Strickland Has Big Lead

Ted Strickland currently has a solid lead over both Blackwell and Petro. With the fight going to heat up between Blackwell and Petro over the next month, neither fairs a good chance of going into the Summer within 10 to 15 points of Strickland. It will take money to beat Ted Strickland. The GOP has it and will use it, only to a point. The GOP candidate has to have traction. By Summer the GOP will start cutting its losses based on the national party trends, and Ohio may be sick of the GOP enough to keep national money out of the state. DeWine will get the money to win. Blackwell/Petro won't get the same kind of push from the National GOP leaders.

Courting the Bigot Vote

Malia Rulon of the Enquirer reports on Sen. Mike DeWine's choice to sign onto the same-sex marriage ban amendment in the Senate. Sen. Frist the Boss Bigot in the Senate who is doing all he can to the the mind numbing moron bigot vote. That's the voting block out there that actually would be influenced by someone who seeks to oppress gays and lesbians.

DeWine sounds as if he fears the base will leave him. He is playing all nice with Bush when the President visits Cincinnati on Monday, making for a mess of an opening day.

DeWine is in trouble and he knows it. This kind of crap is going to send the moderates to Brown in truck loads. When you think you can only win by pulling out your base, then you are not doing well, and you are marginalized.

Hackett on Springer?

Word on the street is that Paul Hackett is filling in for Jerry Springer on his radio show today? Check it out and report in on how it goes!

CityBeat: Best of Cincinnati 2006

The New Issue issue is out. Were there any surprises in your mind? It was great for Cincinnati Advance getting two mentions.

The reader's pick for best blog was "myspace.com"????? WTF? I didn't lead people to the water this year, so I guess that hurts, but to lose to a generic service and not a local blog? The kids are not all right if they pick that for best local blog. Hint: It's not even local!

The whole thing is over at www.bestofcincinnati.com.

Promise Not Kept

The Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church has voted to proceed on expansion.

A Scoop on Bridge Closure

The Cincinnati Post has the story about the Suspension Bridge closing for a year's worth of repairs in yesterday's paper.

The Enquirer makes it a lead story today.

Competition in reporting makes both papers better. It will be bad when he Post closes.

It will be a pain when the bridge closes after Tall Stacks later on the this year, but what a great excuse for a party when it reopens in 2007!

Theocracy On The March #34423

It's been a while since I mentioned this, but the extremists are starting to define their theocracy. These extremists are not just crack pots in strip mall churches, they are mainstream extremists (yea, an oxymoron), who get air time on TV and Radio. The question out there for Ohio is has Ken Blackwell accepted this document as his political bible?


[Via Kevin Drum]