I'm writing to let everyone know about an intriguing development in OH-7.  Sharen Neuhardt, a well-known corporate attorney and friend of mine, is very close to entering the race against Rep. Dave Hobson.  Sharen asked me to post at MyDD to start getting the word out that formidable Democratic candidates are lining up across the country to take out the corrupt, do-nothing GOP incumbents.

Some quick background on Sharen: A native Daytonian, she received an undergraduate degree from Northwestern and attended Georgetown University Law Center.  She returned to Dayton after law school and began working for Smith & Schnake, which later became Thompson Hine LLP.  Sharen served a 2.5 year stint as Vice President and General Counsel at Mead Data Central(currently known as LexisNexis), and has now been a partner at Thompson Hine for 15 years.

Sharen lives in Yellow Springs with her husband, Dave (also a partner at Thompson Hine), and her two children.  The family owns Whitehall Farm House, a Yellow Springs landmark.  Sharen served on the Board of Trustees of Planned Parenthood of the Miami Valley from the early 1990's until 2002, and she remains very active in the Greene County community, especially with the Tecumseh Land Trust.

Sharen represents Democrats' best hope of taking back this district, given her straight-talking style and enormous fundraising capacity.  With her extremely high opportunity costs of entering the race, 7th District Democrats should be heartened that Sharen views this as a winnable race.  She has met with Greene County Democratic Party Chair Mike Gardner and is making calls to other local party chairs before declaring her candidacy.  Her interest is a wonderful omen for candidate recruitment in Ohio and across the country.

This is a race to watch.  Sharen's fiery style is reminiscent of Paul Hackett, and she will attract similarly praiseworthy attention from mainstream media and the blogosphere.  If you have any further questions about Sharen, you can consult her biography at http://www.thompsonhine.com/lawyers/bio.php?bioID=227.

With intentions to take back the House in 2006,

OH Jeremy