Democrats

The AFL-CIO's election effort in Ohio is deeper than ever, but the federation is working to expand the breadth of its appeal by reaching out to non-union members this year.  

The AFL-CIO and its community affiliate Working America combined have 2.1 million members in Ohio, according to AFL-CIO Ohio state director Ben Waxman. Working America has 165 full-time canvassers knocking on non-union doors throughout the state. The effort to recruit those outside labor's official ranks is focuses on discussing issues such as health care costs and retirement security first, then linking those issues to political activism and voting.

Waxman said there's synergy between organized labor's message and non-union voters' concerns.

The Statesman Journal is reporting that of the 10 ballot initiatives looking to be added by the voters, nine of them are sponsored by Republican interests.

Obama makes official what we've known all along: he breaks his pledge to use only public money to finance his campaign. And the Inside Edge gets GOP's Chairman Dick Wadhams' response.

Joseph Vas, who won just 39% of the vote last month in his bid for re-election to a sixth term as Mayor of Perth Amboy, was elected Democratic Municipal Chairman last night. Vas, a two-term Assemblyman, defeated Jim Nanton, 35-6. Ray Geneske, the longtime Democratic Chairman and a staunch Vas ally, did not seek re-election.

U.S. Senator Kerry’s stock has dropped a few notches since his last keynote at the national convention in Boston, but the Inland Northwest will be the beneficiary of his fading star. We look forward to stiff delivery, bad jokes and painful repetition of lines that only sound good when Obama says them.

U.S. Rep. Vito Fossella: Getty Images PhotoWhen New York Rep. Vito Fossella, the last Republican to hold a seat that touches any part of New York City, was arrested for driving while intoxicated three weeks ago and admitted an extramarital affair that had continued for a number of years, House Republicans expressed dismay at their party's fortunes. It meant another marginal seat -- a district that voted once for President Bush and once for Al Gore -- could be in jeopardy.

Doug Bruce has been vilified this term by both Democrats and Republicans. And with a new compromise measure that threatens to scrap much of TABOR in return for concessions on Amendment 23, some insiders are guessing much of the hostilty towards Bruce from the right side of the aisle was aimed at helping passage of the measure. Either way TABOR supporters are promising a fight to retain the TABOR spending restrictions.  

The Democrats are the first of this political season to launch a Web ad. Their ad shows the Republican Gov. Jim Douglas waffling and being evasive to reporters' questions during a recent press conference. The tag line is that the governor is devoid of leadership on key issues.

We have learned that the Democratic Party has been openly taping the governor press conferences. They are building a sizable video library of the governor. Some insiders are quick to point out that the Web ad is heavily spliced and don't show any context to the questions being asked. And while the ad by many insiders we have talked with from all three parties say it was not likely to do much damage. The bigger question is will the governor's team respond or just ignore the ad.