News and Notes: Ohio Congressional Races

What's happening out there:

OH-02: "Reckless" - Great new ad for challenger Dr. Victoria Wulsin (D-Indian Hill):

OH-03: “My Big Fat Greek Fundraiser” - Fund-raising party for challenger Jane Mitakides (D-Washington Twp) from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 25th, at Therapy Cafe, featuring Greek & American hors d’oeuvres.

OH-07: GOP No Longer "Safe" - CQ Politics has upgraded this race from "Safe Republican" to "Republican Favored," reflecting hard campaigning and good fundraising by Sharen Neuhardt (D-Yellow Springs) as well as the boost from being added to the DCCC "Red-to-Blue" program and earning the endorsement of Emily's List.

OH-09: Kaptur Seeks Inquiry Into Bailouts - Rep Marcy Kaptur (D-Toledo) is co-sponsoring a measure (H Res 1452) that would establish a bipartisan select committee to investigate the recent spate of bailouts on Wall Street. The committee would investigate the Bush administration’s actions, make recommendations to prevent future bailouts, and “examine the role of political activities and influence in exacerbating the current market situation.”

OH-14: Debunking LaTourette's Smear Against O'Neill's Judicial Ethics - Taking the low road again (surprise, surprise), Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Bainbridge Twp) questioned the integrity of respected former jurist Bill O'Neill (D-South Russell) during a candidates forum on Cleveland public radio Wednesday morning, saying "we have a number of cases where he ruled in favor of people who gave him contributions." O'Neill's campaign researched the record and reports that of the 3,000 cases O'Neill decided as a judge, only nine (0.003%!) involved campaign contributors, who gave him a total of $4,180. In those cases, the contributors won five, lost three, and got one split decision -- nearly even. And this ugly allegation comes from a legislator who has taken nearly $4 million from special interest PACs and nearly $300,000 from individuals and PACs connected to oil and energy industries. O'Neill, of course, famously spurned campaign contributions altogether when he ran for the Ohio Supreme Court in 2006.

OH-15: Stivers' Dubious Energy Plan - In Tuesday night's debate, bank lobbyist Steve Stivers (R-Upper Arlington) touted his gas and energy plan, which would create a whole new government bureaucracy (the "Petroleum Administration for Security") to drill for oil. The campaign of Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus) pointed out the next day that Miami University economist James Brock panned that idea during a radio show on WOSU in July, calling it a "truly horrifying suggestion" that would "go a long way in taking over the nation's oil business." Noting that we've already got one Department of Energy, Brock doubted that "a second one would do anything good."

OH-16: Help Get Boccieri Into the Finals - State Sen. John Boccieri (D-Alliance) only needs 40 more votes to get him into the final round in the competition sponsored by 21st Century Democrats for an extra field organizer for their campaign. (Mary Jo Kilroy in OH-15 is currently in 3rd place; the top six advance.) Go vote now! *** At 4:00 p.m. on Monday (9/22), Boccieri will hold a press conference call to lay out his plans for fixing America's broken health care system. He will be joined on the call by local health care providers and area residents who have struggled to get the health care they need.

OH-17: Ryan Turning Out Youth Vote - Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Niles) told blogger Sarah Burris at Future Majority that before he ran for Congress it seemed that young voters didn't turn out to vote much, but he managed to increase young voter turnout in his own race for Congress by making a concerted outreach effort. On a related front, Ryan tweeted yesterday that he was doing an interview with Sarah Katheryn of Rock the Vote, a youth-oriented get-out-the-vote effort.