News and Notes: Ohio Congressional Races UPDATED

Items of interest for this morning:

OH-01 - State Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Price Hill) is quoted in The Hill today in an article about how congressional challengers are generally reluctant to make endorsements in the presidential race. Driehaus told the reporter that he has a preference, but he isn't making it public. “It’s not as if my viewpoints ideologically align neatly with any one candidate,” said Driehaus. “I think they all bring value to the table. We’re going to work with whomever the nominee is, but we’re focused on winning this congressional seat.” *** Bloggers Harry and Jack observe that Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Westwood), spurred on by campaign contributions from oil and mining interests, continued his campaign against the environment by voting against the bipartisan Water Resources Act of 2007 (HR 1495).

OH-03 - George Bush, Mr. 29%, will be in Dayton on Thursday, giving a speech on the Global War on Terra and attending a private fundraiser (whose co-sponsors include a convicted money-launderer and the owner of an outsourcing company). Patrick McHugh, campaign manager for Jane Mitakides (D), tells me that the candidate will be speaking at a press conference with several other local candidates about the Bush visit on Thursday morning. *** Yesterday I got an email from Chris Kelly, the New Media/Voter Outreach Director for Mitakides. He has the candidate's campaign blog up and running, with a post yesterday about her endorsement by the executive committee of the Warren County Democratic Party. Chris also highlights this interesting article in the Dayton Daily News, describing the revival of the Warren County Dems.

OH-04 - No surprise, but Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Urbana) is a hard-liner on Iraq, saying at an event in Lima that the troop surge is working: "“We’ve lost some great people unfortunately, but we’re making progress.” It seems like the whole GOP is lining up behind McCain as far as staking their political fortunes on the unpopular war. I wonder if Jordan agrees with Dick Cheney that the war is a bigger burden on George Bush than on the families of military casualties (who, as Cheney points out, volunteered)?

OH-09 - Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Toledo) is the highest ranking Ohio Democrat in a new power ranking of House members by Congress.org, in 58th place. She is second in the state delegation to House Speaker John Boehner (R-West Chester). Overall, the ranking of the Ohio delegation has slipped due to retirements and the changeover to Democratic control of the chamber.

OH-10 - No comment - the spoof site CAP News says that Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Cleveland) is preparing to give a major speech on U.S.-alien relations:

OH-12 The excellent Bonobo pointed out yesterday that contrary to popular myth (furthered by the Columbus Dispatch in its 2006 endorsement), incumbent Rep. Pat Tiberi (R) is neither powerful nor moderate. Congress.org ranks Tiberi 281st in its power rankings, well below freshman Rep. Zack Space (D-Dover) at 241st. And the National Journal liberal-conservative ratings put Tiberi far to the right at 123/429, much more conservative than fellow central Ohio incumbents Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Upper Arlington at 182/429 and Rep. Dave Hobson (R-Springfield) at 176/429.

OH-18 Rep. Zack Space (D-Dover) will be conducting the second of three seminars on government procurement on Friday morning, April 4th, at the Tuscarawas campus of Kent State University in New Philadelphia. This seminar will focus on preferences given to businesses owned at least 51% by Veterans and Service Disabled Veterans. Call Space's Zanesville office at 740-452-6338 before this Friday, March 28th, to register. Registration deadline is March 28. The final seminar will be in Athens on May 22nd, with a registration deadline of May 15th.