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Feb
19
White House Project alumna up for Franklin County bench appointments
Filed Under Courts, Gender, Law, leadership, Ohio, Politics, Ted Strickland, Women | Leave a Comment
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland will be filling two Franklin County Court of Common Pleas vacancies soon. According to the Columbus Dispatch,
Strickland will take recommendations from the Ohio Judicial Appointments Recommendation Panel, a bipartisan committee that he created in January 2007 to screen applicants.
An original group of 14 applied, eight were interviewed and six are now finalists.
They are (descriptions are from the Dispatch article):
Laurel Beatty: 34, daughter of former state Reps. Otto Beatty Jr. and Joyce Beatty. She is director of legislative affairs for the Ohio secretary of state, has worked at three law firms and has served as a hearing officer for the city of Columbus on the Equal Business Opportunity Commission and the Red Light Photo Enforcement System.
Kimberly Cocroft: 35, former Ohio Supreme Court law clerk and current deputy legal counsel to Strickland.
Frank Macke: 59, in private practice in Columbus for 33 years. He ran unsuccessfully for Common Pleas Court in 2006
Richard Brown: 52, partner in the Columbus office of Buckley King with 27 years experience. He last ran unsuccessfully for the Franklin County Court of Appeals
Mark Serrot: 54, in private practice in Columbus. He has served as an arbitrator in Common Pleas cases and is a hearing officer for the Ohio State Racing Commission. He ran unsuccessfully for the Common Pleas bench in 2004
Mike Rankin: 55, registrar of the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles with a 29-year legal career. He is a former assistant county prosecutor and chief deputy clerk for Franklin County Municipal Court. He ran unsuccessfully for Municipal Court in 2005
The WHP alumna I know is Laurel Beatty. And, ironically, Laurel is one of the women from WHP with whom I had a chance to spend a lot of time during the three days of the workshop last June.
My impressions: smart, dedicated, affable, good listener, diverse background, thoughtful, engaging. She’s also a “she,” she’s African-American and she’s well under 50. If you look around the Ohio courts, you just don’t see too many who look like that – or are like Laurel. (I’m not familiar w/Kim Cocroft at all.) Given the demographics of Franklin County, reaching for gender and racial diversity wouldn’t be the worst thing a governor could do, especially if the recommendation panel has given the candidate its stamp of approval already.
As for the four who failed to get elected to the bench, I don’t have anything to add to that other than I don’t know them. Well, wait – I will say this: remember how a lot of us felt about now Ohio state senate minority leader Capri Cafaro getting appointed to Marc Dann’s seat in 2006? After losing to Steve LaTourette for the 14th-CD in 2004 and Betty Sutton for the Dem primary for the 11th-CD in 2006?
The power of incumbency saw her get re-elected in 2008. Fine. But, if given the chance, the option, the choice, should the governor really be giving the four who lost elections a boost to incumbency, after having lost?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:06 pm February 19th, 2009 in Courts, Gender, Law, leadership, Ohio, Politics, Ted Strickland, Women | Please comment
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Feb
19
Mandel to address Champaign County GOP
Filed Under OH17, Ohio, Politics | Leave a Comment
From The Urbana Daily Citizen:
The Champaign County Republican Club will meet in the Activities Building at the Champaign County Fairgrounds on Monday, March 2 at 7 p.m. Iraq War veteran state Rep. Josh Mandel will be the guest speaker. He served eight years as an Intelligence Specialist in the U.S.Marine Corps and served two tours throughout the Al Anbar province of Iraq.
He was first elected as a state representative in 2006 and was re-elected to a second term in 2008, representing a district with a 2:1 Democrat to Republican voter ratio. He was named legislative “Rookie of the Year” by the non-partisan Columbus Monthly Magazine and “Watchdog of the Treasury” by the United Conservatives of Ohio.
It is really a bad idea for a writer to read press announcements like this. I’m going to leave it alone.
There are no links for either recognition (the United Conservatives of Ohio website appears to be defunct).
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:58 pm February 19th, 2009 in OH17, Ohio, Politics | Please comment
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Feb
19
Where’s Rob Portman hanging out, exactly?
