Congressional Races: News and Notes

Items of interest in Ohio Congressional races:

Senate: Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) will headline a fundraiser for Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-Avon) on Monday, October 9, 2006 from 7:00 to 8:00 pm at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel, 24 Public Square in Cleveland. The general reception is $150 per person, and there's a private reception (6:00 to 7:00) with photograph opportunity for $1,000. RSVP via the web site. Questions can be addressed to justin-at-sherrodbrown-dot-com.

1st District: Today's Cincinnati Enquirer reports that former president Bill Clinton will headline a fundraiser for City Councilman John Cranley (D-Cincinnati) in Cincinnati on October 24, details to be announced. Hat-tip to the excellent blog Ohio's First.

2nd District: The excuse given by Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland) for publishing two editorials under her name that are virtually identical to an editorial published by Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Columbus) is essentially that "everybody does it." It turns out that Schmidt and Pryce each put her name on an article that was actually written by staffers at the House Republican Conference. The Wulsin campaign provides this authoritative quote: "'Everybody does it' is what our teenagers say when they get caught doing something wrong," said Michael Bugeja, a professor of journalism ethics at Iowa State University in an AP story on Monday. "And if everybody does it, I want a better government." As for Dr. Vic Wulsin (D-Indian Hill) herself, she said: "The people of the 2nd District deserve a better representative than Jean Schmidt. They deserve a representative who will be honest with them." And Wulsin's campaign manager, Mary Huttinger, chimes in with three rhetorical questions: "Does Jean Schmidt have no shame? Does Jean Schmidt have an original thought in her head? Does she know how to do anything but be a mouthpiece for Republicans in Washington DC?" Cincinnati Enquirer coverage of the plagiarism controversy is here.

10th District: Political reporter Mark Naymik recaps the endorsement interview of Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Cleveland) and challenger Mike Dovilla (R-Middleburg Heights) by the editorial board and reporters of the Plain Dealer. He writes that the audio is available on the Plain Dealer blog Openers, but I don't see it there.

12th District: The Columbus Dispatch reviews the warm and fuzzy first TV ad for Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-Genoa Township) here, and the new John Glenn spot for challenger Bob Shamansky (D-Bexley) here. The Tiberi ad features his wife praising him for his family values and for his willingness to "disagree with his party," although the ad never mentions that he is a Republican. Shamansky's ad gets a glowing review, as in "it doesn’t get a lot better than a personal endorsement from a former astronaut and U.S. senator from Ohio considered an American hero by many."

13th District: Video of the endorsement interview of Betty Sutton (D-Copley) and Craig Foltin (R-Lorain) by the Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial board and reporters is here. Reporter Steve Luttner gives a rundown, and Redhorse gives his take on Psychobilly Democrat.

15th District: The Campaign for America's Future has just launched a new web site called "BadPryce.org" that focuses on Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Columbus). In addition to being a repository for information about Pryce's record, the site also features a blog that will be updated daily.

Businessman Charles Morrision has abandoned his attempt to run as an independent candidate, after a federal appellate court upheld the lower court's ruling that Secretary of State Ken Blackwell (R-Cincinnati) correctly removed him from the ballot as being in fact a Republican.

18th District: Hotline commented on this race yesterday, noting the 14 point lead for Zack Space (D-Dover) over Rep. Bob Ney's hand-picked successor, State Sen. Joy Padgett (R-Coschocton), in a Democrat-sponsored poll, with Padgett getting only a 41%/34% favorability rating. The author, Josh Kraushaar, concludes that voters are connecting Ney's guilty plea and Gov. Bob Taft's (R) ethical problems to Padgett, helped by Space's TV ad that pictures Padgett alongside Ney and Taft. "Ney has been a burden on her campaign; she called for his "immediate resignation" on 9/20. But the longer he stubbornly remains in Congress, the longer the connection will stick." The author also notes that the new NRCC attack ad, while ridiculing Space, also "acknowledges that unemployment is a serious problem in Southeastern Ohio. That's not exactly a ringing endorsement for the GOP." Bottom line: "[T]he picture in this GOP-tilting CD isn't looking good for the majority party." Hat-tip to the outstanding blog People Have The Power.