Tag: Ohio

The Buckeye State is going to provide the purest test of the “coattails” of the eventual Democratic  candidate for President. We elected our new Governor in 2006 and don’t have a U.S. Senate race until 2010. So this time, the ballot goes from President to U.S. House seats.

And, again, it’s all about Ohio.

Repeat after me kids: “No Republican can get to the White House unless they win Ohio.” I think that putting the Sick Days Initiative on the ballot is a master stroke. The polling numbers for this proposal are absolutely Off. The. Hook. Just as the disgusting Hate Amendment (anti-gay marriage) brought in enough evangelicals to reelect the Shrub in 2004, the Minimum Wage initiative helped a blue tide to sweep Ohio in 2006.

Our current U.S. House delegation is 11 GOP to 7 Democrats (gotta loves them Gerrymandering!) But we have the very real chance to flip three or maybe even FOUR seats. I don’t know if any other state right now with the meaningful chance to make such a HUGE reversal in their Congresscritters.

I thoroughly expect victories from:

OH-01 (Steve Dreihaus)

OH-15 Mary Jo Kilroy

OH-16 State Senator and USAF Major John Boccieri

and MAYBE

OH-14 Judge (and pediatrics emergency room nurse) Bill O’Neill

Other seats will be entertaining as well. For example, who doesn’t look forward to what fresh hell Mean Jean Schmidt (OH-02) can bring down on herself and her GOP collaborators?

Here’s the big question:

What other state has a realistic chance to flip control of their state’s U.S. House delegation and to do so by such a large percentage of the seats in the state?

My sense is that we have seen little of the so called “Bradley effect” or “Wilder Effect” in the primaries, but I suspect that it will be much, much worse in the run up to the general election as the right wing smear machine pounds away at their target demographics, including lower income, lower education, white, male “NASCAR dads” (and moms.)

As I keep repeating, Democratic candidates MUST be really disciplined and stick to the “kitchen table” issues come heck or high water. Pocketbook truth trumps delusional scare tactics. They may have fear and bigotry on their side but we have reality.

On Tuesday, in additional to their presidential primaries, Texas and Ohio will host congressional primaries. Here are a few of the key races to watch:

• OH-02 (GOP): Will Mean Jean Schmidt survive her primary against state Rep. Todd Brinkman? Let’s hope so!
• OH-02 (Dem): Will voters give Victoria Wulsin, a doctor who narrowly lost to Schmidt in the general last time, a second shot? Or will they instead turn to attorney Steve Black?
• OH-10 (Dem): Can Dennis Kucinich hang on in a crowded primary? Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman, regarded as Special K’s main challenger, channelled the best of the Club for Growth in accusing Kucinich of “eating sushi with Sean Penn.” Meanwhile, Dennis – who once explained his refusal to pay his DCCC dues by saying “Some people make a lot of money for the party, others make a lot of issues” – has managed to rake in $800K for his campaign coffers now that his political career is on the line.
• OH-18 (GOP): I’m almost reluctant to include this race. The Republicans targeted Zack Space the day he got elected. The problem is, they don’t have a candidate who rates higher than “extremely pathetic” on the official Sad-Sack Scale. None have raised more than about $100K, while Space has raked in $1.2 million. Well, we’ll get to find out who gets to be the sacrifical lamb here.
• TX-10 (Dem): Who will get to take on the under-performing Mike McCaul, international affairs consultant (and regular netroots participant) Dan Grant, or attorney and TV judge Larry Joe Doherty?
• TX-22 (GOP): A huge field of wannabees are lining up to challenge Rep. Nick Lampson. Amazingly, after her embarrasing two-month stint as representative after winning the special election in 2006, Shelly  Sekula-Gibbs (aka Snelly Gibbr) has hauled in a million bucks. I’m certainly rooting for her!

What other races are you looking at?

This was a short reporting period covering 01/01/2008 through 02/13/2008. Incumbents are designated with an asterisk(*). Please see notes at bottom of chart.

If you don’t see a candidate listed here, it is because I could not find a report. Candidates who don’t raise or spend over $5,000 are not required to file reports. Reports from those below that limit are voluntary.

