Columbus Dispatch: About 1,000 disputed ballots that could decide the outcome of a hotly contested central Ohio congressional race won't be counted, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled today.

The state's highest court ordered the Franklin County Board of Elections to throw out about 1,000 provisional ballots cast in the Nov. 4 election that contained flaws such as a lack of a signature and identifying information.

The race they are talking about is the only yet to be decided race in the House: Republican Steve Stivers and Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy in the 15th. Stivers currently leads by 594 votes. All the votes from Madison and Union Counties are in, and 37,298 ballots are yet to be counted from the part of the district that is in Franklin. Today's ruling only affects around 1,000 of that number – and none of them could be counted until the dispute was settled, which now it has been.

From what I have heard, the Stivers people aren't feeling all that confident about what is left. The ruling also affects an Ohio House race I don't care about. If you look at the Ohio SoS site, the Franklin vote that is in and tallied: Kilroy 118,212, Stivers 106,267, with 21,369 being split between two other candidates. You can do the math and ascertain yourself that it is probably going to be still close when these votes are counted……which means…..good additional news that if the race is within 0.5% after the remaining ballots are counted……recount!

Now for some quick math. Assuming that exactly 1,000 votes are not counted I broke it down using 27,298 minus 1000 to get 26,298 as what is left to be counted (Dispatch has a typo saying it is 37,298 that is left, thanks to Justin Miller for the clarification there).

However, according to most people and Democrat blogger DPotts of BSB, about 40% of provisonals are from the part of Franklin County part that is part of the 15th, though no one can be sure. We'll say that it is 50% and none of the others are rejected. So that brings the number down from 26,298 to 13,149.

Using the numbers right from the SoS site, and also assuming the provisionals in Franklin break the way in percentage the regular vote went (not a safe assumption, this is just for arguments sake – Kilroy got 48.08% and Stivers 43.22%), here is what I got as Franklin County results:

Kilroy: 6,322 more Franklin votes = total Franklin votes = 124,534 total three county vote including Madison and Union = 136,025

Stivers: 5,683 more Franklin votes = total Franklin votes = 111,950 total three county vote including Madison and Union = 135,535*

* – The SoS site does not seem to reflect the latest numbers that have Stivers up 594 (finalized from Madison and Union Counties); they show him up 149. So add the difference of 445 to Stivers and you get 135,980 three county vote for him – a difference of 45 votes.

All a guess. And if anything the votes yet to be counted, you would think, would skew Kilroy (which is one reason I chose to say 50% of the votes will be from the 15th) by more than her percentage margin of those already counted. So check my math (I am bad at it) or do your own if you think you have a better way. Or if any of my basic numbers are wrong let me know.

U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley ruled yesterday that both state and federal law "impose a duty on poll workers to verify that a provisional voter" has completed the ballot properly. That includes signing and putting one's name on the ballot envelope, he said.

"Thus, because the disputed ballots in the FCBE's (Franklin County Board of Elections) custody are deficient due to poll worker error, they constitute valid votes that must be opened and counted," Marbley said

It is important to remember that not one of Franklin County's 27,000 provisional ballots have yet been counted because of the legal challenge to the 1,000 disputed votes. They will remain untouched until the appeal process ends, which is fair. Currently, Stivers leads district wide by 479 votes. I checked the county by county numbers expecting Kilroy to be way ahead, but she is actually down by 149 votes. The good news is Obama won 59%-40%. The hope for Democrats is those coat tails helped pull 478+ more of those provisional ballots for Kilroy.

Currently, Republican Steve Stivers holds a 149 vote lead over Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy. NBC4 in Columbus reports that the recount in Franklin County started this past Saturday. The recount in heavily Democratic Franklin County is Kilroy's best hope to close the gap. This week 27,000 absentee ballots will be counted in addition to the full recount of all ballots cast on Election Day. There are about 1,000 absentee votes that are being disputed in court and may also be counted. These results are important because if Stivers wins then our Ohio Congressional delegation will be split, but if Kilroy wins it will give us a 10-8 majority.

Just wanted to get on the record here. I am well aware that Issue 5 is likely to pass overwhelmingly on Tuesday. I will be voting against it.

I believe it is an individual's own responsibility to determine what type of credit they can and cannot use. No one forces anyone else to get a pay day loan; believe it or not, some people actually think it is a good option for them! It is clear how much the loan will cost; all you have to do is read what you are signing. If you get a loan and for whatever reason you can't pay it back, that is your fault. Not the fault of the industry that is in the cross hairs.

