Free Republic

Is it any wonder that Lance Mason believed that he could get away with killing his wife? On the way back from a funeral, Judge Lance Mason beat his wife so badly that he broke her orbital socket.  A woman who called 911 had described a horrifying scene of “fists flying” inside the car. Their two children, ages 4 and 6, were in the SUV when their father assaulted their mother, choked her and bit her on the ear and the cheek. According to Aisha, Judge Mason "struck me in the face, yanked my hair, slammed my head into the...

Ohio Senate candidate Ted Strickland joked about the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Monday, saying it came "at a good time" for union workers since he was unable to cast the deciding vote in a March case that ended up in a 4-4 deadlock. ... Strickland made the remarks in Cleveland, telling AFL-CIO members that Scalia's death "saved labor" from a terrible decision in the case, which could have dealt a blow to the ability of public-sector unions to collect fees from those who decide against joining the union and pay for collective bargaining activities. ... the...

I seldom watch network or cable TV so I rarely see political commercials. I was over at a relatives house yesterday and they had the TV on. I was shocked by the ads for Senator Rob Portman -R vs. Ted Strickland - D (in Ohio). The ads seemed to be each candidate trying to out-Trump the other one. Portman's ad talked about the Chinese devaluing their currency, dumping steel on the U.S. and how Portman would fight them. Strickland's ad talked about how he was against unfair trade deals that hurt the middle class and export jobs. These candidates might...

It took just a few days after the stunning defeat of Obama's attempt to fast-track the Trans Pacific Partnership bill in the Senate at the hands of his own Democratic party, before everything returned back to normal and the TPP fast-track was promptly passed. Why? The simple answer: money. Or rather, even more money. Because while the actual contents of the TPP may be highly confidential, and their public dissemination may lead to prison time for the "perpetrator" of such illegal transparency .... fast-tracking the TPP, meaning its passage through Congress without having its contents available for debate or amendments,...

Before we get into the meat of this story from the National Journal, let me just note that this – “One of the most underappreciated stories in recent years is the deterioration of the Democratic bench under President Obama’s tenure in office” – has always been properly appreciated by me. I noticed this issue a while back. Sorry, but I felt the need to establish that. Moving on… …less attention has been paid to how the shrinking number of Democratic officeholders in the House and in statewide offices is affecting the party’s Senate races. It’s awfully unusual to see how...

Republicans are debating whether their path to the presidency in 2016 runs through the blue-collar Rust Belt states, or the demographically changing new South and Sunbelt states. For Democrats looking to retake the Senate, however, the formula is more clear-cut: Win back white working-class voters, or be consigned to a longer-term minority. Most of the Senate battlegrounds run through the Midwest—Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio—along with New Hampshire, which carries demographic similarities with those older, whiter Great Lakes states. To defeat the vulnerable Republican incumbents, Democrats have a challenging task ahead: Making inroads with blue-collar voters, who have been stubbornly resistant...

It’s been more than two months since Dr. Ben Carson first said that America is “very much like Nazi Germany,” and he’s still having trouble clarifying exactly what it is he meant. During an appearance on CNN’s Crossfire Wednesday, host Stephanie Cutter brought up the remark and asked Carson to explain it for her. “To me, it doesn’t sound like a complex statement at all,” Carson said, before reiterating his original comments. “People in Nazi Germany, most of them did not believe in what Hitler was doing. But, instead of protesting, instead of registering their displeasure, they simply decided to...

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The expose came not in a rush but in slow, infuriating revelations. For more than two years, Cuyahoga County residents absorbed reports of cronyism and corruption on a scale no one imagined possible. A community that paid little attention to the mundane chores of county government learned of cash bribes, a sham election, gambling junkets to Las Vegas and Canada, sketchy tax assessments and outright thievery. On Thursday, we learned that the sordid charade is finally nearing its end. That long, loud scrape echoing across Ohio's largest county was a political machine grinding to a halt. The...

Your tax dollars paid the salaries of Cuyahoga County officials who prosecutors say swapped government contracts for a free gambling junket to Las Vegas. Your tax dollars paid for government leaders to lounge at a secret Flats condo and rake in tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts from contractors looking to land county business, according to prosecutors. And that tax levy you passed last year for the poor, elderly and sick? Prosecutors say one of your leaders suggested using some of it to reward a halfway house that flew him first-class to Las Vegas. The first major...