Name	District	Donations	Cash on Hand	Debts or note
Steve Driehaus	OH-01	$35,882.25	$430,279.76
Steve Black	OH-02	$28,485.00	$10,446.46	see note
Victoria Wulsin	OH-02	$55,346.04	$17,0906.30
Jane Mitakides	OH-03	$35,908.61	$75,289.57	$50,000 personal
Charlie Wilson*	OH-06	$14,610.00	$29,4928.29	$191,650.00
Dave Woolever	OH-07	$650.00	$28.77	See note
Bill Conner	OH-07	$765.06	$6,395.23	Debts $10,500.00
Sharen Neuhardt	OH-07	$69,572.95	$38,843.00
Marcy Kaptur*	OH-09	$3,520.00	$846,226.48
Barbara Ferris	OH-10	$16,720.00	$11,300.85	$7,400.00
Joe Cimperman	OH-10	$257,769.00	$215,463.88
Tom O’Grady	OH-10	$8,252.00	$11,037.53
Rosemary Palmer	OH-10	$4,255.00	$13,934.44	$106,359.00 self
Dennis Kucinich*	OH-10	$686,990.10	$329,808.91
Stephanie Tubbs Jones*	OH-11	$7,678.00	$47,344.94	see note
Betty Sutton*	OH-13	$17,700.00	$16,6412.87	$13,000 PAC
Bill O’Neill	OH-14	$35,440.00	$94,111.10
Mary Jo Kilroy	OH-15	$117,725.68	$710,082.85	$62,464.80 see note
John Boccieri	OH-16	$82,058.00	$332,341.10
Tim Ryan*	OH-17	$11,150.00	$321,426.70
Zack Space*	OH-18	$113,102.74	$811,173.05	$11,106.88

1. Dave Woolever gave his campaign a loan of $5,000.00 and has $12,800 in other obligations.

2. Zack Space returned $4,800 in contributions. Of that total, $1,700 was from a contribution that was over limit and $3,100 was from two lobbyists.

3. Rosemary Palmer made loans to her campaign of $106,359.00

4. Mary Jo Kilroy loaned her campaign $35,000.00 and owes $27,464.80 in legal fees.

5. The filing from the campaign of Stephanie Tubbs Jones lists a disbursement of $3,500 noted as “FEC fine, audit 2005/2006 election cycle.” In addition, her report lists the cost of sending staffers to an FEC required compliance seminar. These are ordered by the FEC as a condition of settling campaign finance complaints. On May 3, 2004, her campaign settled a complaint from the FEC with a fine of $2,500.

It should also be noted that she spent has spent significant time and money campaigning on behalf of Senator Clinton as well as a $2,000 donation.

6. An FEC report states that Steve Black donated $195,000.00 to his campaign on 2/15/2008. However, this contribution is not reflected in his filing (closing date 2/1/308) which lists a balance of $58,320.00 from a loan he made to his campaign in June of last year.

crossposted from Ohio Daily Blog

Candidate	District	4Q Donations	Cash on Hand	Debts or note
Steve Driehaus	OH-01	$190,054.78	$418,662.01
Steve Black	OH-02	$64,322.00	$223,535.61	$58,320.00
Victoria Wulsin	OH-02	$113,773.32	$344,315.29
Charles Sanders	OH-03	$1,090.00	$21.14
Charlie Wilson*	OH-06	$64,905.33	$294,645.87	$191,650.00
Dave Woolever	OH-07	$1,791.48	$305.84	$12,900.00
Bill Conner	OH-07	$3,352.03	$5,780.17	$10,500.00
Marcy Kaptur*	OH-09	$29,250.00	$847,210.88	All from PACs
Barbara Ferris	OH-10	$12,234.00	$6,547.52
Joe Cimperman	OH-10	$227,599.78	$204,771.90
Tom O’Grady	OH-10	$28,300.00	$25,415.33
Rosemary Palmer	OH-10	$19,203.00	$51,737.13
Dennis Kucinich*	OH-10	$13,351.09	$13,383.26
Stephanie Tubbs Jones*	OH-11	$132,646.58	$114,704.16	$82,958.00 via PACs
Betty Sutton*	OH-13	$74,139.68	$72,403.49
Bill O’Neill	OH-14	$71,226.46	$102,930.45
Mary Jo Kilroy	OH-15	$356,898.45	$638,086.88	$35,000
John Boccieri	OH-16	$110,789.38	$308,719.15
Tim Ryan*	OH-17	$165,695.01	$357,103.59
Zack Space*	OH-18	$282,181.83	$755,810.31	$11,106.88

NOTES: Incumbents indicated with asterisk  (*)

Anyone not listed did not file a report. (Candidates who raised less than $5,000 are not required to file.)

HUGE h/t to Ron at Politics1.com. Crossposted to OhioDailyBlog -EB

In Ohio, we don’t have “registered” Democrats or Republicans (or socialists or communists or anything else.) Rather, when voters go to the polls for a partisan primary, they request a ballot from the GOP or the Democrats or any other party that is on the ballot and having a primary. Other states do things differently but that’s the way we roll in the Buckeye state.

