This past Friday, the Ohio Supreme Court announced that 957 applicants achieved passing scores on the July 2009 bar exam. They will be sworn in during public ceremonies in Columbus on November 9. The state's passage rate was 81.3 percent overall, and 87.8 percent for first-time test-takers.
Locally, University of Cincinnati graduates had an 89 percent pass rate overall (first among the nine Ohio law schools), and 91% (third) for first-time test-takers. Dayton's overall bar pass rate was 78 percent, with 82 percent of first-timers passing. NKU (Chase) grads passed at rates of 73 percent overall and 84 percent for first-timers.
Congratulations to all the newly-minted attorneys. Please immediately remit your registration fee to the Supreme Court.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Lowest Shot of the Campaign
If you want proof that Mary Kuhl is a complete jerk read no further than this tweet post from earlier today. She really is unhinged and needs to go away. I hope every Member of Westwood Concern, PWR PAC, and the Westwood Civic Associate takes note of her comments. She is a cancer on the Westside and if she is ever listened to again, she will drag down good people.
Strong Finish
Something else to watch for, which I'll comment more on tomorrow, is how the GOP council candidates finish. Assuming Leslie Ghiz returns to council, which is likely, then speculation turns to when will see leave council. She's on many people's lists for GOP candidates for the Hamilton County Commissioner's race next year.
If Ghiz ran for higher office, she would likely resign her seat on Council and her replacement would likely fall to either George Zamary or Amy Murray. Murray might have the inside track if the GOP wants to keep the female vote more in play, but traditionally the top vote getter in the last election gets the appointment, except for the case of Ghiz, who beat Chris Monzel in her first election in 2003, but when Pat DeWine's seat opened up, Ghiz was overlooked in favor of Monzel. Ghiz's vote total that year was less than 1,000 greater than Monzel, so one might think if Zamary or Murray far outpaced the other, then the appointment would be more forthcoming to the higher finisher.
If the Earth aligns right, this would be moot if Ghiz loses. I am still wishing for that, but am not holding out hope.
If Ghiz ran for higher office, she would likely resign her seat on Council and her replacement would likely fall to either George Zamary or Amy Murray. Murray might have the inside track if the GOP wants to keep the female vote more in play, but traditionally the top vote getter in the last election gets the appointment, except for the case of Ghiz, who beat Chris Monzel in her first election in 2003, but when Pat DeWine's seat opened up, Ghiz was overlooked in favor of Monzel. Ghiz's vote total that year was less than 1,000 greater than Monzel, so one might think if Zamary or Murray far outpaced the other, then the appointment would be more forthcoming to the higher finisher.
If the Earth aligns right, this would be moot if Ghiz loses. I am still wishing for that, but am not holding out hope.
Mullane's to Reopen
I'm sorry to interrupt election blogging, but this news seemed too good not to pass along. (It's actually relatively old news, but I'm just learning of it, and haven't seen any of the usual suspects mention it yet, either.)
It appears that Mullane's is going to reopen. Mullane's was a small, eclectic spot on Race Street near Garfield that closed in 2002. It'll be in a different space, but will still be called Mullane's Parkside Cafe.
You can check out the "Friends of Mullane's" website here, and become a Facebook friend of Mullane's here.
Mullane's was such a great place. I remember ending a date there with dessert. (Given that I'm still single, the relationship clearly didn't take off, but I'm not blaming Mullane's.) I think a lot of downtown and OTR residents are excited about the restaurant's return.
Who's Voting - Some Analysis
Plum Street Studios has an analysis of some of the general trends of absentee voting, which includes early voting. The Conventional Wisdom is that absentee voters tend to be more likely white, older, and more Republican. With the increase of early voting, I think those numbers are less true on the age element, so I believe Democratic absentee voters have increased in recent years, but I think they are still likely to be white voters.
The Enquirer's Greg Korte gives his analysis of the numbers and believes voting trends will hold true from the 2007 election, discounting the younger demographic that turned for the 2008 presidential election. It think it will be clear that the 2008 numbers will not hold up this year and the average age will rise significantly, but I believe it will be lower than in 2007, which I think puts the vote up in the air on a few points. I believe revolves around who the younger African-Americans will vote for, which logic would dictate helps African-American candidates, but I don't see it shaking up the big picture. Maybe 1,000 votes would be in play, something on that scale. 1,000 more votes may swing one candidate up a spot, but unless thats 10th to 9th, it will not make a big difference. It may be the difference between Winburn and Watson getting the open spot.
All of this could be totally wrong and 2008 voter registration movement may carry the voter turnout in the City up from 2007. It goes back to GOTV and in local elections there tends to not be much of that type of effort, so the CW of past elections wins out. We'll have an idea in the morning.
The Enquirer's Greg Korte gives his analysis of the numbers and believes voting trends will hold true from the 2007 election, discounting the younger demographic that turned for the 2008 presidential election. It think it will be clear that the 2008 numbers will not hold up this year and the average age will rise significantly, but I believe it will be lower than in 2007, which I think puts the vote up in the air on a few points. I believe revolves around who the younger African-Americans will vote for, which logic would dictate helps African-American candidates, but I don't see it shaking up the big picture. Maybe 1,000 votes would be in play, something on that scale. 1,000 more votes may swing one candidate up a spot, but unless thats 10th to 9th, it will not make a big difference. It may be the difference between Winburn and Watson getting the open spot.
All of this could be totally wrong and 2008 voter registration movement may carry the voter turnout in the City up from 2007. It goes back to GOTV and in local elections there tends to not be much of that type of effort, so the CW of past elections wins out. We'll have an idea in the morning.
The Polls Are Open
The Polls opened up in Ohio this morning and will remain open until 7:30 PM tonight. Be sure to check that your polling station as not changed via the BOE website's poll search.
If you have an absentee ballot, you can still return it, but it must be received by the Board of Elections before 7:30 PM tonight. You best bet is to hand deliver it. The Hamilton County Board of Elections is located at 824 Broadway, Cincinnati, OH 45202.
If you have an absentee ballot, you can still return it, but it must be received by the Board of Elections before 7:30 PM tonight. You best bet is to hand deliver it. The Hamilton County Board of Elections is located at 824 Broadway, Cincinnati, OH 45202.
Monday, November 02, 2009
Seven
That's the number of messages from robo-calls that were on my answering machine today. Wow.
Interestingly, two of these were about Jeff Berding. One was from David Crowley, reminding me that "Jeff Berding is not a Democrat." The other was from Eric Kearney (a Democrat), supporting Jeff Berding.
I'll be glad when tomorrow is over.
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