Filed Under Campaigning, Government, Ohio, Politics, Republicans, rob portman, Voting | Leave a Comment
I know I’m in NE Ohio and all, a groundswell of Democratic life and ideas, corruption and patriarchy included at great extra cost, but I’d like the longitude and latitude of where Rob Portman’s been, just to check out whether he was hallucinating or not at last night’s Montgomery County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner.
[Former U.S. Rep. and candidate for the U.S. Senate seat that George Voinovich is vacating through retirement, Rob] Portman, in his address to the crowd, spoke about the revival of the Republican Party.
“I can hear it and I can feel it,” he said. “People are excited. Getting our party back on track is critical, but it’s also about getting the economy back on track.”
If what the Republican Party looks like – as oppositional as a teenager with full strength hormones running through the body, finger-pointing at the parents and siblings for all that’s wrong in life – is a revival, can you imagine what it will look like when it’s got it’s act together?
Me neither.
But self-reflection doesn’t seem to be a long-lasting interest, or at least not something to be expressed in plain or rhetorial English. Nope. Just the image is everything mantra again:
Rodney Dean Tims, who recently moved to Dayton from Miami, Fla., said the Republican party is destined for a new vision and voice. “I think Republicans young and old have learned the lessons of Nov. 4, 2008,” Tims said. “We must re-brand and have a better relationship with the American public. The message was sent loud and clear. That’s why they kicked us out.”
That’s a start, Rodney, but that’s all that is.
Maybe going beyond skin deep just isn’t part of what Republicans do, but then winning isn’t going to be one of the things they do either.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:19 am February 19th, 2009 in Campaigning, Government, Ohio, Politics, Republicans, rob portman, Voting | Please comment
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Feb
18
KS Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, daughter of former OH gov, to be Obama’s HHS nominee
Filed Under Announcements, Barack Obama, Health Care, Kathleen Sebelius, leadership, Ohio, Politics, Whitehouse09 | 2 Comments
From the New York Times article that says she’s “emerging” as the pick:
Ms. Sebelius’s family and her administration have both been notably bipartisan. Her father was a Democratic governor of Ohio and her father-in-law was a longtime Republican member of Congress from Kansas. She won her first term with a former Republican businessman as her running mate and a second term with the former Republican state party chairman on her ticket.
Ms. Sebelius became an early supporter of Mr. Obama by endorsing him in January 2007 and was mentioned as a possible vice-presidential nominee. After the election, her name was floated for a variety of possible jobs, including secretary of labor, agriculture or education.
If she becomes health secretary, she will be the fourth woman in the 15-member cabinet, overseeing 65,000 employees and a $700 billion budget. But she is unlikely to also wear the second hat that Mr. Daschle negotiated for himself as White House health czar, a position that could be influential in setting health care policy.
Thoughts? How is a governor replaced in Kansas?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:59 pm February 18th, 2009 in Announcements, Barack Obama, Health Care, Kathleen Sebelius, leadership, Ohio, Politics, Whitehouse09 | 2 Comments
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Feb
18
Carnival of Ohio Politics #155, The Survivors Edition, now posted
Filed Under Announcements, Blogging, Carnivals, Ohio, Politics, Writing | Leave a Comment
There are actual pieces of news in this week’s Carnival of Ohio Politics #155, The Survivors Edition. And if you are like me, you know what I mean by that: how often these days do you open a newspaper only to realize that you know 50% or more of what’s in there? Could be us – but it’s also them.
Not so with this week’s carnival – most of which you will never see in a print publication! Take that however you want. 
