Gubernatorial Race
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Ted Strickland commutes the sentence of a death row inmate accused of murdering a child so as to allow for more time for the appeals process. This is a gamble, since renewed evidence of guilt would mean Strickland did a Huckabee:
A diverse group of Republicans and Democrats, attorneys general and federal and state judges and prosecutors had rallied around the case of the inmate, Kevin Keith, 46, after his lawyers uncovered evidence they say casts doubt on his guilt.
In commuting the death sentence, Mr. Strickland, a Democrat, said that he believed it was still likely that Mr. Keith committed the murders, but that he was troubled by the likelihood that evidence uncovered since his conviction would not be presented to a court before the scheduled Sept. 15 execution.
“That would be unfortunate,” Mr. Strickland said in a statement. “This case is clearly one in which a full, fair analysis of all of the unanswered questions should be considered by a court. Under these circumstances, I cannot allow Mr. Keith to be executed.”
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Strickland’s wife, Frances Strickland, is back on the campaign trail for her husband, probably trying to soften the increasing negativity of his campaign:
he Ohio Grocers Foundation here said Thursday it plans to sponsor a visit by Frances Strickland, wife of Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, to speak to students about Family Meal Night at two Ohio supermarkets later this month.
Family Meal Night — observed on the fourth Monday of September as part of a week-long celebration of Ohio Parents Week — promotes the concept of building stronger families through regular meals at home.
The foundation has been a supporter of Family Meal Night since 2001.
Frances Strickland is scheduled to speak to students about the importance of eating dinner as a family on Sept. 27 at an Acme Fresh Market in North Canton and a Buehler’s Fresh Foods in Wooster.
House Races
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Debates have been scheduled in OH-1, even if the two campaigns are still fighting about how many:
Steve Chabot’s campaign announced this morning that he and Rep. Steve Driehaus will hold three debates. Often these are announced jointly, but this one isn’t; haven’t heard yet from the Driehaus campaign.
UPDATE, 11:15 a.m.: Now we have heard from the Driehaus campaign, and they don’t sound happy. They point out only one debate will be broadcast widely, and that after many have already voted.
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John Boccieri of OH-16 taking heat for his abortion stance.
An anti-abortion group plans to air radio ads in three congressional races calling for the defeat of Democratic incumbents, among the first ads to capitalize on a Supreme Court ruling this year that freed corporations to directly influence elections.
The group, AUL Action, is targeting Democratic Reps. John Boccieri of Ohio, Christopher Carney of Pennsylvania and Baron Hill of Indiana. AUL Action is the legislative arm of the nonprofit Americans United for Life.
The ads cross a new threshold in campaign communication and embrace the latitude granted by the Supreme Court in its 5-4 decision in January to increase the power of corporations and unions to sway government decisions.