The 391% interest figure the people that are trying to get Issue 5 passed is such a bunch of garbage. They know it too; I wonder how many times someone has actually paid 391%. Not many. If you go in to the average pay day loan place and get a $100 loan, the fee is $15. You have around 2 weeks to pay it back. Of course if you do not, then there are penalties, just like getting a loan for a car or a house from a bank. How unfair! Again, the average $15 fee is not hidden. If someone getting a loan is stupid enough to not read any of the fine print in addition to not pay back the money they said they would, whose fault is it? Here is some news: not everyone makes the right decisions all of the time.

Not all borrowers pay the money back right away and end up paying interest. Obviously that is how these lenders stay in business. If they can't make a profit, they won't stay open. That is how business works. You have to make money. Jobs are lost if 5 passes. Should Ohio try to shed jobs in our current situation?

I know I am fighting a losing battle here, but that is the way I feel. It makes a lot of people feel good to help put this "evil industry" virtually out of business in Ohio. Simply put, you are telling your fellow citizens that they aren't smart enough to make their own decisions. There is nothing more liberal than that line of thinking. This is one crusade I have never understood. Ohio has about 72,451 more pressing things to worry about. When this passes, what is next? Limiting how much a used car can sell for; all prices have to meet state guidelines so everyone gets a fair deal? Putting a cap on how much the Cleveland Browns can charge for a football ticket because some people can't afford to sit in the lower deck? Ohio based Best Buys can only charge up to a certain interest rate for anyone buying a flat screen television regardless of past credit history?

I indicated the other day I would be voting against Issue 6. Now I am not one of those anti-gambling zealots; in fact I like going to casinos every once in awhile. I wouldn't want one in my neighborhood because I would probably end up going there too much. But my thing is that Ohioans have told casinos over and over and over they don't want them here. Enough is enough. But these casino folks know eventually (according to the law of averages) they will get the right wording on the ballot at the right time at the exact time the right people will be coming out to vote. I find it insulting that this state has to keep voting on something repeatedly on which they have come to a clear conclusion.

As usual, the people backing this issue are trying to spin the jobs angle. Building a casino is kind of like building a baseball stadium. The city and owner promise all these great jobs, when in reality about 50-75 people end up working in decent paying jobs and the rest work for about $8.75 an hour, part-time. The website behind Issue 6 says they will create "up to 5,000 jobs." I would love to know how they counted and arrived at that. But, they will have told the truth as long as no more than 5,000 jobs were created. Even if only 215 jobs come to fruition, that still falls under "up to 5,000."

Ohio is not doing well economically (understatement of the year here). So we are supposed to believe that bringing in an industry designed to take money from the people will help? Okay. Even if I supported the casinos, I could not support giving one company a monopoly and writing that in to the state constitution. Plus, is there really a question that casinos would start popping up everywhere after they got a foothold in the state? No, of course not. Once the dam breaks, it stays broken.

How many times can Ohio say no to casinos? The people here don't want one. It couldn't be any more clear. Issue 6 will likely meet the same fate that similar ballot initiatives have met. Unless that whole law of averages thing kicks in.

BuckeyeRINO discussed this issue from the Republican, Democrat, and the Libertarian points of view.

So we can do this? Trackers leaned back towards Obama today, though looking at the daily sample breakdown, tomorrow things should head back McCain's way. +5, +5, +7, +3, +3 for Obama. CBS will release a poll showing The One up 11 tonight. Ignore. Still a 3.5 to 4 point race right now with some statistical noise bouncing things around.

I am going to be honest. I think we still have a decent chance, below 50%, but it is there. I really think the GOP base is going to come out in 2004 numbers and despite MSM spin, early voting numbers do look good for us. Just not sure if a repeat of 2004 will be enough. By this time last election it was pretty cut and dry and predictions were easy. I am not any closer today than I was about two months ago this time around and pressure is mounting for my final map. Some states he needs to win are just looking tough (Colorado and Virginia; far more concerned about the first). You know that. However, this election is nowhere near over. If Democrats want to think that, let them. The American people still get to have their say. We are in striking distance and that is all you can really ask for right now. The polls are oversampling Democrats, that I am sure of. Obama will not get "undecideds." The central question is if he needs them at all.

