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Cincinnati (AP) - A Connecticut man has admitted that he did not live in Ohio when he cast an early ballot for the presidential election in Cincinnati. Kevin Duffy, of Manchester, Conn., pleaded guilty in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court on Monday to attempted false voter registration. The 24-year-old's attorney says Duffy got "caught up" in the excitement of the election while visiting his sister in Cincinnati. He cast his ballot Oct. 4 during a weeklong period during which new voters could register and immediately cast a ballot. Duffy later told county elections officials not to count his vote. He...

As the evidence continued to build against Ohio Bureaucrat Helen Jones-Kelley for doing an illegal search on Joe the Plumber's background, she remained on unpaid "leave" because of a different violation. She used the states e-mail system to campaign for Obama. Today she finally resigned from her position, two of her superiors left their jobs also...........

State official resigns over 'Joe the Plumber' affair Wednesday, December 17, 2008 6:54 PM Updated: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 07:38 PM By Catherine Candisky THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Helen Jones-Kelley, the state official placed on unpaid leave for improperly accessing confidential information from state databases on "Joe the Plumber," has resigned. Two senior managers involved in the incident also are leaving, The Dispatch has learned.. Jones-Kelley was scheduled to return to work as director of the Department of Job and Family Services on Monday following a one-month suspension without pay. Today's action comes just hours after the Senate approved a measure...

It may not be the next Great Depression -- yet -- but Gov. Ted Strickland said today that he and the nation's governors are facing the worst economic conditions since the 1930s. “I contend that no governor has faced the same circumstances that I’m facing since the 1930s," Strickland told reporters after an event at the Mid-Ohio Foodbank in Columbus. "These are very unusual circumstances.” Strickland said he wasn't singling out himself or Ohio, but that the convergence of problems in the housing market, the collapse on Wall Street and other issues has every state but Alaska in or near...

Kilroy is headed to Congress Democrat defeats Stivers in 15th Congressional District Sunday, December 7, 2008 6:58 PM By James Nash THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy, left, won the seat by 2,311 votes, outside of the 0.5 percent margin to trigger a recount. FILE PHOTO Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy, left, won the seat by 2,311 votes, outside of the 0.5 percent margin to trigger a recount. Now it's official: Mary Jo Kilroy will be going to Washington as the first Democrat to represent any part of Franklin County in Congress in a generation. Final...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court on Friday threw out about 1,000 provisional ballots that had been improperly filled out by voters in a tight congressional race. In a 4-2 decision, the court struck down Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's directive that said the votes should be counted. Voters had improperly filled out the outer envelope on the disputed ballots, which had been among about 27,000 left to be counted in the undecided 15th district congressional race between Republican Steve Stivers and Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy. The decision allows Franklin County voting officials to count the other remaining...

The state worker who unwittingly ran an improper child-support check on the man known as Joe the Plumber told lawmakers yesterday that a deputy director later "dictated" how she was supposed to cover it up. Vanessa Niekamp, an administrator for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services' Office of Child Support and a 15-year state employee, said that when Deputy Director Doug Thompson came into her office, "He appeared very upset, his neck was bright red, and he was shaking. He closed my door." Thompson told her she must write an e-mail to the agency's information-security officer, and then...

Four senior Ohio Department of Job and Family Services mangers were disciplined this afternoon for their roles in improper computer checks that sought confidential information about "Joe the Plumber." Jan Allen, acting director of the the state agency, announced that deputy child-support director Doug Thompson and assistant agency director Fred Williams would be placed on unpaid leave Monday. Thompson will be suspended for four weeks and Williams for two weeks. Two others, Paul Fraunholtz, deputy director of family stability, and Judi Cicatiello, deputy director of unemployment compensation, received written reprimands for their conduct. Thompson will be suspended for four weeks...

COLUMBUS -- Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Helen Jones-Kelley improperly allowed employees to look at Joe the Plumber's confidential state records with "no legitimate agency function," a state investigation concluded. That's the bottom line from a 48-page report released by Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles today. The report calls Jones-Kelley's authorization "improper" and says that she has committed "a wrongful act" by allowing underlings to search databases for information on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, a Toledo plumber who was thrust into the spotlight of the 2008 presidential election after he asked a tax policy question of Democratic nominee...

