An Ohio Update...

In this week's post, I wanted to bring everybody up to date on the latest happenings in Ohio's races...

OH-01: Rep Steve Chabot has a full calendar of events in which he will be appearing. Chabot is fighting back against Steve Driehaus who is hiding behind his liberal friends in the DCCC and their radio ads.

OH-02: Rep. Jean Schmidt is facing a rematch with Dr. Vic Wulsin, who continues to be mired in a controversy regarding her involvement in a study of malariotherapy. Wulsin claims that she found the process to be scientifically unsound and unethical, but failed to report the Heimlich Institute to the appropriate authorities.

OH-03: Rep. Mike Turner is battling a smear perpetrated by liberal bloggers claiming that Turner voted against extending GI Bill benefits. The truth is that Turner voted to support the bill in the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008. The earlier version of the bill would have raised taxes and lacked a provision allowing the transfer of benefits to members of a vateran's immediate family.

OH-04: Rep. Jim Jordan is squaring off against a guy named Mike Carroll. This race has been pretty quiet.

OH-05: Rep. Bob Latta held his Farm Day last week.

OH-06: Some guy by the name of Richard Stobbs gets the honor of trying to knock off Democrat Charlie Wilson. He might want to start by updating his website.

OH-07: State Sen. Steve Austria is running against Sharon Neuhardt, who just might think she's actually running for a seat in Indiana.

OH-08: Republican Leader, my Congressman and a Great American -- John Boehner -- draws Nicholas Von Stein as his opponent. People will be saying "Bay-nur" for quite some time.

OH-09: The sacrificial lamb in this district goes by the name of Bradley S. Leavett. This Navy veteran squares off against Marcy Kaptur.

OH-10: Jim Trakas versus Dennis Kucinich. I'd love to tell you something about this race; but near as I can tell, there isn't anything to talk about...

OH-11: Thomas Pekarek opposes Stephanie Tubbs Jones. I wish I could tell you this one was going to be close, but it won't be...

OH-12: Rep. Pat Tiberi wrote an op-ed about the Fourth of July for the Newark Advocate.

OH-13: Dave Potter resigned his job late last month to be a full-time candidate against Betty Sutton.

OH-14: Rep. Steven LaTourette recently proposed a commuter gas relief rebate. The bill is a gimmick, but it does show that LaTourette is at least in touch with the issue.

OH-15: State Senator Steve Stivers opponent is Mary Jo Kilroy, who is in some hot water lately. The issue is the contracts for the Columbus Clippers baseball stadium and Kilroy, a county commissioner, bungled it by insisting on awarding the contract to a union-friendly company instead of the lowest bidder. The last five paragraphs of that story linked above is really worth savoring.

OH-16: Kirk Schuring's opponent, John Boccieri (D-Not in the District) pulled a gas station stunt that backfired this week.

OH-17: Duane V. Grassell vs. Tim Ryan will not be pretty.

OH-18: Fred Dailey is running against Zack Space, the Accidental Congressman. We know one thing for sure about Space, he's avoiding Obama like the plague that he will be in this district and all over southeastern Ohio.

John McCain will be back in Ohio this week participating in a townhall in Portsmouth and then the NAACP convention in Cincinnati. The best method of defeating Obama is to convince voters in southeastern Ohio (and southwestern Pennsylvannia) that the Democrat is just another politician and nothing special. On my blog, Weapons of Mass Discussion, we have catalogued over 30 of Obama's flip-flops. Throw in his various gaffes and falsehoods, and Obama can be defined as the liberal con-man that he is.

Ohio Attorney General: You may have heard about Ohio's Eliot Spitzer, Marc Dann, being sent home in disgrace. What you may not have heard is that the Ohio GOP does not have a candidate. Time is running out and at this point, the Republican candidate would have to be a superstar at fundraising in order to catch Dick Cordray, the Democratic candidate.

88 in '08: The Ohio GOP is working hard to be competitive in all 88 counties of the Great State of Ohio and they will need your help doing it. Please consider helping out with a contribution. Here’s what a single $88 contribution can do (based on statewide calculations): 226 Absentee Ballot Request Forms, 1760 GOTV phone calls, 31 new voters that can be identified and registered, 117 yard signs, or 880 bumper stickers. Remember: As Ohio goes, so goes the nation...

Matt Hurley is the Contributing Editor of Weapons of Mass Discussion, an Ohio-based blog.