Write it down - Ohio is going Hillary's way

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Sunday, January 13, 2008
Thomas Suddes
Plain Dealer Columnist

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/thomas_suddes/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1200130439212380.xml&coll=2

To carry Ohio in November, Sen. Hillary Clinton has to carry Appalachian Ohio, or at least some of it. That's where her fellow Democrat, Gov. Ted Strickland, could come in.

Make no mistake. Consistency may be the last refuge of the unimaginative, or of those who refuse to cover their bets. But Clinton will be Democrats' presidential nominee. For one thing, she's the best-engineered robot in the android army running for the White House. But the real clincher is that Clinton is the Establishment candidate: The Clintons are good for business. The day after New Hampshire, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose. The Dow is the poll that counts.

Yes, the Barack Obama campaign is alive and kicking, nationally and in Ohio. And in Ohio, the Obama-Clinton split could sharpen the political tension between Strickland and Ohio's black Democrats. But that's pre-convention deal-making.

If Ohio is a "swing" state, it swings only in the be-bop sense. Ohio is indeed closely contested, but it leans Republican. More precisely, Ohio goes with winners. For 152 years, since before the Civil War, Ohio failed to side with White House winners only four times, in 1884, 1892, 1944 and 1960. So, in that sense, broadcast cue cards aside, sure, Mrs. Clinton would want to carry Ohio, whether she "needs to" or not. John Kennedy, Grover Cleveland and (in 1944) Franklin Roosevelt didn't "need to."...



Elizabeth Auster: Tubbs Jones is no Obama girl

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/elizabeth_auster/index.ssf?/base/opinion-0/1200130585212380.xml&coll=2

Tubbs Jones is no Obama girl
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Elizabeth Auster
Plain Dealer Columnist

Stephanie Tubbs Jones under stands that some people might wonder why a black congresswoman who represents a predominantly black district isn't supporting the first black candidate in U.S. history who has a chance of winning the presidency.

She knows that some people aren't just wondering, either. They're thinking she's made a choice that puts her on the wrong side of history.

But if the 58-year-old Cleveland Democrat is having second thoughts about her decision to back Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama, she isn't showing it.

On the contrary, as a national co-chair of Clinton's campaign, Tubbs Jones is not only talking up the virtues of her own candidate. She is taking aim directly at Obama -- trying to puncture the halo that has gathered around him in recent weeks as his soaring oratory and magnetic personality have altered the landscape of America's racial politics...


Giuliani wins straw poll at Northeast Ohio GOP conference

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1200216792105730.xml&coll=2

Sunday, January 13, 2008
Janet Okoben
Plain Dealer Reporter

Take heart, Rudy Giuliani. You may have had trouble placing better than fourth in the New Hampshire presidential primary and the Iowa caucuses, but a small yet well-connected group of Ohio Republicans gave you a boost on Saturday.

Giuliani captured 40 percent of the vote, winning a straw poll at a leadership conference for the Western Reserve Women's Republican Club and the Republican Party of Cuyahoga County.

Forty percent of the vote meant 41 out of 103 votes cast -- but it's still a victory, right?
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Giuliani finished ahead of Arizona Sen. John McCain, who received 30 votes, or 29 percent...



Cuyahoga elections director Platten racing toward March primary

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1200216635105730.xml&coll=2

Sunday, January 13, 2008
Joe Guillen
Plain Dealer Reporter

The March 4 presidential primary is seven weeks away, and Cuyahoga County Board of Elections Director Jane Platten still has hundreds of tasks to check off her to-do list.

Even with twice as much time, the list would seem daunting. The elections board must:

Agree on a contract for a new voting system.

Choose a company to educate voters on the new system...