27,000 county ballots on hold Federal judge or Brunner to decide which to count Saturday, November 15, 2008 3:26 AM By Barbara Carmen and Mark Niquette THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH More than 27,000 provisional ballots, needed to call the closest congressional race in the country, will wait for either a court ruling today or a tiebreaker vote Tuesday from Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. The Franklin County Board of Elections split along party lines in a stalemate last night that will temporarily delay counting those provisional ballots. But the board still expects to reveal and certify the official election results on...

When he won, it was pure exhilaration. But now what? "Honestly, the next day there was a little bit of a deflation," Obama volunteer Zeba Khan told "Good Morning America," "like we were down a little." Khan, 28, is one of a number of Obama activists who have found themselves at a loss. Their mission accomplished, there is no longer that cause to throw their enthusiasm behind. "It became my life," said Khan, who knocked on doors in Ohio and even set up a Web site to solicit support from Muslim Americans. "It literally was." ... Some think there is...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Police Cheif): If your intention in going inside the fire station is to trap her in a room and talk to her, that's not going to happen. JESSE WATTERS, "FACTOR" PRODUCER: I don't want to trap her. I just want to convey... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How much clearer can I make it that she doesn't want to talk to you? Does she — do you have to make her talk to you? Is that your right to make her talk to you? WATTERS: What I'm saying is she's — her salary is paid for by the taxpayers. She maxed...

Gov. Ted Strickland placed the director of the state Department of Job and Family Services on paid leave yesterday for possibly using a state computer and e-mail account for political fundraising. E-mails obtained by The Dispatch show that Helen Jones-Kelley's account was used to assist the presidential campaign of Democrat Barack Obama in raising money. Strickland asked Inspector General Thomas P. Charles to investigate the "unconfirmed" matter, and the governor named Jan Allen, secretary of his cabinet, as acting director of the department. The state e-mails show that Jones-Kelley provided the Obama campaign with the names of 17 potential Dayton-area...

Despite a record number of registered voters this year, intense interest in the presidential election and the historic outcome, Ohio's voter turnout was lower Tuesday than in 2004, unofficial statistics show. Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is reporting 67 percent turnout, compared with 72 percent in 2004. She had been predicting 80 percent turnout this time. The percentage could increase as provisional ballots, overseas ballots and other outstanding votes are included during the official canvass in the coming weeks. But overall turnout still is expected to be lower than in 2004, leaving experts at a loss to explain it --...

Fox calls Ohio for 0bama, and now they take it back What the hell is up with Fox? Even the other networks have not been this shameful with their coverage.

I'll be posting results and analysis on this thread as the Ohio returns come in. There are a couple of wild cards in play this year. First, our new early voting period means that some early results will be skewed, as it appears that a significant proportion of Democrats, especially African Americans, voted early. This will give an advantage to Democrats in the early numbers. Secondly, a significant number of ACORN registrations were determined to be invalid (like 1/3) and so many of those registratnts, if the vote, will be give provisional ballots. These ballots will only be counted if...

In Ohio, Early Voters May Give Obama Enough Running Head Start That McCain Can't Catch Him on Election Day: Barack Obama 48%, John McCain 46%, in SurveyUSA's final tracking poll released Election Eve. Obama leads 5:3 among those who have already voted. McCain leads 5:4 among those who have not yet voted. Obama led in the past 3 SurveyUSA tracking polls, but by tapering margins. Obama led by 5 on 10/14/08, by 4 on 10/28/08 and by 2 today. It is possible that McCain could overtake Obama in the final 24 hours, but that would require young voters to stay...

With two days to go before the election, Barack Obama spoke with messianic zeal before an estimated 80,000 people in Cleveland this afternoon who were drawn by a free acoustic concert by Bruce Springsteen.AFP reports Obama riffed on Springsteen's closing song, The Rising, when he took the stage:"A rising is coming," Obama said after Springsteen exclaimed to deafening cheers: "I want my country back, I want my dream back, I want my America back!"The Rising was written about the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 and was the title song of Springsteen's cathartic album released the year after the attacks....

We Matter. You Don't! This was a historic campaign in so many ways. Too bad for you we had all the fun here in Ohio. By Connie Schultz November 2, 2008 Every four years, Ohio becomes the center of the political universe. Oh sure, there was a lot of chatter about Florida in 2000, but how many times did you hear people complain that Florida wouldn't have mattered if Al Gore hadn't pulled out of, you guessed it, Ohio? All this attention on my home state is flattering, but its fickle nature is a teeny bit insulting. We're a fascinating...