What do you think? McCain have a chance? Or he is destined to lose? Are an untold number of Americans fed up with the media and the coronation?

Well, I think it is time you know who I am voting for next Tuesday. I looked up my sample ballot at the Summit County BOE site. I didn't include local judges; they don't run on party affiliation and I don't feel like publicly telling a judge I decided to vote against them, you know?

President: McCain / Palin, Attorney General: Mike Crites
Congress, District 13: Dave Potter, State Rep, District 41: Randy Cole
County Executive: Jim Laria, Prosecuting Attorney: Undecided
Clerk of Courts: Mary Stormer, Sheriff: Drew Alexander
County Fiscal Officer: John Donofrio, Engineer: Greg Bachman
County Council, District 1: Bill Roemer, State BOE, District 7: Will leave blank
State Supreme Court: Evelyn Stratton, will leave blank O'Connor / Russo
9th District Appeals: William Wellemeyer

State Issues: 1, yes; 2, no; 3, yes; 5, no; 6, no

As mentioned, I attended the McCain / Palin rally yesterday at Green High School. The estimates I have seen say around 15,000 were there. It was more than a solid turnout for a chilly Wednesday afternoon. Just now I opened my "reporters notebook" to see what I wrote down from yesterday then I remembered I never even pretended to be working. So here is what I do remember.

Mary Taylor introduced the early speakers in her as role as unofficial MC for big state Republican events. Her being from Green probably didn't hurt either. Jim Laria, Greg Bachman, and Rob Portman were the three who talked. I was really impressed with Portman. Still glad he wasn't the VP pick, but he sounded good. I am not sure why Summit County candidates Laria and Bachman were given time to speak over Ohio House and the Congressional candidates. Maybe someone out there knows. Singer Lee Greenwood was there and sang a few songs, including his famous "God Bless the USA." We need to get an over / under on how many times he has performed that particular song since he first wrote it. Seriously it has be around 12,000. That Ohio flag they designed in the stands looked really awesome and made a great backdrop.

McCain / Palin were supposed to take the stage at around 3:30 and it ended up being around 4, which for a political rally is actually on time. It was the standard stump speech by both with the newer stuff added in. Sarah has gotten much better since I heard her in Youngstown in September. I would actually say McCain has too. I've heard this basic speech multiple times in person and about 1,297 times on TV or radio, so to me it wasn't a big deal. But the people there loved it. They went after Senator Government hard. Where this was up until about two weeks ago, I don't know. If every uncommitted voter in the country was there yesterday, McCain would win the election going away. Ohio.com filmed a video at the event; here it is.

I left a couple of minutes before I knew McCain was going to finish because I didn't want to get stuck in traffic since I had to get home for the World Series. Going to things like this really do boost your morale. It definitely gives you hope to see the base fired up and committed to the ticket. The base will be there. That I know. Hopefully it is enough. I've stated I think McCain can still win. Now we have a poll question to see if you agree.

I included some more pictures after the jump.

Press working hard looking at their Facebook pages…

While I was gone, this story was front and center, so I know I missed the boat. Anyhow…

AP: Ohio Republicans are trying to scare newly registered voters by filing lawsuits that question their eligibility, the state's Democratic governor said today.

Gov. Ted Strickland also accused the GOP of trying to distract voters from real issues.

"In the last few days the Republicans have tried to instill fear in Ohio voters about whether their registrations to vote will be challenged and whether they will be able to cast a ballot," Strickland said at a news conference with other Democratic leaders, including U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman.

I can't speak for anyone but myself, it would be great if everyone voted. It is actually kind of sickening that so many people don't. Truly. I also don't see what the big deal is about making sure registered voters who live in Ohio (and everywhere) and vote are actually eligible to legally vote. Is it really "scare tactics?" About 200,000 of the 666,000 who have registered this year have some sort of discrepancy. It is not unreasonable to look into that.

If you are a legal voter, you shouldn't be scared to show up and vote. Democrats could not make me "fearful" of showing up no matter what they did. You should be fearful of showing up if you are participating in some sort of scam. Like these people. What is wrong with verification of the votes? I would guess most legitimate voters wouldn't want their vote canceled led out by a false one. I don't so much worry about people who shouldn't showing up on Nov. 4 to vote, but I do worry about them requesting absentee ballots and voting that way.

