russell credit for noting the major stumbling block to the bill's renewal (though she does not give it the credit it deserves):

Meanwhile, the Republicans also disagreed on whether to require bilingual ballots where at least 5 percent of the citizens speak a different language.

Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King's sensible amendment would end the requirement. Printing ballots in several languages or providing interpreters for regions with large immigrant populations isn't what a country with one national language does.

If you don't understand a document, don't sign it. If you can't read a ballot, don't vote. In an English-speaking nation like this one, expect to read, speak, and write English.

Callous? No.

Immigrants who become citizens must learn enough of the language to become citizens. If they want to vote, then they should learn enough English to vote intelligently.

Though I wish it were not necessary, I am not pollyannaish enough to believe that we have outlived the Voting Rights Act's usefulness and I call for the act's renewal, but not before the law requires that all citizens be treated without regard to race, gender and religion as the spirit of the legislation requires. The time has come for the racial spoils system to end -- a fact that Miss Russell curiously fails to recognize. Racism? I will not be so bold as to accuse Miss Russell of the crime of which she so slyly insinuates motivates the Republicans.

If only she had the same compunction.

Who comes to mind when you read things like this?

At a time when [the Democratic] party can ill afford to alienate centrist constituencies across the country, it is doing just that with Lieberman, and some senior Republicans are wondering whether they shouldn't get into the fight to help Lieberman despite the fact that a weakened Lieberman could mean a win for their expected nominee in the state, Alan Schlesinger.

"Lieberman has been a more loyal American and a real leader for our nation than some of the men we have on our side of the aisle in the Senate," says a Republican fundraiser. "I don't want to see Lieberman lose to a leftist nut like Ned Lamont."

Senator Not-Sherrod-Brown is lucky that Republicans seem to be more tolerant of moderates right now than the liberals are. When you consider that Lieberman is now toying with the idea of leaving the Democratic Party and running as an independent, that tolerance may be what keeps us in control of the Senate.

From a Strickland press release

Columbus, Ohio—In a radio appearance on a conservative talk show based in California late last week, Ken Blackwell said he favored a flat tax or a consumption tax, either of which would harm Ohio’s already struggling middle class families.

While on the Dennis Prager Show Thursday, the host asked Blackwell “what kind of tax do you favor?” Blackwell replied: "A flat tax. I am comfortable with a consumption tax..."

On Saturday, Blackwell also revealed that his overarching concern is for "the exodus of wealthy Ohioans" leaving the state. In the same story, Blackwell reiterated his flat tax proposal. ("GOP looks at investor tax breaks", Columbus Dispatch, June 24, 2006)

“This fits Mr. Blackwell’s other extreme proposals to shift the burden onto Ohio’s middle class families,” said Lee Fisher, candidate for lieutenant governor. “We need a governor who will work to lessen the strain on middle class Ohioans, not bury them under additional taxes. This is just another example of how Ohioans can’t trust Mr. Blackwell to lead on the issues that matter most to them.”

OK, we give up...how will this raise taxes and be bad for Ohio?

From Openers

“To put it quite bluntly and simply, Sherrod Brown talks and I lead,” he said in prepared remarks at the event, which drew more than 2,000 people. “Sherrod Brown has used his time in Congress to talk a lot. He’s used his time in Congress to complain a lot about Republicans. I have used my time in Congress to reach out and to work with Democrats and Republicans, alike, to change things and to get things done and to pass legislation. I have used my time to help Ohio families.”

"I voted for the Patriot Act to help find and stop the terrorists, and it makes a difference. Sherrod Brown voted to deny these tools to our terrorist fighters. And, guess what? I’ll tell you how far off the mark Sherrod Brown is. Guess who voted for the Patriot Act -- besides Mike DeWine? Even Barbara Boxer voted for the Patriot Act! No -- it gets better -- Hillary Clinton voted for the Patriot Act. Ted Kennedy voted for the Patriot Act. And, John Kerry voted for the Patriot Act…but not Sherrod Brown."

What a turnout!