Congressional Races: News and Notes

Catching up with Ohio's Congressional contests:

Senate: The average of the last ten polls confirms a ten point lead for
Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-Avon), and even a poll of highly conservative Allen County (where Bush defeated Kerry by a 2-1 margin) has Brown leading Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Cedarville) by 48% to 40%, with 8% undecided.

Meanwhile, DeWine is blasted over at Huffington Post for voting in 1986 to prevent important sanctions against the white apartheid regime in South Africa. DeWine joined then-Congressman Dick Cheney on the losing side of a 313-83 vote.

News coverage of the final debate last Friday between Brown and DeWine described the event as heated but producing little that would change any minds. For example, the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote that the candidates "were like two boxers slugging it out in the late rounds, with punches that long ago had lost their sting."

This is very cool new technology -- individual Ohioans can now record their personal endorsements of Brown online. Selected endorsements are posted for others to hear.

1st District: In a stroke that may have guaranteed a victory for the challenger, the Cincinnati Enquirer endorsed John Cranley (D-Cincinnati) over incumbent Steve Chabot (R-Cincinnati) this weekend. The editors wrote that the long-time incumbent's "effectiveness seems to have peaked."

A poll commissioned by the DCCC from Grove Insight shows Cranley leading Chabot by 49% to 40%, with only 39% approving Chabot’s job performance and only 32% approving Bush’s. The pollster interviewed 400 voters on October 26 and the margin of error is 4.9 points. Cranley was also endorsed by CityBeat, Cincinnati's news and entertainment weekly.

This, at Take Back Cincinnati, is priceless (not from the Cranley campaign, by the way):

If you don't get it, click here for a look at Chabot.

2nd District: The Cincinnati Enquirer did not endorse Vic Wulsin (D-Indian Hill), apparently concluding that the freshman legislator Rep. Mean Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland) deserves more time to dig herself out of the hole after her disastrous first term. However, the endorsement is so sharp in its criticism of Schmidt and so generous in its praise of Wulsin that the latter's campaign issued a press release entitled "ENQUIRER ENDORSEMENT PRAISES WULSIN; Schmidt's name mistakenly placed in headline." Wulsin was endorsed outright by the Cincinnati Post and CityBeat, and Esquire magazine also endorses Wulsin because "Jean Schmidt is a disaster."

A recommended diary on DailyKos today highlighted this story in the Enquirer, reporting that Schmidt is in favor of considering a nuclear waste storage facility for the already-polluted Piketon plant in Pike County. Wulsin is opposed. One Pike county voter said, "All I can tell you is that when it became known that she supports this, every Jean Schmidt yard sign in the county went down overnight." Wasting no time, the Wulsin campaign announced tonight that popular gubernatorial candidate Rep. Ted Strickland (D-Lisbon) will barnstorm with Wulsin across Brown, Adams, Pike and Scioto counties tomorrow (October 30th), and decontamination and decomission of the Piketon Atomic Plant will be discussed. Here is the schedule:

2 PM: Brown County Fairgrounds, Georgetown, Brown County

3:30 PM: Courthouse Square, West Union, Adams County

5:00 PM: Old County Courthouse, 100 E. 2nd St., Waverly, Pike County

6:30 PM: Plumbers and Pipefitters Hall, 1236 Gallia St., Portsmouth, Scioto County

Wulsin has a new radio ad called "No More 'Boss Hogg' Politics", featuring former Georgia Congressman and popular Nashville icon Ben Jones, also known as 'Cooter' from the television show "The Dukes of Hazzard". Listen to the ad here.

4th District: Rick Siferd gets the nod from Esquire magazine:

Jim Jordan stands up for religious intolerance. Pardon us--we meant to say American values. But Ohio's fourth district was represented by a great centrist, Republican Michael Oxley, for the past 25 years--a tradition Jordan's opponent will honor.

8th District: House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-West Chester) says that Donald Rumsfeld "is the best thing to happen to the Pentagon in 25 years."

12th District: Bob Shamansky (D-Bexley) has a new TV ad called "Headlines" that is powerful in its simplicity:

[NOTE: I have removed the embedded link, but the video is available here.]

Shamansky receives the endorsement of Esquire magazine:

Respect your elders: Bob Shamansky, 79 and a former congressman, decided to get back into politics after suffering through the Bush Medicare reform. "You couldn't have a more antimarket provision," he said of the Bush plan's abdication of price-bargaining rights. Sounds good, as does his intelligent criticism of the war--especially against his forgettable opponent.

13th District: The excellent Word of Mouth Blog has a baseball-themed analysis of the third and final debate between Betty Sutton (D-Copley Township) and Craig Foltin (R-Lorain) at Lorain County Community College on Friday. Bottom line -- Foltin swung for the fences and missed, Sutton played small ball and scored.

14th District: Esquire magazine prefers Lew Katz (D-Chesterland) to Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Concord Township):

What do you call an affair-having, Abramoff-linked reactionary? Gone. Don't let the door hit you on your way out, Steve.

18th District: Zack Space (D-Dover) campaigned with Rep. Ted Strickland (D-Lisbon) on Saturday in Athens, Vinton and Hocking counties. "Ted and I believe that Ohio needs a change of direction and new leadership that is focused on Ohio's hard working families who have been neglected for too long," said Space. "When I go to Congress, I'm committed to putting the people, not powerful special interests first." Strickland replied, "As long as I've known Zack, I've known him to be a man of hometown values, committed to helping the people of his community. We need new leadership like Zack Space in Congress to move our country in the right direction." Pollster.com reports that the average of the last three polls puts this race at an 8.3% lead for Space.