Free Republic

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.

CLEVELAND (AP) -- In a campaign stop for a nominee for U.S. Senate, Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that Democrats may be vulnerable in the summer but voters will look at contrasts in the fall. "This is not about the next election," Biden told about 200 people at a fundraising lunch for Democrat Lee Fisher at the Great Lakes Science Center. "This is about the next generation." Biden, noting the science center overlooking Lake Erie, also said "Republicans don't believe in science. Read more: http://www.gopusa.com/news/2010/06/biden-republicans-dont-believe-in-science.php#ixzz0sS4zy5fT

The National Republican Senatorial Committee succeeded in winning attention for its candidate Rob Portman today by busting through the clutter of Internet ads that rarely deserve notice. It did so by blaming Portman's Democratic opponent, Ohio Lt. Governor Lee Fisher, for the state's job losses and high unemployment rate. Like Portman, the ad mocks Fisher, who headed the state's development department before entering the U.S. Senate race, as Ohio's "job czar." But that message is totally secondary to the visuals. The ad manipulates an image of a sleepy and shirtless Fisher – seated in his home office with one arm...