Chillicothe, Ohio — “I am Middle America,” Eric Rinehart tells me as we stand in front of the Ross County Courthouse after Sarah Palin’s appearance here in this city of 21,000, sometimes called a bellwether city in a bellwether state. “Central Ohio, NRA member, former Marine out of Lima Company, paid for my own college, live on the west end of town.” With characteristics like that, Rinehart might just be a bellwether voter in a bellwether city in a bellwether state. A former city councilman here in Chillicothe, Rinehart doesn’t pretend to love John McCain. After McCain wrapped up the...

Columbus, Ohio — John McCain supporters in Ohio still think he can win the state, but they are very worried about the state’s problems with voter fraud, and they are surprised the story isn’t getting more national attention. “We don’t know whether it’s been stolen already or not,” one told me at a McCain rally in Columbus on Friday. “Because of ACORN,” his companion added. The supporter, an older gentleman named Lindy Miller, told me that in his hometown, ACORN was caught registering Alzheimer’s patients at a nursing home. Actually, it wasn’t ACORN that registered 95-year-old Mildred Meddock and let...

After an unprecedented campaign that seemed to break a record for breaking records, Barack Obama stands on the threshold of history -- if his poll numbers hold up. The final Dispatch Poll shows the Illinois Democrat with a 6-point lead in Ohio, virtually identical to the 7-point advantage he held a month ago. The survey is one of many in key states across America that indicate Obama is headed toward a win Tuesday that might not be close, although Republican John McCain is furiously trying to mount one more comeback and prove the pollsters wrong.

For president of the United States, The Dispatch endorses Republican Sen. John McCain, whose experience, service and sacrifice for his country make him more qualified to lead the nation. McCain's Democratic opponent, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, is a rousing motivational speaker, but his experience and achievements -- eight years in the Illinois Legislature and less than four in the U.S. Senate -- do not stand comparison with McCain's. A resume containing so little evidence of leadership and accomplishment leaves in question Obama's ability to handle the most responsible and difficult job in the world, especially at a time when the...

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 03, 2008 6:30 AM to 9:30 AM Address: Lakewood Park: 14532 Lake Avenue (at Belle Avenue), Lakewood, OH 44107 Please join Governor Sarah Palin for a Road to Victory Rally in Lakewood, OH, Monday November 3rd, Doors Open at 6:30 a.m.

CLEVELAND - Sen. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, will be in Cleveland on Sunday for a Change We Need rally. Also attending the rally is Bruce Springsteen, who will perform an acoustic set to encourage Obama supporters to turn out at the polls. The rally will begin at 3:45 p.m. at Malls B and C on Lakeside Avenue. Doors will open at 2 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.

Arnold campaigning for McCain in Ohio. He did a great job!! I did do a search. If it's a duplicate, please delete. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o81VuUcwnEk)

My first new thread post.... so be kind.... see ad in Craigs list..... http://columbus.craigslist.org/evg/901207093.html "We need several women, dress sizes 2, 4, and 6 to wear a promotional American Apparel Obama dress to the rally. No previous experience is required" snip What do you guys think of this ???

State employee says she was ordered to check out Joe the Plumber Friday, October 31, 2008 8:21 PM By Randy Ludlow The Columbus Dispatch Vanessa Niekamp said that when was asked to run a child-support check on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher on Oct. 16, she thought it routine. A supervisor told her the man had contacted the state agency about his case. Niekamp didn't know she just had checked on "Joe the Plumber," who was elevated the night before to presidential politics prominence as Republican John McCain's example in a debate of an average American. The senior manager would not learn...

'Governator' Schwarzenegger mocks 'skinny' Obama Oct 31 07:14 PM US/Eastern Muscleman-turned-actor-turned-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger called on Barack Obama to beef up his his policies -- and his body -- at a high-voltage campaign rally for Republican John McCain Friday. Schwarzenegger, the Hollywood action hero who is now the Republican governor of California, delighted a crowd of several thousand at a McCain campaign event in Ohio by ridiculing both Obama's policies and his slender physique. The Austrian-born former Mr Universe has hosted a bodybuilding tournament in Columbus for several years, and opened his address by inviting Obama to participate in the next...

