Democratic Party

John McCain, the Ohio Republican Party and social-conservative groups all say they will use the issue of abortion to rally conservatives to support McCain’s presidential bid in Ohio.

By arguing that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is a radical on the other side of the issue and that his election would set back the pro-life movement 30 years, the campaign and independent groups hope to engage “values voters” who have not yet been a major force in this campaign.

The ORP estimates that “values voters” constitute one-third of its supporters and believes that abortion is critical to bringing together and energizing they and many other conservative voters.

The strategy of targeting Obama on abortion was made plain by McCain himself two months ago during a campaign visit to Ohio.

With three months until Election Day, the Ohio Democratic Party doesn't have an official effort to court uncommitted religious and values voters, despite receiving proposals last year from three veteran Democratic operatives.

The party has caucuses and outreach programs for various constituencies, including women, veterans, families, Jews, Asian-Americans, but not for Christians specifically.

Republicans hired staffers last week to do outreach among religious constituencies.

In an interview with PolitickerOH.com, state Rep. Armond Budish (D-Beachwood) said he returned a $5,000 contribution to former attorney general Marc Dann after Dann contributed that same amount of money to Budish’s campaign this year.

Budish’s claim comes contrary to another report that said Budish simply donated money to Dann five days after the attorney general admitted an affair with his scheduler.

Secretary of State contributions data corroborates Budish’s story: the Dann for Ohio Committee donated $5,000 to the Friends of Armond Budish Committee on Jan. 30, 2008.

Budish said he wasted no time in expunging Dann’s money from his campaign account.

“I returned his contribution the moment that I knew the facts that had been raised in his circumstance,” Budish said.

State Rep. Ted Celeste (D-Grandview Heights) spoke briefly to PolitickerOH.com about the House leadership race he's involved in with state Rep. Armond Budish (D-Beachwood).

Two weeks ago, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Chris Redfern publically endorsed Budish for caucus leader, which led to Franklin Co. Democratic Party Chair Bill Anthony to repudiate Redfern in a public statement.

Celeste was asked what he thought about Redfern's power play inside the leadership race.

"You know, Chris is the chairman of the party. He's trying to do whatever he can to raise as much money, and he's going to focus on that and that's his role. But he's not going to be a member of our caucus when we vote, and that's the reality of the situation. I feel like it was inappropriate for him to be making that comment about ‘this is a done deal' because it's not a done deal until we take a vote," Celeste said.

Celeste said he expects the party to focus on winning the election over the next few months.

City councilman Kevin Boyce: Columbus City CouncilFranklin County Democratic Party Chair Bill Anthony is throwing his support behind Columbus City Councilman Kevin Boyce to become Ohio's next treasurer.

In an interview with PolitickerOH.com, Anthony said he spoke to Boyce today and that Boyce said he's interested in an appointment to become treasurer, which would become available if state Treasurer Richard Cordray (D-Grove City) is elected as attorney general. Anthony said that Boyce has spoke to Gov. Ted Strickland about an appointment.

"Kevin has what it takes to move on up," Anthony said. "I think Kevin would be a great choice."

In what can only be described as an rare public fight, Franklin County's Democratic chair Bill Anthony sent a press release explaining his dismay over Ohio Democratic Party chair Chris Redfern's endorsement in House Democrats' race for leader.

Yesterday, Redfern endorsed state Rep. Armond Budish (D-Beachwood) to replace state Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Columbus) as his party's leader in the House. Redfern, who will be leaving the House next year due to term limits, has caused a row inside the Democratic Party. 

Anthony said in a statement that Redfern's hand-picked choice for House leader in 2006, state Rep. Todd Book (D-Portsmouth) was wrong then and so is his pick this year.

"These are the same people that got the leadership vote wrong two years ago and they are wrong today," Anthony said. "We are still four seats away from winning the majority and we need a united party to win as many seats as possible. The Republicans will not go quietly.”

Anthony said Redfern should not involve himself in the leadership race.

"I think it is in the best interest of the Democratic Party to have those Representatives elected in November make the leadership decision for the House caucus," he said.

Burner's house burned, Rossi's billboards revealed and Dicks' district disses. Here are the Winners & Losers for July 11, 2008.

The top two lawyers threaten that the litigation isn’t over; while the state is moving forward with the top-two primary as planned. If this keeps up, only the top two voters will actually turn out.

State Sen. Steve Stivers (R-Columbus) campaign responded to the Ohio Democratic Party's FEC complaint today.

Campaign Manager Mike Hartley said the party is resorting to desperate measures because it knows Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus) can't beat Stivers.

"We are confident the campaign has not violated any FEC law. This is a tactic that has been used by losing campaigns for years.  They make an allegation knowing that the FEC will most likely not rule on the complaint for months. They used this tactic against Deborah Pryce in 2006 and they are continuing their smear campaign against us this year.

"This shows that the Ohio Democratic Party know that Kilroy cannot win a campaign on the issues, so they have to resort to negative politics.  They know full well this complaint has no merit and will be dismissed."

Ohio Bankers League PAC Treasurer Jeffrey Quayle responded to the Democratic Party's FEC complaint against OBL today.

"We believe the complaint filed with the Federal Elections Commission from the Ohio Democratic Party is without merit. This event was always intended as a PAC event and as such, is clearly permitted under federal law. The Stivers campaign is paying for all of the expenses related to the event, which will be fully disclosed in FEC filings," Qualye said.

The party argues that OBL violated federal statues prohibiting corporations from acting as conduits for earmarked contributions to candidates. OBL solicited contributions payable to Stivers’ campaign and then asked the contributions to be mailed to a member of the League’s political action committee.