In 2006, George Mays of Norwalk, OH tried to run for the U.S. Senate. He did not run as a Democrat. Rather he tried to qualify for the ballot as an independent and claimed to be “Endorsed by the Reform Party of Ohio, The New Frontier Coalition, and the Libertarians of the Northeast Region.”

According to his website at that time, he stated:

“I will unveil a simple plan to ensure the financial security of America and eliminate all Federal taxes…”

His effort to qualify for the ballot failed. Again, from his website:

“We simply did not get enough petition signatures. … Most of my disappointment is in the lack of help from Reform Party and Libertarian members. I truely wish that you had given me a chance. … So, I will run for my Congressional Seat in 2008. …”

(emphasis added.)

Here is a picture from the current Reform Ohio party website:

If you look in the upper left hand corner, you can see a poster for Mr. Mays.

It would appear that Mr. Mays has never requested a Democratic ballot in a partisan primary, until he decided to run against Robin Weirauch in the primary for the special election here in OH-05 following the death of Rep. Gillmor.

But in order to get on the primary ballot last fall for the special election, as a “Democrat” all that he had to do was to pay $85 and submit nominating petitions with the signatures of fifty registered voters, who don’t have to be Democrats. Of course, he got stomped in the primary election.

But he’s back again this year and has successfully entered the primary as a Democrat. The problem is that no one else has filed to be on the ballot! Which means that he will win the primary election and this fall, his name will be on the ballot as the candidate of the Democratic Party.

This has happened to both parties in Ohio. With our gerrymandered districts, sometimes it is impossible to get candidates to take on kamikaze missions. Instead, wackos game the system and wind up on the ballot.

In the end, it doesn’t make much difference, because they always lose. The problem arises when the media offers candidates opportunities such as televised debates or candidate forums. There was such a forum once where the unendorsed GOP standard bearer called a US Representative a “lesbian socialist.” The look on the faces of the GOP politcos in attendance was priceless.

Another issue is whether to grant these ersatz candidates access to Party resources such as calling lists. Do you want this guy to have your address and phone number?

Crossposted at OhioDailyBlog. Jeff did all of the number crunching.

Robin Weirauch (D-Napoleon) pulled in a remarkable $138,152.51, leaving her with $66,587.05 cash-on-hand as of 11/21. She received $38,002.51 from individuals, $1,400.00 from political party committees, and $98,750.00 from PACs. Included are $5,000 from Emily’s List and $2,000 each from committees affiliated with Rep. Rahm Emmanual (D-IL), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Toledo), Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Niles), and Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Cleveland). She also recived funds from various Congressional leadership PACS, including $5,000 from Rep. Kaptur’s PAC. Weirauch also got over $34,000 from union PACs.

But the big news today is the incredible results on ActBlue. General Wesley Clark endorsed Robin today and as of this moment, she has gained $9,638.01 in contributions today (AFTER the closing deadline for the FEC filing.)

Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) brought in much more than Weirauch.. He reported raising $246,173.98 in contributions, and he loaned himself $50,000, leaving him with $132,488.78 in the bank. Latta received $128,367.38 in contributions from individuals and $117, 806.60 from PACs. Included are $20,000 from the National Republican Congressional Committee, $2,300 from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Urbana), and $2,000 each from Rep. Deborah Schmidt (R-Upper Arlington) and Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland). Of course, we knew that the forces of wealth and power would flock to get in some “play to pay” action with Latta, and they did.

Two observations:

This remains a VERY difficult situation for a Democrat. This District was built precinct by precinct to protect it’s former “do nothing” reactionary representative. Latta enjoys (undeserved) name recognition in Wood County which tends to negate Weirauch’s strength here.

But, the ODP, the DCCC and the DNC ARE fully engaged in this campaign. They are providing people, money and resources to the Weirauch campaign.

This all leads up to a series of the campaign stops coming up all day this Saturday with Governor Strickland.

This Saturday is “(D)” Day for OH-05.

(From the diaries – promoted by James L.)

A star is born in OH! IO!

Canton, Ohio Mayoral Race
Challenger Jamey Healy (D): 53.4%
Incumbent Janet Creighton (R): 46.6%

Canton is the largest city in the 16th Congressional District — a place I called home during my first campaign and returned when given the opportunity by Senator Sherrod Brown a year later. 

It’s an inexpensive cocktail made from 2 parts economic depression and job loss, 1 part quaint strip-mall suburbia, and 1 part big city…ish.

