From the PD

Meanwhile, appearing with Blackwell and Gov. Bob Taft at a private Republican Governors Association fund-raiser was Blackwell buddy Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Daniels, who signed a 75-year lease and turned over operation of the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road to an Australian/Spanish consortium for $3.8 billion, heaped praise on Blackwell's boldest and most controversial economic-development initiative - leasing the 241-mile Ohio Turnpike.

"We cashed the check and we're collecting over half a million dollars a day in interest," Daniels said. "It's a twist on the old system where you borrow money and the taxpayers pay interest. All of this will be reinvested in a quadrupling of our new road reconstruction program."

From Porkbusters

Senators Tom Coburn and Barak Obama have proposed S.2590, legislation that would create a single website with access to information on nearly all recipients of federal funding. The bill cannot proceed, however, because one or more Senators placed a "secret hold" on it.

Neither DeWine nor Voinovich have denied its them. This is about as bipartisan of a bill as it gets.

From Cleveland.com

With perfect weather, cheering supporters and not a protester in sight, a visit by Republican leaders from across the country started on a positive note Tuesday.

Cleveland is the last stop on the group's tour of four finalist cities hoping to host the party's 2008 national convention.

Today, the hard sell begins. City leaders must prove the region has what it takes to host such a large event.

Does it get much better than that? Glad to see that both the GOP and the Democrats are uniting behind this effort.

From the Dayton Daily News:

The race for governor should be about issues such as creating jobs, providing affordable health care and improving education, U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland said during a trip to Dayton.

Strickland said his opponent, J. Kenneth Blackwell, and other Republicans are instead emphasizing issues that separate people.

"That's why everywhere I go I reach out (to all people)," Strickland said after a rally Saturday at the Oak and Ivy Park on Edwin C. Moses Boulevard for Democrats running for state, local and national offices.

"I believe that it's time that we come together to work for the common good of all," he said.

Meanwhile, Strickland said of Blackwell and other Republicans: "They have gained and chosen to hold onto their power by emphasizing fear and hate, and Ohioans are better than that and they deserve better than that."

One has to laugh at the very idea of a member of the Democrat Party excoriating anybody for practicing the politics of hate and division. It is in fact the Democrats who have divided us and now pit straights against homosexual; men against women; black against white; rich against poor; left-handed against right-handed. (OK, just kidding on the last one, but if the southpaws ever became a voting block, I guarantee you that the Democrats would create an entire new group of "victims" for them to control.)

Is Tax ... er ... I mean Ted Strickland really reaching out to all people? Answering this question is quite simple and the idea that Teddy cares to bring us together is laughable on its face. Will he reach out to:

* Ohioans who believe that babies in the womb deserve to live?

* Small businessmen and women who are drowning in the tax paperwork?

* Ohioans who, while carrying no personal animus against homosexuals, also do not want the sex act taught as a virtue?

* Ohioans, especially so many of our black brothers and sisters, who desperately want educational choice for their children?

* Ohioans of all races, religions and creeds who seek a color-blind society?

The answer to the questions above is obviously "no." In fact, look for Teddy and his allies to paint many of the Ohioans above as enemies to his party's peculiar view of "coming together." Dissent is not allowed in his worldview and those who disagree with his approach can look to be catalogued as "divisive." In fact, it is Strickland himself who seeks to divide and conquer.

Just say NO to hate!

Newshound's Carnival of Ohio Politics #36 is up. My favorite:

NixGuy has been looking hard for the jobs in Democratic governor candidate Ted Strickland's "jobs plan."

Hint: The only jobs that Tax ... er ... Ted Strickland will create are for bureaucrats!

Here's a good reason to vote for Ken Blackwell (from the AP via the Akron Beacon Journal):

Count domestic spying as another area where the two major party candidates for governor disagree.

Republican Ken Blackwell, Ohio's secretary of state, told an audience of Ohio Chamber of Commerce members that the U.S. Justice Department was right to appeal Thursday's ruling by a federal judge that the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program is unconstitutional.

Blackwell said he believes President Bush and his cabinet are sensitive to the fact that personal liberties are a founding value of this country. "They would not infringe on those liberties unless they thought it was important to the safety of the nation."

His remarks received a modest round of applause.

Democrat Ted Strickland, a U.S. representative from Lisbon, said after a speech to a group of public officials that no one wants to keep President Bush from having the information he needs to protect Americans, but that it can be done within the Constitution.

"If he wants to undertake certain activities in order to gather information, there are legal processes that will enable him to do that in a way that is consistent with our constitutional protections," Strickland said. "If they need any additional laws that they think that are not there, then they should come to the Congress and seek those laws."

Since almost every Big Liberal Media account of the court ruling admitted that U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor was a Jimmy Carter appointed fruitcake and that her ruling was destined to be overturned, one must interpret Tax ... er ... Ted Strickland's declaration of support for her ruling as a call to surrender in the home front war on terror.