Thanks as always to all participants and readers.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:51 pm February 18th, 2009 in Announcements, Blogging, Carnivals, Ohio, Politics, Writing | Please comment
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Feb
17
She writes…she talks…she posts! Brunner, Fisher & the 2010 Senate race
Filed Under Campaigning, Congress, Democrats, Jennifer Brunner, lee fisher, Ohio, Politics, senate | 8 Comments
As much as I dislike this blog post by Plain Dealer political reporter Mark Naymik, (for the record, I actually really like Mark, I just really disagree with a lot of the way in which he writes about politics, just a personal preference in the presentation, that’s all) on this point there is some grudging agreement: there is a similarity that I see in Jennifer Brunner’s approach when compared with Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and this is how I’d describe it:
Obama never really ran against GOP presidential nominee and U.S. Senator John McCain, per se. Obama let others run him against McCain, but Obama campaigned as if he was campaigning for himself – for us to want to elect him, cast our vote for him, and if he couldn’t make us do that, he’d fail. Yes, that meant he could be good cop/bad cop with his hired folks, but still, it left the impression, when he spoke and was on the record, that he was not nasty or mean or personal about McCain. He could look to objective situations, make them look or sound like failures or things we didn’t want, but he didn’t have to directly attack.
Seems to me that that’s also how Brunner ran against GOP SOS candidate in 2006, Greg Hartmann, and the shadow of Ken Blackwell, with some exceptions, and how she will run in a this U.S. Senate primary – and probably do best, particularly with moderates and independents whom she’ll want to convince to vote in a partisan primary: she will not speak badly about Lee Fisher, the current Lt. Governor and now announced candidate for the Dem nomination to run in the senate general election, per se – she will only push hard on how she is best qualified and exceeds whatever it is others think well of, regarding Lee. Now, like Obama, she may designate good cop/bad cop roles – and it already appears that some netroots are happy to take that on – fine with them.
However, this situation really reminds me of something I tell people all the time about tactics and treating people like adults who can make decisions:
When I was looking for a caterer for my oldest child’s bar mitzvah, we interviewed two in the area who’ve known each other for decades and they’re two that people choose between all the time. So, at the end of interviewing each of them, I’d ask, “You are so close to so and so in terms of what you do – it’s hard to choose – what is the one thing you can tell me you do better than so and so?”
And you know what? Neither one would answer! Each one said, in the separate times I met with them, that they couldn’t and wouldn’t say anything about the other, but they would just repeat and emphasize what they do best, and what is unique about them and what customers like about them. And then it was up to me.
I think Brunner’s approach is a lot like that – and frankly, I think it is a winner because it isn’t negative for the sake of being negative, it means that she has to show why she deserves the vote, both based in the past and in the future (of what she’ll do) and mostly, it treats the voter like a part of the decision – not as if we’re all part of some big party structure. Fisher, of course, can also do the same. And perhaps if they do both take this attitude, it’s the way we can preserve dignity and get through a primary – that’s still more than a year away, for goodness sakes.
In an era when the state party’s power still isn’t over, but doesn’t have the pull it thinks its has, if it wanted to exert such power like it used to, you can count on those efforts being revealed for the power plays they are, and the preferred candidate(s) could suffer for it.
For today, tonight, that’s how I see it. But ask me again tomorrow. And for the next 365 days – a lot can change.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:57 pm February 17th, 2009 in Campaigning, Congress, Democrats, Jennifer Brunner, lee fisher, Ohio, Politics, senate | 8 Comments
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Feb
17
[video] Brunner announces for 2010, would be first female senator from OH
Filed Under Democrats, Jennifer Brunner, leadership, Ohio, Politics, senate | 10 Comments
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:16 pm February 17th, 2009 in Democrats, Jennifer Brunner, leadership, Ohio, Politics, senate | 10 Comments
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Feb
17
And Toto Too!: Lee Fisher to announce entrance into senate run tonight
Filed Under Announcements, Democrats, lee fisher, Ohio, Politics, senate | Leave a Comment
How anti-climactic. Really makes you wonder why we bother – I know. Don’t ask.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:31 pm February 17th, 2009 in Announcements, Democrats, lee fisher, Ohio, Politics, senate | Please comment
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Feb
17
Ohio SOS Jennifer Brunner officially enters 2010 U.S. Senate race
Filed Under Announcements, Breaking, Congress, Democrats, Elections, Jennifer Brunner, Ohio, Politics, senate | 14 Comments
And I have it officially and had it but, unlike the MSM that could not restrain itself, I abided by the rules. Oh those rascally traditional journalists with all their fancy expensive filters.
Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner – come on down as the first announced Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican George Voinovich.