Halloween Friday, October 31, 2008 Please join the Chagrin Falls Victory Center staff in welcoming Mayor Rudy Giuliani back to Cuyahoga County! This Halloween McCain-Palin rally event will be held on the Chagrin Falls triangle at 8:15PM For more information please contact the Chagrin Falls Victory Center 2 East Washington Street 440-318-1116

As the campaign enters its final days, we can develop a good sense of where the campaigns think they stand. That's because campaigns have two scarce resources. The first is money. We can't track money directly, but we can track what it is buying - namely, television advertisements. Thanks to Nielson, we know that McCain-Palin has recently focused its ad buys on Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Meanwhile, its ad buys are being scaled back in Colorado.

(The Politico) House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is slamming the Justice Department for not doing enough in response to GOP complaints of potential voter fraud. In a letter today to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Boehner said he had just been told that Justice has reversed its 2002 policy of sending prosecutors along with election-observer teams into certain states. "I have just been advised of your department’s decision to reverse its longstanding policy of assigning criminal prosecutors to serve on all federal election observer teams," Boehner wrote. "I am deeply concerned about this decision, particularly in the wake of a...

College news network Palestra.com has once again put network new stations to shame. Their latest news report show that Obama College staffers have NOT withdrawn their absentee ballots despite the fact that they are not legal residents. They have voted illegally in Ohio. One Bragging on facebook that "Obama got me a house in Ohio." MMM voter fraud encouraged by the political campaign. Oh wait, this is OHIO, the Secretary of State ALLOWs Illegal voting there.

Toledo police clerk charged in Joe The Plumber snooping case; Update: Snooper was doing a favor for a reporter; Joe may sue By Michelle Malkin • October 28, 2008 04:49 PM Scroll for updates… Just in: The Toledo Police Department confirms that one of its records clerks has been charged with performing an unlawful search of Joe The Plumber’s records. That makes two Ohio government employees identified in the snooping case. (Obama donor Helen Jones-Kelly, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, approved a separate search. More are being investigated.) WNWO reports: Toledo Police have confirmed that...

A state agency has revealed that its checks of computer systems for potential information on "Joe the Plumber" were more extensive than it first acknowledged. Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, disclosed today that computer inquiries on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher were not restricted to a child-support system. The agency also checked Wurzelbacher in its computer systems to determine whether he was receiving welfare assistance or owed unemployment compensation taxes, she wrote. Jones-Kelley made the revelations in a letter to Ohio Senate President Bill M. Harris, R-Ashland, who demanded answers on why state officials checked...

Election '08: Ohio Democrats refused to act on ACORN's massive vote fraud. Yet they have time to scour the private records of Joe the Plumber. No wonder Barack Obama finds the Constitution an inconvenience.Joe Wurzelbacher (also known as Joe the Plumber) has learned there's a price to pay for being the one to get Obama to admit that he has a socialist dream to "spread the wealth." Not only are you thrust into the public eye, you get the privilege of having government officials who support Obama rifle through private files looking for dirt on you. Helen Jones-Kelley, director of...

Tax, welfare info also sought on McCain ally A state agency has revealed that its checks of computer systems for potential information on "Joe the Plumber" were more extensive than it first acknowledged. Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, disclosed today that computer inquiries on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher were not restricted to a child-support system. The agency also checked Wurzelbacher in its computer systems to determine whether he was receiving welfare assistance or owed unemployment compensation taxes, she wrote. Jones-Kelley made the revelations in a letter to Ohio Senate President Bill M. Harris, R-Ashland,...

Yesterday Sen. John McCain boosted his TV advertising units in seven key swing states — Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, closing the gap between his advertising and Sen. Barack Obama’s. On Sunday, Oct. 26, McCain ran just 331 TV ad units in those seven states — 308% fewer than the 1,350 ad units Obama ran that day. But on Monday, Obama’s lead in these key battleground states shrank to 113% — or a margin of 1,528 ad units, after McCain’s campaign increased the number of TV ad units it ran in those states by 308%, to 1,353...

    SPECIAL DIOCESAN INVESTIGATION October 28, 2008  Cleveland Right to Life Newsletter Guiding Catholic Voters: Who Speaks for the Diocese of Cleveland?  While the Bishop stays silent, others under his charge work to undermine Catholic teaching throughout the Diocese.   In the midst of the most important election in decades, with more at stake in the paramount issues of Life than at any other time in our nation's history, the USCCB issued its document "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship" in an attempt to help U.S. Catholics make morally sound decisions, based on solid Catholic principles, in the voting...

