abortion

A radio ad playing during "The Rush Limbaugh Show" is tying 7th Congressional District candidate Sharen Neuhardt (D) to Barack Obama on abortion.

Made by National Right to Life's political action committee, the ad says Obama and Neuhardt "support abortion on demand for any reason."

Congressional candidate Steve Austria (R) and John McCain "voted to end partial-birth abortion." The ad asks people to vote for the "pro-life team" of McCain for president and Austria for Congress.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Barack Obama’s words are being used against him in a new ad by Ohio Right to Life that will air statewide in the next week. The new 30-second spot by the group’s political action committee first features Obama saying “Don’t tell me words don’t matter” then turns to part of his answer at the Saddleback forum in August where he said answering when a person’s human rights begin is “above my pay grade.”

EMILY's List, a group that supports aboriton rights and pro-choice female Democrats, is purchasing $13,000 in direct mail for the 15th Congressional District race.

Federal Election Commission reports show the group purchased the mail yesterday but shows no money spent for the other female Democratic candidate in a tight U.S. House race: Dr. Victoria Wulsin in the 2nd Congressional District. 

Abortion became a subject for the talking heads when news broke that U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) might go with a pro-choice running mate.

In reality, however, Mainers are much more concerned with energy costs and the economy, sources say.

Palin is pro-life, and chose to have a disabled child, making it a hard point for the Democrats to drive home.

Ohio Democratic Party superdelegate and committee member Enid Goubeaux was shocked at the news of Sarah Palin becoming John McCain's vice presidential choice when reached by PolitickerOH.com.

"Did he really do this? I heard the rumor," she said. "I'm very surprised at the choice. In the first place, what I know about Governor Palin is that she has very extreme views. I see hardly the person I would have selected if i were a 72-year-old candidate to succeed me as president of the United States."

Goubeaux said she didn't think Hillary Clinton primary voters would be swayed to the Republicans with Palin on the ticket.

"Any Hillary voters that are going to be swayed are going to be swayed to McCain until they really finds out wha this record is," she said. "Mrs. Palin is savagely anti-choice."

Democratic Catholic activists who've worked in Ohio are thrilled to have one of their own on a national ticket again.

U.S. Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) has received rave reviews from two people who work to get Democrats' message out to Catholic voters.

Mara Vanderslice worked for Gov. Ted Strickland's 2006 campaign and currently heads the Matthew 25 political action committee. Vanderslice said Biden can make the case to voters less from specific issues in a speech and more from the fact that he can vouch for Obama as a member of the same community as voters in areas like Youngstown, Toledo and Steubenville.

"For me he brings a working-class cultural background, growing up in Scranton and working-class areas in Delaware. I feel like he takes his Catholic faith very seriously. I think that he will culturally connect to the kinds of voters Obama needs to win," she said.

American Right to Life attempted to set a new Guinness record by unfurling the world's largest protest sign in the mountains to the west of Denver.

An ad airing only in the Dayton media market by a political action committee accuses Barack Obama of supporting infanticide.

The ad, airing for an unknown time, has been purchased by the "Black Republican PAC."

As PolitickerOH.com reported last week, independent expenditure groups such as this PAC, but also the GOP and John McCain's presidential campaign are attacking Obama as an extremist on abortion.

What about Tim Pawlenty for vice president?

The question was put to social conservative activists and organizers across Ohio about the two-term Republican governor of Minnesota, who'll visit the state Monday to campaign for John McCain, and has been mentioned as a vice presidential pick for the presumptive Republican nominee. The activists help turnout "values voters" who decide how to vote based on social issues, and make up about one-third of Republican votes in Ohio, according to the state party.

Pawlenty is vaguely known among activists but was generally taken to be a genuine social conservative, which the same people said Mitt Romney was not because of his previous position support for abortion rights years ago. Both men are said to be finalists in McCain's vice presidential search. Still, the activists emphasized Pawlenty's record is more important than anything he may say to them personally.

GOP presidential candidate John McCain campaigns in New Jersey last February with Sen. Joe Lieberman: Getty Images Photo
Two pro-choice names floated as potential vice-president picks for presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain have caused a lot of grumbling among conservatives nationwide, but some of the most ardently pro-life members of the delegation representing New Jersey at next month's Republican National Convention were circumspect on the prospects.

While McCain has pledged to run a "pro-life administration" if elected, his campaign has floated trial balloons about U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and former Pennsylvania Governor and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Thomas Ridge as possible Veep picks, both of whom are pro-choice.

While some pro-life delegation members would prefer to see a fully anti-abortion ticket, none were committed to casting a protest vote against a pro-choice McCain pick.  Still, some of them cautiously suggested that McCain would be wise not to alienate the socially conservative wing of the party, including the evangelical voters who he's had trouble courting in the past.

"I don't from a tactical standpoint see the gain other than maybe he's trying to reach moderate Democrat voters and take them from Barack by putting Lieberman there," said Assemblywoman Allison Littell McHose (R-Franklin), a delegate who sits on the convention's platform committee.    "But I think when you have a Republican base that would probably not traditionally vote for a guy like Lieberman, I don't know why McCain would need to do that."