And here’s her new website which should be live in about five minutes with the video announcement of her candidacy.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:25 pm February 17th, 2009 in Announcements, Breaking, Congress, Democrats, Elections, Jennifer Brunner, Ohio, Politics, senate | 14 Comments
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Feb
17
Labor’s Solis nomination to get Senate test vote on 2/24
Filed Under Barack Obama, Congress, employment, Politics, senate | Leave a Comment
The Senate late Friday set a test vote for mid-February on Rep. Hilda Solis’ nomination as labor secretary.
The California Democrat won committee approval this week after more than a month of delays over questions about tax liens that her husband recently paid and her role as a board member and treasurer of American Rights at Work. The nonprofit group is working to pass a bill to make it easier for workers to form unions.
A 60-vote majority will be required in the Feb. 24 test vote to advance Solis’ nomination to a final vote.
Ted Kennedy got the nomination out of committee on February 11.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:57 pm February 17th, 2009 in Barack Obama, Congress, employment, Politics, senate | Please comment
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Feb
17
White House releases state by state stimulus numbers
Filed Under Barack Obama, Economy, employment, Law, OH24th, Politics | 4 Comments
Includes congressional district job breakdown:
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:00 pm February 17th, 2009 in Barack Obama, Economy, employment, Law, OH24th, Politics | 4 Comments
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Feb
16
Cleveland Clinic attends innovation summit in Tel Aviv
Filed Under Cleveland+, Economy, Health Care, Ohio, Tech | 1 Comment
Of course, this news comes via an Israeli publication – not the Plain Dealer, the Cleveland paper of record, published by someone on the Clinic’s board, home to Beachwood and a region desperately in need of an infusion of ideas and investment.
From YNET:
The Israel Venture Capital Research Center on Wednesday hosted the one-day Cleveland Clinic Innovation Summit at the Tel Aviv Hilton under the title of “Clinical Medicine Meets Innovation.”
Focusing on cardiovascular and orthopedic innovations, the summit was attended by approximately 130 Israeli medical, biotech and venture capital professionals.
Cleveland Clinic physicians were in Israel to explore cooperative ventures with Israeli biotech companies. The delegation seeks to tap into the rich research & development and human talent offered by the medical and healthcare communities in both Israel and the US.
Why would companies want to do business here?
In order to attract business investments, Ohio has phased out their corporate tax which led to a 100% exemption from taxation on sales outside the state. Labor, energy, building and transportation costs in Ohio are significantly lower than US cities on the East and West Coasts.
Furthermore, an independent study found that biotech companies enjoy a 15% reduction in the overall cost of doing business in Cleveland compared to other major US cities. Over the course of the past few years, dozens of Israeli biotech and medical health companies have started operations in Ohio in their pursuit of American market entry.
This event should not be confused with the Clinic’s annual innovation summit hosted in Cleveland in the fall.
Hattip to my The Moderate Voice co-blogger, Holly Robinson (who is in Cincinnati).
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:09 am February 16th, 2009 in Cleveland+, Economy, Health Care, Ohio, Tech | 1 Comment
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Feb
16
Pepper Pike launches new website
Filed Under Ohio, Pepper Pike, Tech | 6 Comments
I heard about this new website for just under two years ago (I know one of the writers who was involved in its evolution) and asked more than a couple of members of council about it in the last few weeks. So I’m very excited to see it materialize.
Now, let’s see if we can get them to Twitter, start a ning, a blog (I love the Seneca County Blog as an example of a locality’s blog done right) and maybe even throw up public records on a wiki.
Here’s a screenshot and here’s the official front page for the new site, Pepper Pike. I’ll write up a review once I get a chance to browse and use it. I’ll also see what other Ohio cities I can find that might have some of the social media tools that would enhance the city’s online presence.
For comparison, here are adjacent towns’ websites. What do you think? Strengths? Areas for improvement? Who’s the audience? What purposes does it fulfill, still need to address? Especially heading into the second decade of this millenium.
And on the west side of Cleveland, just a few that might be comparable (I’m not very familiar with the burbs there):
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:35 am February 16th, 2009 in Ohio, Pepper Pike, Tech | 6 Comments
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Feb
15
According to this New York Times interview with Bill Ayers, he has floated the idea with Sarah Palin. Other interesting exchanges are elicited by Deborah Soloman but my favorite is this:
You’re weirdly cheerful for a former bomb-thrower.