Over in Ohio, Third Base Politics sends word that the Board of Elections Director for Cuyahoga County – the one that includes Cleveland – is on pace for 430,000 out of about 978,000 registered voters, roughly 43 percent turnout. For perspective, the county made up almost all of Obama’s margin of victory in Ohio in 2008. Obama won 458,422 votes in this county in 2008, and beat McCain by 258,542 votes; Obama’s margin in Ohio was 262,224. Democrats Ted Strickland and Lee Fisher needed big margins out of Cleveland, and so far, it’s not coming together for them.

A month ago, Ohio’s Republican gubernatorial hopeful, John Kasich, seemed to have nothing to worry about. His opponent, incumbent governor Ted Strickland, was running an unfocused, attack-of-the-week-style campaign. Kasich’s lead in the polls stretched into the high teens, and his relentlessly cheery, ruthlessly policy-oriented campaign looked almost as disciplined and well-run as the Rob Portman campaign for Ohio’s open Senate seat. Flash forward to now. Kasich’s lead has shrunk. At best, he leads Governor Strickland by eight or nine points. Kasich is not exactly in dire straits — only two recent polls show Strickland earning 45 percent of the vote...

Some people are absolute fools and the Scioto County Sheriff’s Department needs our help in identifying one of them by name. At a public rally for Democrat Ted Strickland in Ohio, an Iraq War Veteran was filming the rally when a Strickland scumbag supporter poured a hot cup of coffee down his back. The man sounds like an idiot with obvious mental problems. He then comes back around and shoots the finger at the camera. Just a complete nutcase. If you know or can identify this man please contact the Scioto Country Sheriff’s Department at 740-355-8245. VIDEO

The party that controls the Ohio governor's mansion can have an impact on presidential elections, so the race is seeing a jolt of high-profile endorsements as the candidates try to place blame over the state's job losses. The Ohio governor's race is shaping up as a bellwether for the 2012 presidential election and a high-stakes referendum on which party can be trusted on the economy in a state that has lost 400,000 jobs in the last three years. Just note the top-gun politicians stumping for embattled Gov. Ted Strickland (D) or the international press corps trailing both his campaign and...

Eileen Lazear says she can't afford much, but she wants to do what she can to help elect Ohio's next governor. That's why Lazear, a retired Upper Arlington resident, has given Republican nominee John Kasich a $25 contribution each month for the past year and plans to continue doing so until the Nov. 2 election. "It's all I can afford, but I want to do it because I believe we need a better government," Lazear said. Kasich's campaign points to contributions from voters such as Lazear as evidence that there is a difference in gras-roots support in his race with...

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- In a rare gesture, Gov. Ted Strickland on Friday spared an inmate who was scheduled to be executed next week, citing court decisions that questioned the death sentence and problems with trial testimony. Strickland announced he was granting clemency to Richard Nields, who strangled his girlfriend in 1997 during an argument in suburban Cincinnati. Strickland, a Democrat, said he made the decision after reviewing Nields' case.....

NNot so long ago, a job with Lehman Brothers opened doors. Now, it threatens to slam one on the leading Republican contender for governor in 2010. John R. Kasich, the former congressman from Westerville, left the storied investment banking firm shortly after it collapsed in September, severing a six-year relationship as a managing director of Lehman's investment banking division. As Kasich prepares to challenge Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, his association with a firm that has come to symbolize the avarice of Wall Street almost certainly will be used against him. "If he becomes a candidate for governor, I'm sure that...

Columbus police have arrested a man they say was responsible for a Web site where customers could post reviews of prostitutes. Robert Eric McFadden is accused of trading information about online escorts and prostitutes who worked the streets, including a 17-year-old girl. Police say he also helped organize a $10-a-ticket raffle that offered an evening with a prostitute. The 46-year-old McFadden was arrested Wednesday and faces numerous charges, including compelling prostitution involving a minor.

DUBLIN, Ohio—Columbus police have charged a former member of Governor Ted Strickland’s staff with seven felonies, involving a prostitution ring. NBC 4’s Mike Bowersock GETS RIGHT TO THE POINT Wednesday. Eric McFadden, who until October of 2007 was head of Strickland’s Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, was arrested Wednesday morning in Dublin. Police said they believe McFadden was “Toby,“ the man they have been looking for during the past two months after busting up a prostitution ring that was operated on Craig’s List. An employee of the OSU School of Nursing and an employee of the Franklin County Children Services was...

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...

Barack Obama isn't just relying on urban Democratic strongholds to win Ohio in November. Obama's campaign released a document Tuesday outlining a strategy to organize extensively in rural areas throughout the key battleground state. Some of those areas have long been strongholds for Republican candidates.