OH House-88: Hall (R) to Challenge Bubp (R)

This story in the Brown County newspaper The News Democrat (don't be fooled by the title) confirms that insurance businessman Paul Hall (R-Mt Orab) will challenge incumbent State Rep. Danny Bubp (R-West Union) for the 88th District seat in the Ohio House of Representatives. Bubp is nationally known as the source of the telephone call that Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) cited in her inflammatory assault on Rep. Jack Murtha (D-OH) on the floor of Congress, basically calling Murtha a coward, after Murtha announced his support for redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq. Bubp later denied that he named Murtha specifically in his telehone conversation with Schmidt. Hall's official entry in the 88th District race puts to rest speculation that he might challenge Jean Schmidt in the Republican primary for OH-2, leaving former Rep. Bob McEwan (R) as Schmidt's only official challenger at this point. There have been rumors that State Rep. Tom Brinkman (R-34th Dist.) may be considering a challenge to Schmidt as well.