I suffer from a genetic flaw, which is that my mother was a hopeless Pollyanna.
Proof that naiveté about the world isn’t the worst thing to harbor.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:26 am February 15th, 2009 in Barack Obama, Sarah Palin | 2 Comments
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Feb
15
Frank Rich to GOP: How’s that strategy workin’ for ya?
Filed Under Barack Obama, Republicans | 3 Comments
There are so many great lines in today’s NYT op-ed by Frank Rich, “They Sure Showed Obama,” but I don’t feel right including more than a few. Go read the entire piece for yourself. It is excellent.
Example 1:
Overdosing on this [Washington, D.C.] culture can be fatal. Because Republicans are isolated in that parallel universe and believe all the noise in its echo chamber, they are now as out of touch with reality as the “inevitable” Clinton campaign was before it got clobbered in Iowa. The G.O.P. doesn’t recognize that it emerged from the stimulus battle even worse off than when it started. That obliviousness gives the president the opening to win more ambitious policy victories than last week’s. Having checked the box on attempted bipartisanship, Obama can now move in for the kill.
Example 2:
At least some media hands are chagrined [about the pre-stimulus success barrage from the right]. After the stimulus prevailed, Scarborough speculated on MSNBC that “perhaps we’ve overanalyzed it, we don’t know what we’re talking about.” But the Republicans are busy high-fiving themselves and celebrating “victory.” Even in defeat, they are still echoing the 24/7 cable mantra about the stimulus’s unpopularity. This self-congratulatory mood is summed up by a Wall Street Journal columnist who wrote that “the House Republicans’ zero votes for the Obama presidency’s stimulus ‘package’ is looking like the luckiest thing to happen to the G.O.P.’s political fortunes since Ronald Reagan switched parties.” There hasn’t been this much delusional giddiness in these ranks since Monica Lewinsky promised a surefire Republican sweep in the 1998 midterms.
Example 3:
This G.O.P., a largely white Southern male party with talking points instead of ideas and talking heads instead of leaders, is not unlike those “zombie banks” that we’re being asked to bail out. It is in too much denial to acknowledge its own insolvency and toxic assets. Given the mess the country is in, it would be helpful to have an adult opposition that could pull its weight, but that’s not the hand America has been dealt.
And finally, evidence of how President Obama is not locked in la-la-land by any partisan element:
But, as he said in Fort Myers last week, he will ultimately be judged by his results. If the economy isn’t turned around, he told the crowd, then “you’ll have a new president.” The stimulus bill is only a first step on that arduous path. The biggest mistake he can make now is to be too timid. This country wants a New Deal, including on energy and health care, not a New Deal lite. Far from depleting Obama’s clout, the stimulus battle instead reaffirmed that he has the political capital to pursue the agenda of change he campaigned on.
Republicans will also be judged by the voters. If they want to obstruct and filibuster while the economy is in free fall, the president should call their bluff and let them go at it. In the first four years after F.D.R. took over from Hoover, the already decimated ranks of Republicans in Congress fell from 36 to 16 in the Senate and from 117 to 88 in the House. The G.O.P. is so insistent that the New Deal was a mirage it may well have convinced itself that its own sorry record back then didn’t happen either.
WTG and FTW, Mr. Rich.
Hattip to Dave Harding.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:03 am February 15th, 2009 in Barack Obama, Republicans | 3 Comments
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Feb
15
Auditor Mary Taylor’s do as I say, not as I do
Filed Under Campaigning, Elections, Gender, Government, leadership, Ohio, Politics, Republicans, senate, Women | 11 Comments
This is just sad to me, because I so want to see Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor, the lone Republican who has been able to garner enough votes state-wide since 2006 to get elected here, go rogue and run to be the GOP’s candidate in the 2010 senate race for the open seat that will be vacated by George Voinovich (R).