And last night, it was home to a proxy war that will hopefully foretell the outcome of OH-16 and the Presidential election in 2008.

Canton is the largest city in what is widely considered THE swing district in Ohio: Stark County. Stark County, of course, is the largest county in what is considered the pivotal race in Ohio’s Congressional landscape this year: OH-16.

You hear a lot of “firewall” states for Presidential campaigns.  Ie. if candidate “x” loses such and such states, their “firewall” is Florida (for example) where he/she can regain lost momentum and come back to carry the day.  In this instance, Canton was the firewall city for the Ohio GOP.  Until last night, it was the largest city under Republican control.

And this morning, there isn’t a single Republican elected official in the entire city.

For the final days and weeks, Republicans re-allocated their resources away from races like the longshot attempt to unseat Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman and started sending troops Northeast torwards Canton.

Emails went out, troops came in, money flew in all directions in what was the most expensive Mayoral race in the city’s history.  Ted Strickland, Chris Redfern and the resurgent Ohio Democratic Party responded in-kind with dollars, bodies and political heft.  And with a week to go, it was clear: Canton was the place to be.

At the end of the day, the Ohio Democratic Party train rolled on — decisively beating the Republicans and forcing them back to a fall-back position they only envisioned in their worst nightmares.

The Stark County Democratic party *was* an ossified pseudo-machine under the leadership of Johnnie Maier.  Maier is an opportunist, pure and simple.  The kind of man who would quickly place his own political ambitions directly ahead of any perceived threat to his own power or future ladders he might contemplate climbing.

And that includes Democratic candidates running for office in his own backyard.

Johnnie Maier is a checkers master trying to compete on a three dimensional chess board.  His inability to completely grasp his surroundings is rivaled only by the lead character in the movie Momento.

He alienates activists like it were his job.  He chased away Kerry coordinators, pissed off ACT, and actively worked against Reform Ohio Now. Quite the trifecta.

Johnnie Maier is no longer the leader of the Ohio Democratic Party in Stark County.  There is a new sheriff in town. It’s a new breed of Democrat that will deliver votes to John Boccieri and the Democratic nominee in OH-16.  People like Jamey and Deametrious St. John flexed their muscles and led the ticket to a clean sweep.

Finally, a star is born. I had long considered Jamey a top prospect to run either against Ralph Regula, or in the open seat in a post-Regula world.  He went another route, and that opened the door for someone like John Boccieri to walk through it. 

A victory here signals strength in OH-16 that hasn’t been seen for quite some time.  It signals a Democratic Party on the move and a Republican Party retreating to the reddest of red portions of the state.  And it was a test of wills in a battle that most viewed as a precursor of things to come statewide in 2008.

There is a lot to be encouraged about in this race.  We won the battle, and it was a nice little leap in the right direction towards winning the war.

Days after Republican glove-smeller Steve Chabot of Ohio again voted against expanding health care for needy kids, President Bush is making sure that no bad deed goes unrewarded with a generous fundraising visit:

U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot is welcoming the president today to the Hyde Park home of Cincinnati Reds owner Bob Castellini for a dinner-time fund-raiser for the seven-term congressman.

Just how much money Chabot expects to raise is unclear. Chabot said Sunday that he “really doesn’t know.”

“It certainly will be helpful to the campaign,” he said. “How helpful remains to be seen.”

Tickets for the event, which has been in the planning stages for “a few months,” Chabot said, start at $1,500 per person. Those who want a personal meeting with the president pay $10,000 a couple, which “a small number of people” will do. Any amount raised over the legal limit of $2,300 per person will be given to the National Republican Congressional Campaign, Chabot said.

“I’m very pleased to have (the president) coming. It will be very helpful to the campaign,” he said. “It’s also always good for the community to have the high visibility of a president coming.”

The OHDP is on message:

Chabot faces state Rep. Steve Driehaus, a Democrat from Price Hill. The fundraiser comes a little more than a week after Chabot voted to uphold the president’s veto of the children’s health insurance program.

It’s a detail that didn’t escape the attention of the Ohio Democratic Party.

“Apparently, loyalty to Bush beats loyalty to children and Chabot is getting his payoff for dutifully playing Bush’s puppet,” Chairman Chris Redfern said.

In fact, Driehaus has a rally scheduled for this afternoon to highlight Bush’s ties to Chabot – and, with a backdrop of children, highlight Chabot’s vote on the children’s health insurance program.

More from Driehaus here.  With votes this bad, Chabot is going to need every penny in order to pre-emptively nuke his competition.