ORP statement here.

Speaking of Ted, he will be (according to BSB) in Florida tomorrow at some sort of fake economic conference tomorrow with Obama. Also there will be Michigan's Jennifer Granholm. Those are two people who have shown how to create jobs right there.

Last night, three of Akron biggest bands came together to play a benefit concert at Akron's Civic Theater for the Summit County Democratic Party and to support Barack Obama. Congressman Tim Ryan, Attorney General Candidate Richard Cordray, Akron City Council President Marco Summerville, Summit County Executive Russ Pry, and other prominent Democrats addressed the crowd in between musical sets. Best speech was given by Tim Ryan as he fired up the crowd. The theater was packed and people were excited to be there. It was a mix of people proud to be Democrats in Akron. These are my kind of people.

The Black Keys opened. They are really tight live and played a great set. In between songs they talked about their Akron roots. It was a perfect opening act. Chrissy Hynde played an acoustic set with another guitarist. She doesn't really need a band because her voice is so good. Chrissy got a little more political than The Black Keys and talked about the need to elect Barack. It wasn't any deep policy discussion, but was still an enthusiastic endorsement. I had no clue what to expect from Devo. They were really good and so energetic. They jumped all over, had coordinated costume changes, and sounded great. It was clear they were happy to be playing in their home town. The show ended with all the bands playing together. My sources tell me the show raised at least $60,000 and that number will go up as the final receipts are totaled.

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.

President Clinton spoke yesterday at a rally for Senator Obama in downtown Cleveland. I tried to find the full speech online, but the best I could do is a report from WKYC in Cleveland. The important thing is that Bill Clinton comes to rev up Cuyahoga County and NE Ohio and Barack Obama is earning votes in southern and rural Ohio. The fact the Obama campaign is using surrogates rather than Obama himself up here right now (especially with this ACORN garbage in the press) is smart. Clinton gave a short, but vigiorous speech. Hopefully he was heading to some local fundraisers to help raise some money. It was pretty neat to see Clinton in an open park on a cool fall day in Cleveland.

President Clinton was introduced by one of the local Union leaders. He talked about Joe the Plumber and asked the crowd if any of the Union guys out there were making $250,000.There was a big group of Union guys next to the press area. Some guy yelled that he was making $255,000. It was funny and got a good laugh from the crowd.

Brian Williams was able to use his legislative experience to his advantage through out the debate. As a Ranking Member on the Health Committee, Williams was able to give some legislative insight in response to a question about nurse to patient ratios. It should be noted that neither candidate committed to a number. From his work in the Akron Public Schools and as as a member of the Education Committee, Williams talked about his work with Governor Strickland to move toward fixing Ohio's school funding crisis. Williams mentioned Governor Strickland several times and it was a good strategy considering our governor's approval rating. Williams gave a solid performance and showed he understands the issues facing our state. I'll leave it up to Ben to summarize Cole's performance.

Ben: Kyle is right; the debate was a respectful one on both sides. It was the first candidates debate for either one; Williams said neither of his previous challengers wanted to debate him. I can sum of up all of the answers of Brian Williams this way: education funding. He tied virtually everything back to that. The only real tense moment I saw during the debate was when Cole said Williams claimed when he was elected he would be the "go to guy on education" and pointed out nothing had been accomplished on that front. Williams was not amused, though the assertion was true. I am not anti-education, but that can't be part of your answer for every question as Williams turned his into.

One major issue where they disagreed was the state rainy day fund. Williams said he would not want to tap into it. Cole said that times like this are what the rainy day fund is for and that is why the money has been set aside and some of it should be spent wisely in these days of budget constraints. Both said they were opposed to Issue 6 (casinos). Cole also encouraged everyone to support Issue 1, which will prevent the ballot from being bogged down with initiatives like California. Williams said he was for same day registration / voting; Cole said it could lead to problems. Cole touted his endorsements of the Akron Beacon Journal, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Sun Newspapers. The two also discussed clean coal in Ohio, the Akron "Sewers for Scholarships" program, and health care. Cole also brought up one of his major issues – maximizing one of our biggest natural resources, water. He talked about the Cuyahoga Valley National Park as a place that should be a destination for people outside of our area, tying that in with his work with the Ohio and Erie Canalway Association.

