At a party Wednesday night celebrating the 10th anniversary of his MSNBC show Hardball, Chris Matthews lashed out at the Bush administration for its efforts to control his editorial content.  But if his claims that "they will not silence me" ring a little hollow, they should.  After all, Chris Matthews has spent the last several years telling us that President Bush, his White House and the Republican leadership team are "good guys."

I'm a sucker for a lot of things: Personal journalism. Progressive politics. Behind-the-scenes reporting. Media criticism. Strong, intelligent women. In Connie Schultz's new book, "... and His Lovely Wife: A Memoir from the Woman Beside the Man", we're treated to all of these things, and more. In case you didn't know, Schultz is the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The "Man", in this case, is Congressman-turned-Senator Sherrod Brown. And the book is Schultz's very personal chronicle of Brown's race for U.S. Senate, a year-plus spent in the maelstrom of a campaign, and the efforts Schultz and Brown undertook to make their young, enthusiastic marriage work. He won, they survived, and their love - portrayed beautifully in the book - endures. The importance of this book will, too, making it a no-doubt-about-it addition to your must-read list.

Cross posted at the Buckeye State Blog

My letter to Team McCain:

Danny,

Greetings. My name is Jerid Kurtz and I administer Ohio's political community blog, the Buckeye State Blog.

I'm writing about your recent acquisition of former Senator Mike DeWine as Senator John McCain's Ohio Chair for his presidential campaign. Congratulations on picking up such a prominent name. However, I do have a question.

Your comments the other day to the Cleveland Plain Dealer implied that Senator McCain's campaign condones all of former Senator DeWine's actions during his recent campaign against now Senator Sherrod Brown. Specifically, the McCain campaign stated:

As for DeWine's loss, [Danny] Diaz said, "I think in a very difficult political environment, Sen. DeWine ran a principled campaign that focused on important issues, and we are fortunate to have him leading our effort in the state." (emphasis added)

Is it possible? After six years, two wars, hundreds of billions of wasted dollars, untold damage to the environment, dozens of extremist judges, one outed CIA agent, 3,000 dead soldiers, God only knows how many dead Iraqis, billions in giveaways to oil and pharmaceutical companies, and more lies than a super computer could keep track of?

Is it just possible that someone with a record like that might have actually slipped up and suggested something positive? Something downright progressive?

Oh, it's not anything earth-changing like bringing the war to an end -- but Bush is actually proposing something that would cost his rich friend millions and milions of dollars and curb one of the most outrageous corporate welfare programs ever devised.

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner told the Ohio Association of Election Officials (OAEO) this week that she would be a friend and ally and help them out by modeling a system to recruit poll workers on how jurors are selected for jury duty.

The proposal, one of several the new Democratic chief election official shared with directors and members of Ohio’s 88 boards of election (BOE) at their winter conference in Columbus this week, was offered as a broad approach but with assurances that program details were being worked on.  She told her attentive, eager audience that the idea would also be shared with state lawmakers, who are needed to make her bold idea come to life.

Steven Hayward, a Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, reported this week on NPR's Living on Earth that the president has been striking a different tune on energy and environmental issues of late.

Mike Allen [from Time] reported that he was talking to a senior White House official who said that Bush was getting ready to do a 180 on climate change and describe it as in the old cliché as a Nixon in China moment. The actual quote that appeared was that only two oil men could get all the players to the table, including the oil and auto industry, to broker some large and grand compromise on this.

And I've heard separately from people who have had casual lunches or dinners with Bush recently that one of the things he's changed his mind about was environmental issues.

More analysis on the flip...

If you haven't noticed already, the Gang of 14 came to an end on Tuesday night.  With Mike De Wine and Lincoln Chafee decisively voted out of office, the Gang of 14 shrinks to a Gang of 12, and therefore not a gang at all.  What does it mean?

Over on the GOP side of things, I am thinking the demise of the Gang fo 14 will be welcomed, see Hugh Hewitt, for instance, who blames Senator John McCain who "cobbled together the Gang of 14 "compromise" that in fact destroyed the ability of the Republican Party to campaign on Democratic obstructionism while throwing many fine nominees under the bus."  Strong words.  

But the bigger question is raised:  will the GOP again become the party of the reckless, wanton filibuster?

After staying up until 4:30 am blogging I rolled out of bed and hustled downtown to the Crowne Plaza Hotel this morning for a "press availability" with senator-elect Sherrod Brown (D-Avon). He appeared in a denim shirt looking a little tired but very relaxed, stepping behind a podium before a phalanx of reporters, photographers and TV cameramen. He said he had no prepared statement and invited questions.

