This past Tuesday I attended a fund raiser for State Representative Rich Nero at Lake Forest Country Club. Former Congressman John Kasich was the featured speaker. Kasich really hammered home how important it was that Republicans hold on to their narrow majority in the Ohio House. Kasich is currently traveling around the state to help Republican candidates (he also spoke on behalf of Randy Cole for his race in the 41st earlier that day). Also he might be running for Governor. So that may have something to do with it. He was a good speaker and has a pretty solid stump speech and made excellent point after point as to why Nero would be better for the district than his opponent. If everyone could have heard Kasich's common sense talk on the race, Nero would win in a landslide.

Rich spoke before John and talked about the mailer I mentioned last week and the ABJ condemnation of it. People who have been going door to door for him said a surprising number people have taken notice of the Beacon calling out Mike Moran and the Democrats for their despicable ad. Residents of the 42nd are aware of it. That can only help.

Races like this one in the 42nd will help to determine the outcome of who comes out ahead on November 4 here in Ohio. Like we mentioned in our video the other night, high level surrogates on both sides are trying to swing this race. This is a split district and will probably come down to the wire. Rich has been out campaigning hard and knows it is going to be tight, won or lost precinct by precinct. It was good to see a number of prominent local Republicans on Tuesday at Lake Forest who understand the significance of Rich's contest, willing to give him an extra financial boost for these remaining days.

Through the course of this campaign, I have gotten to know Rich Nero fairly well. He is in this race for the right reasons. The 42nd has lacked leadership for too long and he just got tired of it and set out to do something about it. Many politicians on both sides of the aisle are not running for the right reasons. I want Republicans to win regardless of the candidate in most circumstances. Of course. That is the same as always and won't change. But in this case, I have witnessed up close the time and money that he has poured into this thing. Ohio Republicans will be down a good man if he doesn't keep his seat.

Side note: While I was at Kasich's website, I found this article from March 2007 in the Dispatch.

"If you travel into small towns like these that exist not just in Ohio but in Illinois, you'll find a lot of people who are hurting," Obama said last week in Columbus. "These are folks who have worked all their lives and don't expect a handout from anybody."

I guess he doesn't include those people in his federal tax cut for people who don't pay federal income tax. "Handout" would be the best word to describe that.

Ben: Kyle and I sat down and talked about tonight's debate, the national horse race, two local Ohio House races, and one other big race that is more just on my radar. The video runs just under six minutes. I even wore a tie.

Exactly one week ago, residents of the 42nd House District (Cuyahoga Falls, Hudson, Munroe Falls, Silver Lake and Stow) received a political mailer. It was paid for Ohio Democratic Party and approved by challenger Mike Moran and party chairman and state representative Chris Redfern. The mailer contained typical Democrat lies, but this time they added a twist. They decided to go after incumbent Rich Nero's Italian heritage in the process. Here is the PDF of the trash they sent out (file loading a little slow right now).

Even the ABJ, who endorsed Mike Moran, had this to say yesterday: Democrats have been spinning the ridiculous story of Nero, appointed to a House seat in June, spending just a few hours at the Statehouse on his first day and then hightailing to Las Vegas. The truth is, Nero works as a health-care consultant for Oracle, schedules long set in advance. He first flew from an Oracle meeting in Vegas to Columbus, so he could be sworn into office the next morning and available for a critical vote on the Great Lakes Compact.

Nero joined the majority in approving an earlier measure that all but ensured the compact would win passage. Thus, he boarded a plane back to Vegas to make a presentation at the Oracle meeting.

I also detailed this back on June 19.

If I had any pull with the Beacon editorial board, I would tell them to officially rescind their endorsement of Moran, which I thought was wrong in the place. Moran and Redfern should be ashamed and should apologize to Nero (pictured with the garbage the ODP paid for). The two of them peddled a lie about Nero's business trip to Las Vegas and then determined it would also be appropriate to slam his heritage. Anything to try and win this race and the Ohio House back I guess. Telling blatant lies and infusing Italian ethnicity into this race for political gain is unacceptable. For someone who wants to represent the 42nd District, you would think Moran would want to represent everyone that lives there.

Pathetic. Being kind only because it is Saturday.

Hugh Hewitt and Bill Kristol tell Republicans not to despair. Hewitt lays out why McCain can win and Kristol spells out what McCain has to do. I met Hewitt in 2006 and he was a good guy. Here is hoping he is right. And Kristol is right that the Obama Campaign and the MSM want people like me to think the election is over to kill our spirits. Steve Hayes of the Weekly Standard says look back to 1976 for some answers as to how to close the gap. I'd like to see a commercial run like Ford did about Carter (on page 2).

Hot Air links to a Washington Post story: Sources within the campaign say that they will become much more aggressive in exposing Barack Obama’s ties to radicals and his lack of experience and judgment in the final four weeks of the campaign. This strategy entails significant risk, but they need to regain the edge they had before the conventions. Risky? Yes. Necessary? Yes.

Bailout passes. Like I have said, I have no idea as to whether it was needed or not. I do know that the story had to be moved off the front pages politically for McCain. McCain and Palin will be in Greater Cleveland Wednesday. Location not announced yet. Probably going for me. Also on the bailout, I noticed Betty Sutton (so also did two other GOP House members) switched her vote from no to yes in less than a week. Buckeye RINO has what could be called an "informative" video of Sutton.

