From Fox19.com

Ohio Democratic Congressman Ted Strickland has collected nearly a million dollars from former supporters of the Republican governor he hopes to replace.

A review by The (Toledo) Blade newspaper shows the donors include government contractors, vendors, and lawyers seeking state legal work. All contributed to Taft's campaign in 1998. Their money has helped Strickland take a fund-raising lead over his Republican opponent in the governor's race, Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell.

Strickland tells The Blade he believes accepting the donations was appropriate.

Sure it's appropriate but it doesn't look good.

From their press release

American Farm Bureau is in favor of proceeding with a vote on the Death Tax Repeal.

U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, voted for cloture, which Farm Bureau supports. Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, voted against cloture.

Adam Sharp, Ohio Farm Bureau’s director of national affairs, said Farm Bureau may end up supporting some kind of exemption package that could come up in the Senate in the near future.

"We’re disappointed that we were unable to get 60 votes in the Senate to pass this important legislation for farmers," Sharp said. "However, it’s encouraging to see we did get 57 votes, so the majority agree that we need some tax reform."

From the Beacon Journal

Republican heavy-hitters have been flocking to Republican Kenneth Blackwell's campaign since he won the May 2 primary for governor, but he trails Democratic nominee Ted Strickland 2-1 in cash available for the November election, finance reports filed Friday showed.

Strickland, with no major challenger in last month's primary for governor, raised $2 million during the April 12 to June 2 reporting period and had $2.6 million on hand.

Blackwell, who spent more than $1.2 million late in his primary fight against Jim Petro, raised $2.2 million and had $1.3 million in his account with five months to go in the campaign. Petro raised $255,000 and spent $572,000 down the stretch.

Blackwell, Ohio's secretary of state, got $430,000 from the Ohio Republican Party on the day of the primary. Ohio GOP chairman Bob Bennett, who didn't take sides in the primary, said he held back until he was certain Blackwell would win. The last-minute donation also means the party can give a similar amount for the general election, Bennett said.

Good to hear.

Ohio's new law to limit state spending is unenforceable, according to a new analysis by legislative researchers.

What matters, according to the analysis, is that the new spending cap contains no provision for enforcing the limit.

Because state spending is a purely legislative function, the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers does not allow the courts to intervene when the cap is exceeded, the memo says.

"Can the General Assembly be forced to comply with this self-imposed limitation?" the analysis asks. "Probably not."

From Phillip Morris of the Cleveland Fish Wrapper:

Fisher spoke acidly about how Blackwell has a history of suppressing voter participation and how he is using his current office to advance his gubernatorial ambitions. He offered no evidence of such, but still called on Blackwell to recuse himself from overseeing this year's gubernatorial election.

The irony of this borderline race-baiting is the fact that Fisher is the only man in the contest who has spent most of his adult life understanding and advocating for issues of importance to the poor and minorities. Fisher is the only politician among the candidates and their running mates who has earned the respect of urban Democrats with his actions as well as his words. It was Fisher who tapped Michael Coleman, then Columbus' City Council president and now its mayor, to be his running mate in the 1998 gubernatorial race.

So how does Lee Fisher care about the urban community? I assume Phillip is talking about his work for his Cleveland-based charity, Center for Families and Children.

But Lee Fisher is paid about $350,000, plus perks, from his charity. I bet you would start caring more about poor urban communities if they paid you as much as they pay loony Lee.

From a Blackwell Press Release:

COLUMBUS - Yesterday, Republican gubernatorial nominee Ken Blackwell accepted Democrat Ted Strickland's challenge to debate 'any time, in any place about the issues facing Ohio.' Strickland, campaigning in California, quickly retreated.

'He threw down the gauntlet, he threw down the hammer,' Blackwell told reporters Monday. 'I'm picking it up.' In addition, Blackwell proposed dates, cities and times for the upcoming two weeks.

Strickland campaign spokesman Keith Dailey backtracked from his boss's earlier boast, explaining he really didn't mean any place, any time. Dailey further clarified Strickland would have to 'negotiate' any debates and that former DNC Chair and campaign consultant David Wilhelm would do the negotiating.

What a difference a week makes.

Yeah, I'm sure that's not what he meant...

“I am willing to debate Mr. Blackwell at any time, in any place about the issues facing Ohio,” Strickland said. (Cincinnati Enquirer, Sunday, June 4, 2006)

So not only does Strickland vote against his own legislation, he refuses his own challenges. But then again, why would we assume he'd show up to a debate when he won't show up to anything else?