This is more than just sad, it's downright scary -- what Ohio laws is he will to circumvent via activist judges?

Americans for Better Immigration has graded the Ohio delegation. Congresswoman Jean Schmidt and Congressman Bob Ney received the highest scores, both earning an A-.

Ted Strickland earned a C, with only five Representatives scoring worse than he did. He has never scored higher than a C+, and has twice dipped as low as a D+.

Sherrod Brown received a D, and has a career grade of F. Mike DeWine brought home a disappointing D-, and has a career grade of D+. So, it doesn't look like immigration is going to be a defining issue in the Senate race.

And, if you're interested, George Voinovich was given an F and has a career grade of D.

So to Schmidt and Ney: Keep it up. (UPDATE: I guess Ney can't really "keep it up" since he's leaving...)

To DeWine: Be glad you're running against Sherrod Brown.

From The (Toledo) Blade:

The candidates in Ohio’s pivotal U.S. Senate race will debate on live television in Toledo on Oct. 19, campaigns for Sen. Mike DeWine (R., Ohio) and U.S. Rep Sherrod Brown (D., Avon) agreed yesterday.

The one-hour head-to-head debate will be hosted by The Blade and Channel 13, WTVG-TV.

Both the Brown and DeWine camps yesterday set aside their differences on national security and the Iraq war to discuss the sort of things that matter in closely watched television debates. Campaign staffs discussed at length the best time for the debate, trying to dodge television programming like Monday Night Football to maximize the number of viewers.

They also worried that the debate would be lost if it were sandwiched between debates between gubernatorial candidates Ted Strickland and Ken Blackwell, and ultimately set the date for their Toledo debate less than three weeks before the Nov. 7 general election.

In the end the campaigns agreed on four debates: Oct. 1 on Meet the Press, Oct. 13 in Dayton, Oct. 19 in Toledo, and Oct. 27 in Cleveland.

Even though both men seem particularly dull, look for fireworks during these debates.

From a press release from James Brodbelt Harris:

Zanesville, Ohio (August 22, 2006) “James Brodbelt Harris argues that he is the spending restraint and anti-tax candidate in the 18th Congressional District.

Earlier this year, Harris met with top anti-spending and anti-tax organizations, and signed pledges to taxpayers that if elected to Congress that he would not raise net tax rates nor support runaway spending. The anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform issued a press release applauding Harris and has encouraged other Ohioans to take the same pledge, including state legislators and Senator Mike DeWine. To date, almost all Republican Congressmen and many Ohio Republican legislators have signed the pledge (including Bob Ney, but not Joy Padgett). Harris also signed anti-spending or anti-tax statements or pledges and released them to the National Taxpayers Union and the Citizens Against Government Waste, and asks incumbent Joy Padgett to do the same:

"I call on incumbent Joy Padgett to sign a promissory note to taxpayers, pledging not to raise taxes if elected to Congress, but I wonder aloud whether her signed promise is worth much. A million dollar bankrupt, she has broken her promise to repay an SBA loan risking taxpayers' money, and consequently, taxpayers and small businessmen cannot trust her to lower tax burdens or restrain spending if elected to Congress."

Well, Joy?

But I thought that Ken Blackwell was a election thief!

From The Columbus Dispatch:

Cuyahoga County election officials and Diebold said yesterday they have resolved vote discrepancies identified in an independent study of the company’s electronic touch-screen machines — thus proving that the system is accurate.

But the study’s project director countered that other troubling discrepancies remain and should be addressed before the Nov. 7 election.

The study released last week by California-based Election Science Institute concluded that the four ways votes were recorded on the Diebold touchscreen systems used in the May primary in Cuyahoga County did not always match.

Don't believe your eyes, believe us leftist kooks!

From Openers

Republican congressional candidate Craig Foltin is reaching out to a notable Summit County Democrat - former congressman and Akron mayor Tom Sawyer.

Sawyer lost the Democratic primary for the 13th congressional district seat to Betty Sutton, who is now running against Foltin. Sutton waged a bruising campaign against Sawyer, bashing him for supporting the North American Free Trade Agreement and ripping him for taking trips from private groups while he was in Congress.

Foltin, who is the mayor of Lorain, has met Sawyer several times - most recently over a meal at Akron's Diamond Grille - to discuss issues that are significant in Summit County. The 13th congressional district includes parts of Summit, Medina, Cuyahoga and Lorain counties.

"I try to absorb as much information as I can, especially from someone with the breadth of knowledge and background that Tom Sawyer has," Foltin said. "I'm grateful that he takes the time to discuss the issues with me."

Don't know what to read into this.

From Porkbusters, it looks like DeWine and Voinovich have both denied that they placed a hold on a bill "that would create a single website with access to information on nearly all recipients of federal funding."

This is excellent news.