Auditor to speak
NORTH CANTON: State Auditor Mary Taylor will speak Monday at the annual Votes for Women meeting.The meeting — open to members and guests — will be at the Fieldcrest of North Canton (formerly the Hoover Lodge), 1346 Easthill St. SE. Registration is at 6 p.m. and dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $30.
Votes for Women members assist Stark County Republican women running for elective office. For information, call Shirley Jones at 330-453-6708.
So, let me get this straight: the only state-wide elected GOP member in Ohio is going to talk to other GOP-affiliated women, about running for elective office, when she herself is being told by the GOP that she should sit down and wait her turn and not run, even though, again, she is the only state-wide elected GOP member in Ohio since 2006.
Hope I’m not the only one who thinks that’s not exactly the role model who should be telling women to get out there and run. Why? Why would a GOP woman do that, only to end up in a spot where the men tell her to sit and wait, even though she’s the only state-wide elected GOP member in Ohio who has won since 2006?
Excuse me if I fail to see the logic in Mary Taylor being the one to deliver a message intended to “assist Stark County Republican women running for elective office.”
I couldn’t find very much on the group, but here is one reference I found (a few others were about donations or fundraising):
Jane Vignos – she’s a Stark County Commissioner and it says,
Current Affiliations: Votes for Women, Federation of Republican Women Central Committee of the Stark County Republican Organization
There was nothing about Votes for Women at the Stark County GOP website either. I thought it was a PAC and put in Votes for Women in the SOS search but didn’t come up with anything.
I know a few Stark folks read this blog so if you can provide more info than they provide, that would be helpful.
Meanwhile, Mary. You need to run to show them how it’s done. Otherwise, you are only following in Sarah Palin’s footsteps, of allowing John McCain’s handlers to treat her in a sexist way and be left with nothing more than she is, which is decrying everyone and everything – the media was biased, she wasn’t consulted enough, she didn’t get to make enough decisions, people didn’t really get to hear her or get to know the real Sarah because of all that.
If you don’t want that to happen, then don’t let them tell you that you need to sit down and wait. Or be a role model of that.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:30 am February 15th, 2009 in Campaigning, Elections, Gender, Government, leadership, Ohio, Politics, Republicans, senate, Women | 11 Comments
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Feb
14
[photo] Senator Brown, looking like Ohio feels
Filed Under Economy, Government, Ohio, Politics, senate, Sherrod Brown | 9 Comments
Here’s the description given by the AP:
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D- Ohio, pauses in the elevator after arriving on Capitol Hill from his mothers wake in Ohio to cast the final vote to pass the stimulus bill Friday, Feb. 13, 2009 in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Again, may his mother be of blessed memory.
I could speculate, without too much difficulty, as to what he might have been thinking about when this photo was snapped – if only because there is so much to choose from that could be on his mind.
But honestly? When I saw this photo? I thought, here is a person who looks like Ohio feels. And while that might seem like a derogatory observation, to me, it’s a supreme compliment because, to me, it means, “this person – who is representing Ohio, as its junior senator, feels what we feel – feels how this state feels.”
There wasn’t one person I spoke with today with whom the topic of job loss didn’t play a role. Including someone who left this state for what was supposed to be a greener more stable pasture and less than two years after the move, had his company bought and dismantled, with nothing but four weeks severance after 20 years of employment.
Or the anemia many school districts are going to experience in an effort to keep a quality of life circulating through the entire state’s education system that we can all accept.
Will the bill Brown flew back to Washington to sign make a difference? Good or bad? How soon? Big enough?
No one knows for sure.
But anyone who says they do know? Doesn’t.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:35 pm February 14th, 2009 in Economy, Government, Ohio, Politics, senate, Sherrod Brown | 9 Comments
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Feb
13
Mandel continues GOP treasurer push @Hamilton County GOP Lincoln-Reagan Day dinner
Filed Under Campaigning, Government, OH17, Ohio, Politics, Republicans, treasurer | Leave a Comment
Hamilton County Republicans, at their annual Lincoln-Reagan Day dinner Friday night, got an early look at some of the candidates likely to be on their party’s statewide ticket in 2010 – a year when they hope they can rebound from huge defeats in two straight statewide election cycles.