Ohio.com takes a look at the contest (often talked about here) between Rich Nero and Mike Moran for the 42nd House District. Gonna be a tight race in a district that is split about dead evenly between Republicans and Democrats.

Ohio University switches to semesters, effective in 2012. I was always a fan of the quarter system – probably the only thing I liked about that communist loving school. There is nothing left to like now. Wonder what the results from precincts where OU students and faculty will be voting will like November 4? Obama 94 Other 3 McCain 3? Too high a result for McCain? I remember how miserable the papers and hate speech there were in 2002 – for a midterm election. God help the few Republicans down there now. I feel for you.

Canton Repository endorses Kirk Schuring over John Boccieri in the race to take Ralph Regula's seat in OH-16.

Lastly, not politically related, but a good story from the Plain Dealer on the 12 year old captain of the football team at Holy Name High School.

Well I guess this has nothing to do with politics either. Had to mention it though. Sorry…..but I held out this long.

One race that is starting to heat up locally is the contest for the 42nd Ohio House District. For the Republicans it is newly appointed State Representative Richard Nero against Hudson Councilman Mike Moran, Democrat. Nero was appointed last week to take over for John Widowfield who resigned last month. However even prior to the recent appointment this match up was already set for the fall. The 42nd encompasses Cuyahoga Falls, Hudson, Munroe Falls, Silver Lake and Stow.

Nero decided last December to challenge incumbent Republican John Widowfield in the March primary in the 42nd Ohio House District. Under Widowfield's "leadership" things were just not getting done. In a surprise move to some, Widowfield did not file at the last minute. Nero then defeated party establishment candidate Denny "Den" Robart in the primary. This week Rich was kind enough to sit down and talk about the race with me and to clear the air about a recent "controversy" that Democrats are making noise about.

We talked about various issues affecting the district and the state but one area where Rich was really passionate was health care and specifically the electronic sharing of medical records within the state. Other states are doing this now; Ohio is not. Rich gave a personal example in his own family to stress the importance that local hospitals are on the same page in case of an emergency. With better record sharing, patient care improves, and lawsuits go down. This is good for the overall cost of health care for everyone.

Nero also wanted to clear up what was written on this site on June 11. Having just been appointed and sworn in the morning of June 10, Nero had a presentation to give that same night in Las Vegas for Oracle at their corporate conference, something he had committed to months ago. He went to great lengths to make it back for the day before returning to the conference – flying just about 8,000 miles in less than a day to be sworn in and vote.

Earlier in the day (June 10) he voted on a Constitutional amendment for the ballot in November to property rights, SJR8. SJR8 works in conjunction with HB 416 – also known as the Great Lakes Compact. Later that day, the Senate deliberated for some time, but ultimately voted in favor of the Compact with only minor changes. Knowing the bill was coming back to the House with nothing controversial added, Nero was given permission to honor his commitment in Nevada and depart early. The Great Lakes Compact unanimously passed in the House that afternoon by a 92-0 count. To be clear, this bill was not in jeopardy. Had there been any type of threat to its passage though, Nero told me he would have adjusted his plans in the best interest of the state. It never came to that. In a related note, the guy who replaced Matthew Barrett, Democrat Thomas Heydinger, did not show up at all that day; he was sworn in during May. We didn't hear about that from the other side.

More after the jump.

This seat is one Democrats are going to go after in November and they have no voting record to try and use against Nero. They are trying to use this particular missed vote, which to me, looks like nothing but a stunt by Ohio Democrats – intentionally stalling on the vote. As I stated in the comment section with the original story, the case is weak and shows how desperate local Democrats are against Nero. Moran recently said that because the House is on recess this summer, Nero will have nothing to do. If that is Moran's attitude – state representatives only need to be active during sessions – then we will have another John Widowfield holding the seat if he wins.

Nero says he is going to be out in the community this summer and fall to build his name recognition. Moran's only qualification for the job is that he has public service experience. Otherwise, nothing in my opinion in his professional background qualifies him for the job. On the other hand, Nero has worked for the past ten years as a education and health care industry consultant. He was born and raised in Northeast Ohio, went to Kent State, and began working in the district in 1990. Rich's common sense approach to solving problems is something that residents of the 42nd District need at this critical juncture for Ohio. If voters want a true change in the district with a full-time representative, Nero is the candidate.

The Columbus Dispatch blog The Daily Briefing reports that Nero missed a key vote on his first day because he left the House because of a "scheduling conflict." According to the article, Nero cast a number of votes during his first day, "but when the House reconvened after 3 p.m. to take up one more, major vote — the final concurrence of the Great Lakes Compact — Nero was noticeably absent."

Think of what would happen to you on your first day at a new job if you missed a key assignment because you had left work? You'd be replaced.

Side note: I wonder if Richard Nero will need to order new campaign materials that read "Re-Elect" instead of "Elect" since he is the incumbent? I don't know the exact law, but I'm pretty sure Nero would need to make some change to the material his campaign distributes.