http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/thomas_suddes/index.ssf?/base/opinion/115718650942370.xml&coll=2Sunday, September 03, 2006
Thomas Suddes
Plain Dealer Columnist
Except for 1994, Democrats have reclaimed Ohio's top offices every 12 years since the Eisenhower era, as they may again in November, when the party could collect -- with compound interest -- on its '94 debits.
After every "dozen-nium" -- in 1958, 1970 and 1982 -- Democrats, because of economic slumps or GOP feuds, captured most of the Statehouse, from governor on down.
In 2006's main event, Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell vs. Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, Blackwell's campaign for governor has been remarkably inept. Words such as "wooden" and "tin-eared" come to mind.
Blackwell's primary campaign against fellow Republican Jim Petro had given Blackwell and his claque shelf-position in the spice aisle, but it now seems to be in the close-out bin. Republicans privately fret that if Blackwell does as poorly as some fear -- say, a 20-percentage-point loss to Appalachia's Strickland -- Blackwell could even drag down fellow Republican Betty D. Montgomery, hitherto considered bulletproof...
Poverty strikes big cities at opposite ends of Ohio
Cincinnati joins Cleveland on list of poorest places in U.S.
http://www.cleveland.com/poverty/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1157272479255571.xml&coll=2 Sunday, September 03, 2006
Diane Suchetka and Bill Sloat
Plain Dealer Reporters
When the U.S. Census Bureau announced last week that Cleveland once again was the poorest big city in America, it wasn't the only bad news for Ohio.
Cincinnati is in trouble, too.
Census data shows the Queen City is one of the poorest big cities in the United States, coming in at No. 8.
That makes Ohio the only state with two of the country's 10 most-impoverished cities...
Blackwell flush with city cash
But Cincinnatians open wallets for both candidates
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060903/NEWS01/609030355/1077BY JON CRAIG | ENQUIRER COLUMBUS BUREAU
COLUMBUS -
For Ken Blackwell, home is where the money is.
The West End native and Republican governor candidate has gotten three times as much money from Greater Cincinnatians as his Democratic rival for the governorship, Ted Strickland.
As Labor Day marks the traditional start of full-fledged campaigning leading to November, an Enquirer analysis of campaign donations since January 2005 finds that:
Contributors in Hamilton, Butler, Clermont and Warren counties have given $1.4 million to Blackwell and just over $400,000 to Strickland...
Community college students courted as potential
voters
http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/politics-1/1157257154278960.xml&storylist=cleveland9/3/2006, 12:00 a.m. ET
By JAMES HANNAH
The Associated Press
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — At pizza parties and rock concerts, public interest groups are trying to turn hard-to-reach community college students into voters, encouraged by an increased turnout of young voters in 2004.
"For some reason, no one has figured out how to target millions and millions of young people who go to community colleges," said Ben Unger, field director of the Student Public Interest Research Groups, which plan to recruit student volunteers to sign up other students.
About 11.6 million students — or 46 percent of college undergraduates — attend the 1,000 public community colleges in the United States.
They are tougher to find, however, than students at traditional four-year colleges because they usually don't live on campus and some take only a class or two. Community college students also are a widely disparate group — from 18-year-old recent high school graduates to 30-something breadwinners — and it is not clear which party would benefit the most from their vote...
Letter from Washington: Rove's campaign gospel is less convincing now
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/03/news/letter.php By Adam Nagourney and Jim Rutenberg International Herald Tribune
Published: September 3, 2006
Karl Rove, the president's chief political adviser, is struggling to steer the Republican Party to victory this autumn at a time when he appears to have the least political authority since he came to Washington, party officials said.
Rove remains a dominant adviser to President George W. Bush, administration officials say.
But outside the White House, as Bush's popularity has waned, and as questions have arisen among Republicans about the White House's political acumen, the party's candidates are going their own way in this difficult election season - far more than they have in any other campaign Rove has overseen.
Some are disregarding Rove's advice, despite his reputation as a strategist par excellence. They are criticizing Bush or his policies. They are avoiding public events with the president and Rove...
DeWine's grit now facing its toughest test
Two-term U.S. senator believes record will dispel cloud over GOP
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/15431714.htmBy Carl Chancellor
Beacon Journal Staff Writer
FAIRLAWN - `This isn't about John Kerry and George Bush'
At first glance this diminutive man, who is all but swallowed by his blue suit, looks like a bewildered school boy with oversized eyeglasses and a shock of hair in need of a comb.
But it would be a major mistake to underestimate two-term U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine.
Friend and foe alike characterize him as laser focused -- a tough and gritty campaigner who can more than hold his own in a political fight...
Brown takes on the role of challenger
Democrat hopes contrasts with foe put his party back in power
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/politics/15431693.htmBy Carl Chancellor
Beacon Journal Staff Writer
AVON - For U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown, this year's run for the U.S. Senate has to seem like some sort of upside-down deja vu.
It was 1994 when Brown -- then a freshman congressman representing the 13th District that included Lorain -- faced a strong challenge from a popular officeholder, Lorain County Prosecutor Greg White.
Brown was the incumbent, but the race was handicapped as a virtual toss-up, owing to Brown's Democratic Party posting low approval numbers and many of the party's incumbents being deemed vulnerable...
OHIO GOVERNOR’S RACE
Voters’ choice: unknown or well-known
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/?story=dispatch/2006/09/03/20060903-A1-03.html Sunday, September 03, 2006
Joe Hallett
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, left, acknowledges that U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland is ahead in polls on the governor’s race, but analysts don’t rule Blackwell out.
On this traditional Labor Day weekend kickoff of the general-election campaign, Ted Strickland and J. Kenneth Blackwell approach the 63 days before Nov. 7 with different strategies for winning the right to sleep in the Governor’s Mansion over the next four years.
The election is historic: If Blackwell wins, he will become Ohio’s first black governor and the nation’s second. If Strickland wins, he will become the first sitting congressman elected governor in 92 years.
For most Ohio voters, Strickland is an enigma who not only must make his surname household, but also define himself as a leader who can lift the state out of its economic doldrums, improve education and stem Statehouse corruption...
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