Good News for Ohioans

With only 25 days to go until election day, Ohio got some good news from polls yesterday.

Survey USA
for Governor
Strickland(D): 60%
Blackwell(R): 32%

A reminder, though. The last two polls on the race were much closer, showing a double digit lead for Strickland in the low teens. However, the University of Akron poll was junk(had Stickland up by about 13.5%). The poll was concluded on September 29th, and could hardly be called anything other than outdated. Not to mention the fact that the polling info was conducted over a period of a month. That is an extremely poor way to poll a volatile election in the home stretch.

Survey USA
for Senator
Brown(D): 54%
Dewine(R): 40%

The last usable poll(again, not including the University of Akron "poll"), was a Rasmussen poll that had Brown up by 8. So, as has been through most of this race, Brown is in control. However, the RNC has been backing up truckloads of money to keep Dewine afloat. So, we'll have to hold our breath until Novembr 7th on this one. I still consider this a tight race.

RT Strategies
for Congressional District OH-02
Wulsin(D): 48%
Schmidt(R): 45%

This is a heavily conservative district. It would be a miracle if Schmidt loses. But times are tough for Republicans, and she is not a very likeable person. Remember she had become infamous for calling veteran John Murtha a coward on the floor of the House. By the way, Murtha will be campaigning with her opponent very soon.

RT Strategies
for Congressional District OH-15
Kilroy(D): 53%
Pryce(R): 41%

These numbers are a surprise to me. I have been seeing some of these campaign ads, and I assumed that the race was much closer. For the moment I think it is best to assume that all of these races are still competitive.

RT Strategies
for Congressional District OH-02
Space(D): 51%
Padgett(R): 42%

I am familiar with this race. I have friends and family that live in this district, all of whom will be voting for Zack Space. The republicans could still win this conservative district with a great turnout, but they made a mistake in allowing Ney, who will be pleading guilty to two felonies today, to pick Padgett as his successor. They should have had him keep his mouth shut. Not to mention that Padgett has had some family financial problems with a multi-million dollar bankruptcy recently.

Overall, good news. Still, though, the Republicans, as always, have loads of cash and will attack with their tradtional gleeful viciousness. So, be on the look out for the normal, "raise your taxes", "terra, terra, terra" ads. There is going to be 25 more days of them.

Ohio Races

As a Democrat, I am excited about the prospects that our party is facing this coming November, but as an Ohio Democrat, I am particularly focussed on two big races.
The Ted Strcikland against Ken "I-single-handedly-elected-Bush-for-four-more-years" Blackwell race for Ohio Governor, and the Senate race where Sherrod Brown is leading Mike Dewine. Both Brown and Strickland have been consistently up in the polls. So, this is great news for Ohio democrats. However, Brown at this current stage is running a much better campaign then Strickland. Brown is putting up great ads, and constantly putting out new press releases while the Strickland campaign has been dead silent for almost a week. Is October a vacation for the Strickland campaign? They need to get it together. They are still up by double digits, but in some polls they have lost as many as 8 points in their race against Blackwell.

Please visit both their sites and offer what support you can.

Another Page Scandal Is Coming

This morning I have run across three different mentions of another GOP congressman being sexually involved with a congressional page.

First, I ran across this over at Americablog:

I've heard rumors. Unsubstantiated talk. No proof yet. But I've heard things. Just like I heard things about Mark Foley this past July. This time I've heard things about a relatively senior Republican member of the House, and also about someone on the Speaker's own staff. Both rumors seem relevant to this story as it's unfolding.

WOW! Rumors, yes. But a senior Republican member of the House? Sounds tantalizing, but it is still just a rumor.

Then I ran into this in a diary over at dailykos from a CNN transcript of Dana Bash reporting to Wolf Blitzer:

But Wolf, the anxiety here I can tell you is not going away. And one of the reasons for that, according to one Republican lawmaker I spoke to today, is because there is anxiety over rumors that they're hearing that there could be another congressman that could get caught up in a sex scandal. Now, we need to make it clear that we don't have independent verification of that. But this Republican lawmaker said that that is a main reason why the GOP jitters are continuing, because these rumors continue to fly, Wolf.

Well, she has one source, but "no independent verification". So, it seems that something might be going on, but I'm still not convinced.

Then I see this in a comment on the Americablog post I linked to previously. This was from Tucker Carlson on his MSNBC show last week:

Mark Foley's not the only one who behaved in an inappropriate way with pages. There is at least one other -- a heterosexual -- and his name, I believe, will come out.

Whew! And I ran across all of this in less than an hour. Something is going on and it sounds like the dam is about to burst. This scandal was a monster before but now it is about to grow a second head.

All these sex scandals are putting me in the mood for some classic comedic sexual inuendo. Take it, Schweaty balls.

The First 100 Hours

Current House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi set out what the dem's would do in the first 100 hours if they are to take control of the House after November Elections.
Something to keep in mind when you go to polls:

"Day One: Put new rules in place to "break the link between lobbyists and legislation."

Day Two: Enact all the recommendations made by the commission that investigated the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Time remaining until 100 hours: Raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour, maybe in one step. Cut the interest rate on student loans in half. Allow the government to negotiate directly with the pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices for Medicare patients.

Broaden the types of stem cell research allowed with federal funds — "I hope with a veto-proof majority," she added in an Associated Press interview Thursday.

All the days after that: "Pay as you go," meaning no increasing the deficit, whether the issue is middle class tax relief, health care or some other priority."

Democrats need to hammer this message in ads and in speeches until Election Day. Make the "100 hours" a message mantra, and it wouldn't hurt to add Pelosi's flourish that it would only take 100 hours to "drain the swamp" of the former Republican leadership, which packs an extra rhetorical punch after the events of the last week.