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I am sure you are tickled pink that Sherrod Brown will still be with us, no? Isn't he one of your favorites :)

I caught Sherrod getting a Monica from one of my news reporters in my Radio Station Van, if that is what you mean. It was what you call your Eye Witness News event. Or as my Program Director said, as a news person, she sucks and she did. I am pretty certain she did not get an exclusive. Sherrod is a real mommies boy from Mansfield Ohio who has a lot of ambition and is a fan of everything Kennedy.

My personal opinion is that Ohio in the next congress will have 2 fewer Democrats and one more Republican. The Democrats lose one seat by redistricting. No incumbant Republican is in danger of going down in defeat. They carved up Trafficant so he is redistricting toast. And the Hall district may very well change hands. All the other Republicans and Democrat seats are pretty secure.

The one major change in Ohio in the last 10 years is Columbus is now a Democratic town. Most Ohio population centers including Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo are Democrat towns. It used to be that Columbus and Cincinnati could almost balance Cleveland and Toledo... but no more.

Gore came within 3 points of winning Ohio. I think Gore's decision to drop out of Ohio 3 weeks before the election cost him the presidency more than Florida did.

But Dickie Gephardt is not going to be speaker. The Gerrymandering is not what it used to be, but the net result is a Republican advantage this cycle. They will hold the house.

I figured out who the perp was when you mentioned it a few months ago, but refused to reveal the name. That is why I flagged you. :)

You might be right about the Columbus metro area (I am not sure, but certainly the GOP numbers in Franklin County have deteriorated), but the eroding GOP margins in Cinnanati (Hamilton County) are misleading because the suburban counties are filling up with people (Warren, Butler and Clermont Counties), and very heavily GOP. The metro Cincinnati area is as GOP as ever (although a bit of it spills over into Indiana now, as well as of course Kentucky. But yes, Bush was saved in Ohio by a splendid showing in rural counties, particularly in the Butternut area, where he improved over Dole by about 16%. Also, my vague impression is that Dem margins in the Cleveland metro area have stagnated.

Isn't Columbus John Kasich country?

As for Toledo, the history behind that was that Michigan and Ohio fought a small war over Toledo. We won that war and Ohio was forced to keep Toledo..:D.

oh boy... now THEY know... a comentator in DAYTON area working for an eyewitness news channel...

The one major change in Ohio in the last 10 years is Columbus is now a Democratic town. Most Ohio population centers including Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo are Democrat towns. It used to be that Columbus and Cincinnati could almost balance Cleveland and Toledo... but no more.
Gore came within 3 points of winning Ohio. I think Gore's decision to drop out of Ohio 3 weeks before the election cost him the presidency more than Florida did.

But Dickie Gephardt is not going to be speaker. The Gerrymandering is not what it used to be, but the net result is a Republican advantage this cycle. They will hold the house.

Though likely not as much as his losses in AlGore's home state, county, and precinct, which if he had won would have made a victory in Florida unneeded by him. Those of us who worked particularly hard to see that happen, though many were not Republicans and no particular fans of George Bush, knew the damage that Gore would cause if elected would be at least as bad, and probably worse, than the results of a Bush victory.

Our initial hope was to see Gore suffer enough of a humiliating defeat in his home state that it would lessen his momentum in the West Coast voting still going on as the Tennessee results were announced. The Florida close call was not a situation that had been expected, but the damage done to Gore's political currency in his home state may at least also help to forestall any serious thought of running him as a candidate again.

But you're certainly right about Ohio's electoral votes being a critical factor- just as they were in 1948 when it was the final recount of votes from that state that put Truman over the top in his close-call race against Thomas Dewey, which the Chicago Tribune, among others, called the wrong way.

-archy-/-