Don't know what that means, since the district is solid red anyway, but I don't suppose anyone would be sad to see her go, even if she's just replaced by another odious Republican.

Zach Space has a small lead at this point also, which I gauge from my very limited knowledge to be quite the upset if he does end up winning.

Blackwell's up right now.

Early results from District  6
Wilson, Charles A.-WI         4,652     56.99%
Carr, Bob             2,611     31.99%
Luchansky, John S.            900     11.03%

Hope this holds and Wilson has gotten his act together.

Ralph Regula is losing slightly to his primary opponent, Matt Miller. what's going on there?

The plain dealer site seems to be updating much more frequently then the official site:

http://www.cleveland.com/election/electi oncoverage/index.ssf?congress.xml

Good to see you back doing what you do best....real politics....

I just got off the phone with a friend in Ohio and with 89% of the vote counted, Ralph Regula, who has been in COngress since 1972 and represents Canton, OH is losing by about 10%.  If this holds up (and it owuld take a lot of absentee ballots to change the result)  this would beb an amazing upset.

Regula is not in any scandal, is considered somewhat moderate, although this was widely assumed to be his last election so that his son could run in 2008. But not only is this an upset within the GOP... but that district could definitely be in play for the Dems as it is a fairly moderate district with some labor influence.  With no incumbent and a very anti-GOP bias in much of the Ohio electorate this year, we might want to start paying attention to OH-16.

To be honest -- I know nothing about the Dems running in the district for the nomination, but whoever wins will get my support.

I was really rooting for him.  Even threw him a few bones.

But at least Capri won't turn OH-13 into a top tier Republican race by buying that primary.

Guess I went 1 for 2 today, not too shabby.

But would much rather have had Sulzer win, and Capri win.

Tis life.

...you know, Governor and U.S. Senate...

It looks like Ted Strickland vs. Ken Blackwell and Sherrod Brown vs. Mike DeWine, to the surprise of no one.  With about 62% of the votes counted, Strickland leads Flannery 81-19, Blackwell leads Petro 57-43, Brown leads 76-24, and DeWine leads 71-15-14.

Justin Turner did a great job managing this race and it has now been turned into a movie. From a People for the American Way email:

A Blinding Flash of the Obvious is a dynamic documentary that tells the compelling story of the 2004 Cincinnati, Ohio campaign: Citizens to Restore Fairness. This was the local campaign that helped repeal Cincinnati's 11-year-old anti-gay law that explicitly discriminated against gay, lesbian and bisexual citizens. The film is part of People For the American Way Foundation's newly launched Focus on Fairness Toolkit. Gripped by the heart and passion of business, civic and religious leaders, you will see how a small group of dedicated individuals led a community to victory.

We felt this film had to be made and the Cincinnati story shared for three reasons:

  1. It was the only pro-gay rights initiative that passed anywhere in the country in 2004.

  2. It took place in Cincinnati, in one of the five most conservative regions in the country.

  3. While the citizens of Cincinnati were undoing over a decade of discrimination against the LGBT community, they also voted against the Ohio same-sex marriage ban that passed statewide.

Check it out if you get a chance.

I posted this once and lost it

I am tired and I will be briefer than before

2002 Primary for Governor

457K Dem
552K Rep

2002 General

1.236M Dem
1.865M Rep

2006 Primary governor

561K Dem
659K Rep.

Our turnout in the primary increased by 22%, but contrary to the dispirited Rep. scenario their turnout also went up ---if by a lesser 19%.

In the general in 2002 the Reps. increased turnout by a factor of 3.3 and the Dems increased theirs by a factor of 2.7.

If you follow  that increase (and I am open to an argument why that would not be valid, but please note again that contrary to expectations that the Rep. vote also went up) then the Dem vote would be 1.530M  and the Rep. vote would be 2.174.  

Those numbers seem intuitively wrong.  However please keep in mind that our turnout did not match hopes in either Ill or in the California special election.

I am not a good enough mathenmatician and too tired to factor in the variable increase between out 22% increase and their 19% increase, but the differential of the 3% greater increase in our vote does not seem to make up the difference.

So please tell me why I am wrong.  Use words and/or numbers, but numbers seem to be one of those reality based things we need to deal with.

We shouldn't count our chickens before they go to the polls.  

Democrats currently 646,000 for the primary with 88% in so this whole thing makes no sense.

Wilson's win is a relief and a lesson. And speaking of lessons, to give credit where it is due, the GOP ran a crafty play against Wilson, that shows how much they fear him in November. I read on one of the Ohio blogs, I think it was, that they ran incessant negative ads - not against Wilson, but against one of his less well-known opponents in the primary. Apparenty they hoped to promote the name recognition of a weaker candidate, to shave Wilson's edge in the primatry.

Shrewd, ingenious, and worth remembering for the playbook, though it didn't work for them this time.

Sombrero Power, and the beginning of Rep. Chabot's demise:

http://ohiosfirst.blogspot.com/