Sherrod Brown

Strickland and Brown at a press conference Monday: Politicker PhotoCOLUMBUS - Ohio's most senior Democrats told PolitickerOH.com that Barack Obama is closing the deal with Ohio voters, helping clear the obstacle of race that may have held him back in previous months.

"First of all I think he has a message that resonates with the people of Ohio, and that's an economic message," Gov. Ted Strickland said. "I think it will be close but in the end Ohio will support Barack and i think Barack Obama will be the next president."

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Gov. Ted Strickland slammed John McCain’s campaign tactics, and defended Barack Obama, calling McCain “erratic” in a press conference Monday at the Ohio statehouse. The governor took aim at GOP campaign tactics to tie Obama with 1960s radical Bill Ayres. “I don’t give a damn about Bill Ayres but I do care about the people of Ohio and the people who need leadership that will be concerned about them and their problems,” Strickland said.

John McCain's presidential campaign tried to rebutt a major Democratic press conference this morning that will denounce Republican campaign messages and legal challenges regarding voter registration.

The press conference will be held by Democrats Gov. Ted Strickland, Sen. Sherrod Brown and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman at the Statehouse.

McCain spokesman Paul Lindsay asks the three in a press release what part of an automated phone message tying acquitted domestic terrorist Bill Ayres to Barack Obama is incorrect.

Lindsay said more money has been spent by Obama on negative ads than has been spent by McCain: more than 81,000 negative ads have been aired by Obama at a total cost of more than $41 million, or $15 million more than McCain's negative ads and $13 million more than Obama's own positive ads.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Lorain) announced Friday over $258 million in federal funds slated to come to Ohio to help with the foreclosure problem throughout the state.

The funds have been awarded as a result of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which was signed into law in July 2008.

The announcement comes as the foreclosure problem leaked into credit markets, leading the Bush administration to call for a $700 billion bailout of financial institutions. The bailout is currently being negotiated and debated by Congress.

Brown said that the funds are coming to Ohio to help rebuild neightborhoods "devestated by foreclosure."

U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Lorain) and George Voinovich (R-Cleveland) gave their thoughts on the proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial sector working its way through Congress.

In a conference call with reporters yesterday, Brown said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will not receive a blank check. The Bush administration’s proposal said that Paulson’s decisions would be “non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”

"We need more accountability than that,” Brown said.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Lorain) will appear with state Sen. John Boccieri (D-Alliance) at a "Farmer's Forum" in Wayne County with the National Farmers Union on Saturday.

Brown and Boccieri will discuss current issues facing farmers with representatives from grain, livestock, dairy and a wide range of other agricultural industries.

Boccieri currently serves on the Agriculture Committee in the Ohio Senate, while Brown sits on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry in Washington.

The event will take place at Summerhill Farm.

The Ohio Republican Party is accusing several prominent Democrats campaigning for Barack Obama, including Gov. Ted Strickland, of insulting Ohio voters by calling them racists. ORP deputy chair Kevin DeWine held a conference call with reporters today to call out Strickland, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Lorain) and state Treasurer Richard Cordray (D-Pleasant Twp.) for a “disturbing pattern...of smearing Ohio voters as racist.” Two weeks ago Strickland told Piketon voters that some people will not vote for Obama because he’s black. "There are good people who won't vote for Obama because he's a black man," Strickland said.

Sherrod Brown and Nancy Garland: Politicker PhotoGAHANNA - U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Lorain) drew volunteers, fired them up and sent them out yesterday on behalf of state House candidate Nancy Garland (D-New Albany).

About 100 people attended the indoor rally and then canvassed in Gahanna, the state House district's population center northeast of Columbus. Brown told them that thanks to their help in 2006 and today, a new Democratic era of American politics will be created.

"Historians will probably look at 1980 that a conservative era began in this country, but they will look at 2006 as the year that the conservative era ended in this country," he said.

Strategic Vision, a Republican polling firm, shows Gov. Ted Strickland with a 60 percent approval rating, which is about where he's stood throughout the summer in polls.

An Aug. 20 Rasmussen poll showed Strickland's approval rating at 42 percent while a Quinnipiac poll last month had him at 60 percent. This is nearly identical to Strickland's 61 percent approval rating in the Ohio Poll taken in June by the University of Cincinnati. 

Ohio's U.S. Senators are also popular. George Voinovich (R-Cleveland) has a 53 percent approval rating and Sherrod Brown (D-Lorain) has a 55 percent approval rating. 

DENVER - Ohio Democratic leaders Gov. Ted Strickland and Sen. Sherrod Brown celebrated the life and legacy of U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones on the last day of the Democratic National Convention.

"Stephanie would be so proud if she could look upon this gathering this morning and heard the words, and we hope she did," Strickland said. "She was a remarkable woman."

Strickland praised Tubbs Jones for standing by her principles and standing by her friends.

He said he remembered the last conversation he had with Tubbs Jones, during which she gave him a hug, kissed him on the cheek and told him she loved him.

"That's a wonderful memory I have," Strickland said, making the point that sometimes people don't take advantage of every opportunity they have to tell others how they feel.