Gubernatorial Race
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The Dayton Daily News endorses Ted Strickland for Governor after devoting a loving piece to his campaign. Touching. It’s nowhere near as big a deal as the Cleveland Plain Dealer endorsement John Kasich, however, which may explain the knots liberal bloggers are tying themselves into trying to deny the relevance of the Plain Dealer endorsement.
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Strickland, for his part, seems content with hiding behind other big names – his wife and Vice President Joe Biden particularly, who will be in Youngstown today to campaign for him.
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And outdoor sporting, of all things, seems to be gaining traction as an issue in the campaign.
Senate Race
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The first senatorial debate is tonight, and it’s unlikely to have much of an impact, given that Lee Fisher is thinking of liquidating his campaign staff to pay for TV airtime. It is, as it turns out, the first of a dizzying number of debates this month.
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Meanwhile, the Toledo Blade is intimidated by the resumes of both candidates in the Senate race. And the Dayton Daily News thinks Lee Fisher was onto something regarding destroying the last protection for political minorities in the Senate .
House Races
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The big House race is still OH-13, where the coverage of Republican challenger Tom Ganley’s legal troubles continues to pour in.
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Steve Chabot, Republican of OH-1, leads incumbent Democrat Steve Driehaus by a brutal 12-point margin.
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Maybe that’s why Tim Carney over at the Washington Examiner sees Driehaus and freshman Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy of OH-15 as obvious GOP victories, but frets over Tom Ganley and Bob Gibbs:
The two Democratic congressman in Ohio who are likely to lose — Mary Jo Kilroy near Columbus and Steve Driehaus in Cincinnati — might have lost even without a GOP surge. Driehaus rode Obama’s coattails into Congress, carrying this 28 percent black district with the aid of high black turnout in 2008. With no Obama boom this year, former Rep. Steve Chabot (R) is the odds-on favorite.
Kilroy, also a freshman, pulled ahead in 2008 during the financial panic in October. She won with only 46 percent. Two right-leaning third-party candidates received 27,000 votes between them, and Kilroy beat Republican Steve Stivers by only 2,300 votes. In any normal year — no Obama, no financial panic – Kilroy would be in trouble. This year’s ornery electorate is the nail in her coffin.
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Meanwhile, the Columbus Dispatch wonders at the lack of third-party money in Ohio (except in the 16th District, where incumbent Democrat John Boccieri has tons of help from special interest groups). And Fox 59 openly wonders whether Mary Jo Kilroy and Steve Driehaus are even on the minds of Democratic strategists.
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One Cleveland-based Obamacare opponent does the ultimate counterproductive move and gets arrested for death threats against freshman Democrat John Boccieri of OH-16.
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And in an attempt to further an already-discredited smear, Marcy Kaptur, Democrat of OH-9, sends her henchmen to protest one of Republican challenger Rich Iott’s old businesses.