The Enquirer also picks up another fun nugget: while the fundraiser was actually held in the district of perennially embattled Rep. Jean “Globetrotter” Schmidt, she wasn’t invited to the event!  Ouch!

Let’s do a little exercise in “compare and contrast” between reality and the nonsense that Bob Latta and Steve Buehrer are peddling here in their primary race to replace Paul Gillmor in Ohio District 5. Both have filed claim and counter claim that the THEY are really the most reactionary wingnut running. (Boy, now THERE is a dubious distinction!)

There was a brilliant episode of the “West Wing” where an inside the Beltway political consultant convinces the Bartlett staff that they should support a flag burning amendment because some poll showed that a large majority of voters are “in favor” of it.

But Marilee Matlin played another consultant who pointed out that although a majority of voters might say “yes” to such an amendment, they attach VERY little importance to it. (Which happens to be true.)

Basically, the “Bob and Steve Show” is engaging in blatant hucksterism and demagoguery by ONLY focusing on “issues” that gain the support of their most rabid base while absolutely NOT addressing the issues that actually matter to Americans.

The evil, mean-spirited, mudslinging going on between these two, is just pathetic. While they babble on about school prayer, the “defense of marriage,” and flag burning, they have nothing so say about the REAL issues facing our nation.

Let’s take a look at the most recent  Rassmussen Report on what issues are most important to voters and, more importantly who they trust the most on those issues.

Flag burning Bob? School prayer Steve? Sorry. Complete nonstarters. Here are the top issues to American voters ranked by how important they are to the voter.

And, who do Americans trust the most on those issues? More bad news for Bob and Steve.

The garbage that these charlatans are peddling will enable them to eek out a narrow victory for one or the other in a GOP primary, but they are just painting themselves into a corner for the general election.

Ever since Cheney and Rove were able to wrest control of our Nation via first the Supreme Court in 2000 and then 218,000 “values voters” in Ohio in 2004, the reactionary right has come to rely more and more on these provocative but ultimately meaningless “wedge” issues.

And now, they are increasingly on the losing side of both the wedge issues and the real issues. But when it comes to the most important issue facing our country, all of a sudden Latta and Buehrer run out of anything to say. According to an article in today’s Toledo Blade:

“Both GOP candidates prefaced their football analogies by admitting they lack a full understanding of the situation, saying that congressmen ought to rely on recommendations from a military hierarchy that ultimately reports to the Oval Office.”

And then Latta resorts to that most favorite neo-con subterfuge– blame it on the media.

“Mr. Latta said adhering to the wisdom of generals is better than setting military policy based on public opinion polls. A CBS News poll two weeks ago found that 67 percent of Americans disapprove of how Mr. Bush is handling the Iraq war.

Mr. Latta blames the media for the war’s unpopularity. “

Gee guys, you don’t think that it could it be the thousands of American soldiers killed? Could it be that the American people have come to grasp that there was never any WMDs? Could it be the TRILLIONS of their tax dollars going to waste at a time when we face huge natural disasters at home?

So while Latta and Buehrer play their stupid game of trying to see who can scare away the greatest number of GOP primary voters, the rest of us have to deal with the horrors of the real world.

Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly, who was earlier considering a bid for the seat of retiring Rep. Dave Hobson (R-OH) has decided to pass on the race:

One of the Democrats recruited to run for the seat of retiring Rep. David Hobson (R-Ohio) told the Politico that he wouldn’t be entering the race and added that he didn’t “see any way” for Democrats to win the seat.

“I hate to concede already, but it’s the truth,” said Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly. “I don’t know of a Democrat out there that can take on [state senator] Steve Austria – unless someone will move into the district.”

Immediately after Hobson’s retirement announcement, GOP state senator Steve Austria announced his candidacy. Kelly called him a very “formidable opponent” and predicted he would be able to raise sizable amount of money for the campaign.  He added that the sprawling district, covering eight counties, makes it challenging and expensive to run a district-wide campaign.

Kelly may think he’s scoring points for candidness, but why he decided to create a “Even Democrats Don’t Think Democrats Can Win” narrative is puzzling.  Why shoot the next candidate who will take on the task of running here in the foot?  We’re all well aware that this red distirct (R+6) is hardly at the top of Democratic pick-up opportunities, but Sheriff Gene “Eeyore” Kelly showed little political sense in planting a “why bother” message before the field is even set, especially since the article goes on to include this nugget:

At the same time, Democrats performed respectably in the district in last year’s congressional elections: Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland won about 58 percent of the vote, while Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown won 50 percent there.

Lame, sir.

Race Tracker: OH-07