Ohio Wednesday Morning Roundup

Gubernatorial Race

• The Hudson Hub Times is frustrated with the vagueness of both candidates. It doesn’t seem to be hurting John Kasich, though, who has been touting his high levels of support in usually deep-blue Cuyahoga County. But Strickland is bringing some big guns to Ohio as well — alongside another visit from President Obama, he’s also hearing from Al Gore and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Meanwhile, Ted Strickland is on the defensive about taxes, with ATR President (and sometime Battle ‘10 source) Grover Norquist leading the charge. Strickland’s backers aren’t helping their case as pro-business job creators — Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan is trying to get the U.S. Chamber of Commerce investigated for its alleged use of foreign money. I eagerly await him bringing charges against Obama for all the money he received from BP.

Senatorial Race

• Last night’s debate between Rob Portman and Alvin Greene…excuse me, Lee Fisher (hey, could you tell, given the margins between them?) — was apparently more tired rehashes of the same arguments the two have been having throughout the campaign. Meanwhile, Will Schuester — excuse me, Matthew Morrison — is apparently still stumping for Fisher. Good for you, Matt, but I think this video neatly demonstrates what Rob Portman’s going to do to Fisher. But hey, maybe Fisher can join New Directions. He certainly is enough of a loser by this point.

House Races

• The Rich Iott-Marcy Kaptur race in OH-9 has officially gone nuclear. While the conventional wisdom is that the race was never close, that hasn’t stopped the media from treating it like a battleground. And now the Democrats might be giving Iott a chance at sympathy, given that some left-wing nuts have started defacing Iott’s signs with swastikas. Oh, and Marcy Kaptur is seriously behind on her property taxes. Get ready for the winds to shift in this race.
• Tom Ganley’s campaign is insisting that his strategy of dropping TV ads in favor of radio ads is not a capitulation, but rather a shift in strategy. Who knows if it will work.
• The Democrats have yanked their support from Steve Driehaus, signaling that OH-1 is likely to be represented once more by Republican Steve Chabot. Barring any extreme developments, this race is leaving Battle ‘10′s radar, in favor of some more competitive races.
• …Speaking of, consider this profile of the challengers who incumbent Democrat Charlie Wilson of OH-6 will face in November. Wilson is getting the lion’s share of Democratic money, evidently, so watch for this race to get very competitive.
• Meanwhile, Jim Renacci refuses to debate his opponent, incumbent Democrat John Boccieri, which leads to some very awkward moments at the actual debate.