News and Notes: Ohio Congressional Races

Burning up my computer screen today:

OH-01 - Vindicator columnist Todd Franko defends challenger State Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Price Hill) from the GOP demand that Driehaus cough up money donated at an event headlined by Marc Dann last December, but didn't get the memo that although invited, Dann didn't attend the event.

OH-02 - Challenger Dr. Victoria Wulsin helped letter carrier Lori Cox deliver the mail in Mt. Washington today in an effort to support Branch 43 of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) with their Stamp Out Hunger food drive.

OH-04 - Challenger Mike Carroll (D-Mansfield) writes to say that he recently received the endorsements of the Communications Workers of America district 4 (CWA), The Ohio State Council of Machinist and Aerospace Workers (I.A.M), and the Ohio AFL-CIO. He promises that when elected he will co-sponsor a national health insurance program and support legislation to end the occupation of Iraq. He needs grassroots activity and campaign cash to get his message out - please make a secure online contribution at his campaign site!

OH-10 - Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Cleveland) on getting out of Iraq:

OH-13 - Every time the price of gas goes up the GOP harps on drilling in ANWAR, but Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Copley Twp) won't stand for it. She says drilling wouldn't help reduce the cost of oil for years, and in any event "We don't need to drill for more oil. Weaning ourselves off oil is the answer."

OH-16 - The first statement by State Sen. John Boccieri (D-New Middletown) about the Marc Dann mess (last Friday) was somewhat sympathetic, but as of Monday Boccieri was condemning Dann's misconduct as an outrage. The GOP attacked it as a flip-flop, but Boccieri says the first statement was merely giving Dann the benefit of the doubt before he learned the details of the case, as Pho indicated he could do.

OH-17 - The congressional Food Stamp Challenge (eating on $21 per week) in which Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Niles) was a high-profile participant last year has inspired the first-ever college campus Food Stamp Challenge, at Stanford University.

OH-18 - Rep. Zack Space (D-Dover) is touting the passage by the House of legislation he sponsored, the Coin Modernization and Taxpayer Savings Act of 2008, which will save the taxpayers money by mandating cheaper metals for coin production by the U.S. Mint. *** Joseph at Plunderbund notes that Space, an undecided superdelegate, met with Barack Obama yesterday. Space has been saying that his "position hasn’t changed" and he's "not going to back anybody anytime soon,” but at the same time he plans to make a decision “once it becomes apparent who the nominee is.”