In the end, Randy Cole put forth an excellent performance and showed why he should be elected. It is too bad that all voters in the district did not attend. In my eyes, it was very telling that Williams did not point out any of his accomplishments in the Ohio House. That is because he has none. The debate wasn't like what you see between John McCain and Barack Obama; this debate was really locally focused, which made it both different and interesting.

The facility was a large open room inside. In the middle of the room was a bullpen of about 40 computers and 20 workers processing the registrations and ballots. After filling out the paperwork to request my ballot, I waited in an area of about 200 folded metal chairs. There were about 50 people waiting for ballots. My name was called about five minutes later and I took my ballot over to one of the booths and filled out my ballot. After voting I turned my ballot in and walked out. The entire process took about 20 minutes and was very efficient. One of the volunteers I spoke with said that they were processing about 650 people a day and that things had been busiest when people come to vote after work. My hope is that many of those people were registering and voting.

I spoke with a couple of good friends who have been out canvassing this past week in Akron. The volunteers have been registering voters to vote absentee and encouraging them to go to the polls now. Volunteers are blanketing Summit County from Bath and Hudson to inner city Akron. Early voting is the first test of the Democrats ground game. So far, so good. Today is the last day to register to vote in Ohio.

Story: For the first time in a presidential election, registered voters across Ohio can cast ballots early — beginning Tuesday — without giving any of the reasons required in the past. All you need to do is mail in an absentee ballot or show up in person to vote at your county Board of Elections or another site chosen by the board.

Isn't it a little early to be casting your ballot? I consider myself a fairly informed voter, but there are some races I haven't given a second of consideration to yet. Have most voters really looked at most of the down ticket races or the numerous state ballot initiatives that are getting overshadowed by the presidential race?

Candidates are still working hard knocking on doors and meeting voters at various events. What if someone makes a great impression on you in person, but you already decided to cast your ballot? A couple of weeks ago my friend (staunch Republican) got a knock on his door from a Democrat running for Ohio House in the Columbus area, John Patrick Carney. Carney noticed he was wearing an LA Dodgers shirt and they started talking baseball after his standard political spiel – the whole thing lasted around 15 minutes. He was impressed Carney took so much time to talk to him. A few days later, said friend got a personal letter from Carney that was signed "Go Dodgers." My friend said he will vote for Carney just based on that, even though he is voting Republican on the rest of his ballot (someone doing the same to me about the Phillies might work). That is just one example – and Carney's visit would have been all for nothing if he had gone knocking at my friend's apartment later this week and he had already taken advantage of the new early voting and went to his local election board on Tuesday. What if you vote early for Obama and something really bad comes out about him? What if you vote early for McCain and then he says something in the third debate that makes you reconsider? Too bad. Same could be said for local races. Meeting a candidate in person between Tuesday and Election Day is not far-fetched and the personal touch could sway you (and not necessarily in a positive way). So much can happen in a few weeks to alter perceptions.

Look, I am not against people being able to vote early if they need to for whatever reason. No one should be denied because they have to work all day or if their schedule doesn't permit it. Some flexibility is certainly needed. But this seems a little early – and it strikes me as irresponsible to vote a full month before the actual election. Once your vote is cast, it is locked in. I hate voting early / absentee. Had to do it in 2004 and I felt like I wasn't part of the election and I wasn't doing my part. Some people see this new voting system as great news. I don't view it as good for the process.

Related: The Plain Dealer has endorsed Betty Sutton for Congress in OH-13.

Related(2): Barack Obama released three bullet points to outline how he thinks our country should respond to the "financial crisis as profound as any we have faced since the Great Depression."

• No Golden Parachutes — Taxpayer dollars should not be used to reward the irresponsible Wall Street executives who helmed this disaster.

• Main Street, Not Just Wall Street — Any bailout plan must include a payback strategy for taxpayers who are footing the bill and aid to innocent homeowners who are facing foreclosure.

• Bipartisan Oversight — The staggering amount of taxpayer money involved demands a bipartisan board to ensure accountability and oversight.

It was clear Biden enjoys speaking in front of the crowd and he went off the teleprompters several times to share a few personal stories. He was the first candidate I have heard talk about race on the trail. He told a story of his granddaughter Mackenzie having a sleepover on a hotel room with Barack Obama's daughters. Apparently the hotel staff moved the beds so they could have an open area on the floor to feel like kids even though they were on the trail. The kids didn't see race and just enjoyed telling stories on sprawled out blankets and eating pizza. The crowd enjoyed the story and loudly applauded when he was done. It was a nice moment that made the drive out worth the while.

