From RR

Ohio's troubled economy and corruption scandals have given Democratic Congressman Ted Strickland a persistent advantage over Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell in the race for Governor here.

Strickland maintains a double-digit advantage. As Election Day draws closer, though, his margin has declined by seven points. According to our new poll he now leads Blackwell 52% to 40% (see crosstabs). In mid-September the Democrat enjoyed a nineteen-point lead of 54% to 35%.

That's a seven point drop in a little over 2 weeks. The crosstabs would tell where he's gaining ground. GOPers, moderates, African Americans?

From her press release

Yesterday, the Columbus Dispatch endorsed Betty Montgomery in the race for Ohio Attorney General. Montgomery has received support from all three newspapers that have made endorsements in her race.

The endorsement is below. It can also be viewed here.

For attorney general

Montgomery has dedication, experience to handle important position

Sunday, October 08, 2006

 

For Ohio attorney general, The Dispatch endorses the candidate who already did the job well for two terms and is ready to do it again: Betty D. Montgomery.

Montgomery has built a reputation - first as Wood County prosecutor, then as state senator, Ohio attorney general and now Ohio auditor - of getting her job done in a no-nonsense, pragmatic way. The moderate Republican enjoys respect on both sides of the aisle.

When Montgomery talks about her time as attorney general, from 1995 through 2002, anyone can tell she truly enjoyed it. She brought on board talented lawyers and staff members who won unprecedented awards for Ohio, including six consecutive honors from the U.S. Supreme Court for best brief of the year....

From cleveland.com

More than 5,100 voters in a dozen Cuyahoga County communities may have received flawed absentee ballots.

The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections reported Monday that the errors - mostly misspellings and omitted words - appear on ballots for more than a dozen local issues and will require corrected ballots to be sent to voters.

Elections Director Michael Vu said elections officials have yet to identify all of the voters who will need corrected ballots. But he advised all absentee voters to submit their ballots and not wait for a corrected version.

It's like a broken record.

Video posted on Lincoln Logs

Follow the links and read the complete series, but helpfully, Bizzyblog has put together some cliff's notes below:

OVERVIEW:

Part 1 — Why It’s Being Brought Up

Ted Strickland’s 1999 “Present” vote on H CON RES 107, his reaction to the Resolution in question, and his stated reason for opposing it are relevant to the 2006 Ohio gubernatorial campaign because:

• There’s a big difference between serving 600,000 people in Congress and governing an entire state of 11 million people.
• The Strickland campaign has been widely agreed to be painfully short on specifics, so we must look elsewhere for clues as to what kind of governor he might be.
• The conduct of Strickland’s party in Washington during the past two weeks has made it clear that the seven year-old Strickland controversy needs to be fully vetted.

Part 2 — The Resolution, and Strickland’s Floor Speech

H CON RES 107 was an outraged response by Congress to an attempt by a professional publication to quietly begin the process of normalizing what the authors of a research study in that publication wished to call “adult-child sex,” but which the rest of the civilized world refers to as “pedophilia.”

The resolution passed 355-0; Ted Strickland was one of 13 who voted “Present.”

15 days later after the Resoluion passed unanimously, Strickland made a blistering one-minute speech on the House Floor that was so critical his colleagues that it must be read to be believed.

Part 3 — The Reason Why He Said He Opposed It (and My Conversation with Him about It)

As intensely critical as that one-minute speech was, it did not contain what Ted Strickland claimed to be his primary objection to H CON RES 107, namely that he would support any resolution claiming that anyone who has had a childhood sexual relationship with an adult can never have a healthy and loving sexual relationship in later life, or that healing and recovery from being sexually abused as a child are not possible.

The fact is, as is clear from reading the Resolution, and as I told Strickland myself when I spoke to him in 2001, that what Congress “Resolved” in H CON RES 107 did not make either statement; the full language in the Resolution made one “whereas” reference to a 1982 Supreme Court decision that did. Ted Strickland’s “big objection” to the Resolution, was, and still is, specious.

Part 4 — What His Vote, and His Conduct Surrounding That Vote, Reveal about How He Might Govern

Ted Strickland’s 1999 vote, his reaction to the Resolution in question, and his stated reason for opposing it have potentially profound implications relating to how Ohio might be governed should he reach the Statehouse. Causes for concern include:

• His intense belief in being non-judgmental.
• His stated willingness to hired ex-convicts for state jobs.
• His track record of having an employee a known criminal record who he kept on his payroll and used as his campaign manager.
• The unique ability a sitting governor has to grant pardons and commutations.
• Ohio’s experience almost 16 years ago with how another notoriously non-judgmental governor used his pardon and commutation powers.

John seems like a fresh face and a good choice in the 15th Senate District, especially since Democratic Sen. Miller has had only 2 bills passed in the last 4 years. Click HERE

From Cleveland.com

9/7/06

“We’d like to see a company purchase these stores, keep them open and keep the employees,” said state Sen. Marc Dann. If Giant Eagle were to buy them and eliminate choices for consumers, “we’re not going to stand by idly and allow it to happen.”

10/10/06

Tops Markets LLC has agreed to sell 18 of its 46 supermarkets in Northeast Ohio to rival Giant Eagle Inc. of Pittsburgh.

Way to get things done! I hope no one believed you when you said that you wouldn't sit "idly and allow it to happen."

This was written in the Cincinnati Post in 2001, to reflect on the life of Governor Jim Rhodes after his passing:

He hauled out the chartered bus, stormed through restaurants ordering for everybody, led a gaggle of cameras and reporters through the Ohio State Fairgrounds that he knew so well. And, yeah, he pulled out his big fat wallet and slapped it against his palm and said, ''Here, boys, is what people really care about.''

For me, the best of the infrequent trips during that campaign (Rhodes was 77 years old then, after all) was the one that took him to his birthplace in Coalton, a hamlet in the Appalachian foothills of southern Ohio, and then to the little town of Jackson where the family had moved after his father died.

He was as animated as I ever saw him when he showed us the converted chicken coop they moved into that year. ''I lived at 428 Water Street, rear,'' he declared. ''You know what rear is? The house in back that nobody wants.''

Is it just coincidence that Ted Strickland also has a chicken coop story? We report. You Decide.

A very funny ad about a serious issue... national security.

From an e-mail, 2006elections, and psychobillydem

A new Bliss poll is out, shows Republicans are in trouble, Blackwell down by double digits, Betty Montgomery is up, etc, etc, etc. However, it shows that the 2nd best Republican statewide is...Sandy O'Brien.

Treasurer
28.8% (23.8%) Cordray (D)
26.2% (20.9%) O'Brien (R)
1.5% (1.7%) Other
43.5% (53.6%) Undecided

Keep in mind most of the statewides have undecideds in the 50% range, but it is still an eye opener. Anything can happen, but it does look like Blackwell is getting a bounce, although the Republicans need to come around soon. He's at 68% GOP support in the poll.

I'm sure the ALF-CIO isn't happy to learn that their latest internal polling results of likely Ohio voters has been leaked!

According to the ALF-CIO's poll, there are no surprises in the Senate race. DeWine and Brown are basically tied.

But in the Governor's race, it shows Ken Blackwell is within 6 points of Ted Strickland!

More details coming soon.