Brown called this a very important election and said that the fact that he won in double-digits is a testament to the strength of the issues he raised in his campaign (including education, job-killing trade agreements, alternative energy, stem cell research, and economic issues affecting the middle class).

Much more after the flip ...

Just a quick diary with a couple of points.  First, a University of Cincinnati (Institute for Policy Research) poll conducted between Wednesday and Sunday, has Sherrod Brown (D) over Mike DeWine (R), 56-44, with a MOE of 3%.  This helps shore up the Columbus Dispatch poll that had Brown up in the teens over DeWine.  Second, get off your ass tomorrow and vote early.  And, then go to your local Dem office and volunteer to make GOTV calls, be a poll watcher, be a poll runner, put up the last of the signs and drop off the last of the handouts, take people to and from the polls, witness and support those that have witnessed voter irregularities and problems, and most importantly, RUN THROUGH THE FINISH LINE TOMORROW.  

Good night, and good luck...from Ohio.  Wonder what KO has planned for tonight?    

THE TIME IS NOW TO KICK SOME REPUBLICAN ASS! LET'S DO THIS THING!  HOOOOAAAAH!

This simply has to be the tag-line for the November 7, 2006 election.

In an article by the Columbus Dispatch - Darrel Rowland discusses the difficulties the GOP will have getting voters to vote for anything other than a straight Democratic ticket --

But in the article there is this gem of a tag-line "The Elephant Graveyard" -- let us all pray that will be so in Ohio and all over the United States

The link and part of the article after the jump

portrait of a sad man

Just got a robo-call from the Dewine campaign, recorded by one Vicki Almay, DEA agent. Here's an MP3 file of same:

You've been hearing about drug allegations in Sherrod Brown's office... (175kB MP3 file)

The attack has been debunked by several Ohio newspapers. See below.

The Columbus Dispatch is a mail-in poll. It bragged about its accuracy until its 2005 polling of the Ohio ballot initiatives. It wasn't even close. So while I don't trust it or its methodology, it's final results for the Tuesday election are startling:

Columbus Dispatch. 10/25-11/1. Respondents. MoE 2.2% (9/9-15 results)

Ohio would go from having every statewide elected office being held by Republicans, to just one -- Sen. Voinovich. And not only would that be good for Ohio, but it would send chills down the spine of every Republican 2008 presidential pretender.

Just got out of bed, fed the dogs and strolled out for the Sunday paper.  After I got it in and poured a cup of coffee, I opened it up to this headline: "Could it be this Bad for the GOP?"  The first sentence says it all, "With more than a third of Ohioans ready to vote a straight Democratic ticket, Republicans could be headed for electoral disaster Tuesday unless their vaunted get-out-the-vote effort comes through." But the real eye-popper was the new polling results, framed as a banner across the top of the paper.  Poll results after the break...

NBC and CNN has predicted Sherrod Brown the winner.

CNN predicts Debbie Stabenow winner of MI-SEN and Jennifer Granholm winner of MI-GOV.

OH-SEN - 77% reporting
Mike DeWine (R)	1,334,800	46%
Sherrod Brown (D)	1,598,416	54%

MI-GOV - 65% reporting
Dick DeVos (R)	975,486	43%
Jennifer Granholm (D)	1,282,102	56%

MI-SEN - 65% reporting
Mike Bouchard (R)	943,173	41%
Debbie Stabenow (D)	1,299,491	57%

If you grew up during the 1960's, how could you possibly flub the term "marijuana laced Brownie?"  Well, Mike Dewine did just that during the final Senate debate.  

Salon has just published a blistering and eye opening investigative article. It details political contributions from Judges looking to be confirmed to the federal bench to Senators. Those Senators include Mike DeWine and George Voinovich prominently, along with Arlen Specter, the Judiciary chairman.

When Claire McCaskill debuted her newest ad, featuring the familiar face of Michael J. Fox speaking plainly and honestly to the camera about the importance of electing McCaskill, a supporter of stem cell research, over her opponent, Senator Jim Talent, it made news.

When right-wing pundits seized on the ad to personally attack Michael J. Fox, who was visibly exhibiting the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, (one of the many diseases that stem cell research has the potential to cure) it was appalling, desperate and dispicable.  Fox, a vocal proponent of medical research became the target of ugly attacks.   It was suggested that he should have waited until his symtoms abated to film the ad, or that he was exaggerating for dramatic effect.  

Fox fired back, standing up to these bullies, and he continues to travel around the country to campaign for candidates who support this important medical research.  Today, he made his way to Columbus, Ohio where he was joined by Sherrod Brown and a packed room of Ohio Democrats for a rally in support of Brown's Senate campaign.