Unbelieveable: The first presidential debate is one week from today.

Ellet High School is on the East Side of Akron just inside Ohio's 17th Congressional district. It is a working class part of Akron and the place where the economic message of the Democratic Party must resonate this election. The introduction was given by Congresswoman Betty Sutton, who continued a rallying cry of Senator Clinton's from the primary: "Fired up and ready to go." Hillary was fired up for Barack Obama. She took the microphone off the podium and walked from side to side playing to the crowd. The goal of her speech was to thank her supporters who worked hard for her in the primaries and let them know their fight continues by supporting Barack Obama.

One of my favorite past times at Democratic events is watching the crowd, especially in Akron. Yesterday's event was a real cross section of our community. As people filed through the halls of the school into the event, they were greeted by an army of Obama volunteers collecting contact information. It was a lot of volunteers for such a small event. Older people sat in the bleachers and the younger folks stood in the hot gym waiting for the speech. Also in attendance were Mayor Don Plusquellic, Akron City Councilwomen Kelly Crawford and Tina Merlitti, and Ohio Supreme Court Candidate Peter Sikora.

As I drove home from the event, I was relieved that the Democrats are definitely united behind Obama. The question is whether we are as energized as the Republicans. The Palin pick lit the Republican base on fire and got them ready for November. I feel that Democrats have the kindling in place, we just need a spark. That said, I believe this race is dead even and it will be a tough fight in Ohio down the stretch.

Good one!! Obama's new ad, which I mocked yesterday, gets even better. It tries to make McCain look old and makes fun of him for not using a computer. Obama spokesman Dan Pfeiffer: "It’s extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn’t know how to send an e-mail." Yes, it is true. McCain can't use a computer. He can't type on a keyboard. Nor can he tie his shoes or comb his hair. That is because his arms were repeatedly broken in Vietnam. Well played, Chicago! It will go down as one of the worst campaign ads ever. I guess this is what "taking off the gloves" entails.

And really, is insulting a large segment of the voting population that is probably in the same boat and are uncomfortable with computers a good idea anyways?

Cleveland Frowns which sometimes gives out advice on sports betting has a call for the 2008 election. Put your money on John McCain at the current odds.

Sarah Palin from the ABC Interview: ""I think he's regretting not picking her (Hillary) now, I do." Yes, but he also probably regrets not picking Sarah Palin.

Whoopi Goldberg, to John McCain, on The View: "Should I be worried about being a slave again?" Goodness.

Scott MacFarlane of WTOV 9 (Wheeling / Stubenville) has interviews with both candidates in OH-18, incumbent Democrat Zack Space and Republican challenger Fred Dailey. The pieces discuss each of their plans for the current housing market and what to do. Worth taking a look at.

Ohio State – USC. I am in the minority, I think OSU plays a good game and it comes down to the end. Plus, even if we lose we have a built in excuse that Chris Wells didn't play. I went with my dad to watch Wells his senior year at Garfield in their opening game against Hoban (2005). I could not have been less impressed with his performance. He didn't run hard, he didn't want to get hit, and generally looked like he would have rather been anywhere else. I said he was going to be a bust. That is why I don't recruit for college football teams or give advice on that front anymore. Speaking of Wells, and I know this is way off topic, but Maurice Wells should never get another carry ever for Ohio State. They should have told him the wrong time the plane was leaving for Southern California and left him in Columbus. He is just not good. Lets hope he doesn't get too many carries tonight.

Lastly, Ohio.com launched another new blog this week. It is a style blog titled "See Jane Style." Many people often tell me I am need of style tips. Probably accurate. Anyhow, I know Jane and had a heads up this blog was coming, and so far I have enjoyed reading it. Check it out.

And of course, there are the other two great political blogs on Ohio.com – All Da Kings Men (from the right) and Blog of Mass Destruction (from the left). Both authors are frequent commenters here. Be sure to check out their pages if you haven't already. Yes, Reverend, I don't like your politics, but you are a talented blogger.

Important: Real Clear Politics released their list of their top 25 Congressional Races in the country yesterday. OH-15 between Kilroy and Stivers was #10. OH-16 between Boccieri and Schuring was #9. Ohio, Ohio, Ohio.