Some of the candidates who are likely to be on that slate were familiar to the nearly 300 Hamilton County Republicans gathered in a upstairs ballroom of the Duke Energy Center Friday night. They included former 2nd District congressman Rob Portman, who is the only announced candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being given up next year by Cleveland Republican George Voinovich.
Others were from other parts of the state and are still largely unknown to Republicans here, like Josh Mandel, a state representative from northeast Ohio and a Marine Corps veteran if Iraq. He plans to take on Ohio Treasurer Kevin Boyce, a Columbus Democrat who was appointed to the job in December.
Speaker after speaker at Friday night’s dinner, though, predicted a comeback for the GOP in 2010.
Sounds like a grand old party was had by all.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:00 pm February 13th, 2009 in Campaigning, Government, OH17, Ohio, Politics, Republicans, treasurer | Please comment
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Feb
13
Is it a duck: Men announce for senate seats, hope women won’t run
Filed Under Campaigning, Democrats, Elections, Gender, Jennifer Brunner, lee fisher, Ohio, Politics, senate, Women | 3 Comments
Does this sound familiar or what? From The Fix’s line on U.S. Senate races:
1. New Hampshire (R): After much sturm und drang over the past week, we are left with one indisputable fact: the New Hampshire Senate seat is open in 2010. Rep. Paul Hodes is already in the race for Democrats and he as well as national Democrats are hoping that Rep. Carol Shea Porter, who retains a significant grassroots following in the state, decides against a primary challenge. Former Sen. John Sununu is regarded as Republicans’ strongest potential candidate but has given strong indications privately of late that he won’t run. Former governor Steve Merrill told the Fix that he would defer to Sununu but, if the senator is out, Merrill will likely take a hard look at the contest. No matter what, the Democratic trend in New Hampshire over the last two elections is unmistakable. (Previous ranking: 7)
“…he as well as national Democrats are hoping that Rep. Carol Shea Porter, who retains a significant grassroots following in the state, decides against a primary challenge.”
I have nothing to add.
Here’s The Fix, in the same entry, on Ohio’s senate race (my emphasis added):
5. Ohio (R): There is already a huge chasm emerging in how the two parties handicap this race. For Republicans, former Rep. Rob Portman (R) is their ideal candidate, a national rising star who gives them a real chance of holding this swing state seat. For Democrats, Portman, who served as the director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Bush White House, is a symbol of everything that voters in Ohio — and nationwide — rejected last November. While that debate will rage on for the next 20 months, Democrats’ more immediate problem is navigating a potentially dicey primary problem. Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and Secretary of State Jennifer BrunnerTed Strickland (D) has endorsed his candidacy but other neutral Democrats insist that Strickland has done no such thing. (Previous ranking: 2)
No doubt, if it was someone named John Brunner or someone named Charles Shea Porter, the already entered male candidates would be saying the exact same thing, right? Of course, right.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:45 pm February 13th, 2009 in Campaigning, Democrats, Elections, Gender, Jennifer Brunner, lee fisher, Ohio, Politics, senate, Women | 3 Comments
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Feb
12
Hillary Clinton to be Barnard Commencement speaker, receive award
Filed Under Announcements, Education, Gender, Hillary Clinton, leadership, Politics, Women | 1 Comment
From the Columbia Spectator Online:
Dear Seniors,
It is my great pleasure to join Barnard Board Chair Anna Quindlen in announcing that Hillary Rodham Clinton has accepted our invitation to be this year’s Commencement speaker and to receive the Barnard Medal of Distinction.
As you all know, Hillary Clinton is now serving as the 67th United States Secretary of State, after having served two terms as Senator from the State of New York and having run an extraordinary and history-making campaign for President. She won more primaries and delegates than any other female candidate in American history and changed the political landscape for generations of women yet to come.
This past September, we were honored to welcome then-Senator Clinton to Barnard to address the persistence of a wage gap between women and men in New York and around the country. It will be a tremendous honor and a true thrill to welcome her back to campus for Commencement 2009 this May.
Debora Spar
By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:52 pm February 12th, 2009 in Announcements, Education, Gender, Hillary Clinton, leadership, Politics, Women | 1 Comment
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