...800 adults interviewed; of them, 736 were registered to vote; of them, 648 were identified by SurveyUSA as having already voted or as being likely to vote on or before election day. Ohio has 20 electoral votes. George W. Bush carried the state by 4 points in 2000 and by 2 points in 2004...

The NRA is going up in 10 battleground states with an featuring a tough-talking Chuck Norris touting the Second Amendment and warning against those unnamed politicians who have not supported gun rights. "He’s an American badass," said Chris Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist, of Norris. Cox wouldn't say how much they were spending on the ad, but that it would be on broadcast and cable, cycled into a seven-figure buy they have up now. They'll air the spot in Colorado, Nevada, Missouri, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The NRA has spent millions going after Barack Obama...

Joe Wurzelbacher, a.k.a. "Joe the Plumber," on Tuesday twice agreed with a claim from an audience member at a John McCain rally that "a vote for Barack Obama is a vote for the death to Israel." Wurzelbacher was hitting the campaign trail on behalf of McCain for the first time, joining former Rep. Rob Portman on a GOP bus tour through Ohio. At a stop in Columbus, he fielded the question on Israel from a self-identified Jewish senior citizen. The questioner said he was "concerned" with Barack Obama's associations and "It's my belief that a vote for Obama is a...

The last time "plumbers" were as prominent in national politics as accidental celebrity Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher, they were a team of political operatives caught breaking into Democratic headquarters at the Watergate Hotel. This time, however, it may be the real plumber whose privacy is being invaded: Ohio's inspector general is investigating why Wurzelbacher's records in several government databases were accessed shortly after he became the official everyman of the 2008 presidential race. ... read more

Ohio's Head of Job and Family Services Approved a Child-Support Search on Joe Wurzelbacher Immediately After Third Debate; Her Excuse? "Oh, We Always Do That" Confirmed: Max Donor to Obama Helen Jones-Kelley (two e's in Kelley) just happens to be a maximum $2300 contributor to Barack Obama.

ABC News' Bret Hovell reports: Joe Wurzelbacher, aka “Joe the Plumber,” will campaign tomorrow in Ohio for Senator John McCain. Wurzelbacher, the Toledo-area native, will go on a bus tour with former Rep. Rob Portman, a close McCain supporter, and a number of small business people. It will be the first time Wurzelbacher has been out to campaign for the McCain ticket since he approached Barack Obama some weeks back to ask about Obama’s tax policy, and became a part of McCain’s stump speech. McCain, and his running mate Sarah Palin, have made “Joe the Plumber” a central part of...

Join Senator McCain in a Victory Rally when he comes to Mentor High School This Thursday, October 30th. October 27th, 2008 Rally begins at 6:00pm, doors open at 3:00pm. Tickets available on a first come first serve basis at Republican Headquarters, 85 North Park Place, Painesville. Tickets should be available by noon on Wednesday, but please call first (440-357-1200) to verify that they have arrived.

Almost 1.5 million Ohioans request absentee ballotsPosted by Reginald Fields/Plain Dealer Columbus Bureau October 27, 2008 14:56PM COLUMBUS -- Amid predictions that next week's election could draw among the highest voter turnouts in Ohio history, an unprecedented number of Ohioans have elected to vote absentee. Nearly 1.5 million voters through Oct. 24 requested an absentee ballot either in person or by mail, according to the Ohio Secretary of State's Office. Voters can still request an absentee ballot from their county board of elections through Saturday and must postmark their ballots by Monday, Nov. 3 or the ballots can be dropped...

Live rally in Zanesville, Oh!

CANTON Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, who is scheduled to be in Canton on Monday, will deliver "an important address" at the Memorial Civic Center rather than his typical stump speech, his campaign said tonight. A campaign spokesman said he could not disclose any further details. The campaign is apparently organizing an event at the civic center at 1101 Market Ave. N that's different from the standard political rally. The spokesman said that no entertainment has been booked. In addition, Geoff Tompkins, manager and director of event services for the civic center, said Obama's advance team told him that they...

Obama Staff Withdraw Votes In Ohio Elections are about winning votes...not withdrawing them. Palestra.net's Tiffany Wilson reports why a dozen Obama campaigners withdrew their ballots in Franklin County today.