Stephen Koff at The Plain Dealer has the ugly details (or at least what we know so far):

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a candidate for U.S. Senate, tried appealing to small donors in the last quarter of 2009, and they came through for her. Donations of less than $200 comprised more than half her total take for the quarter, according to figures from the Federal Election Commission.

That doesn’t mean the underdog strategy worked, however.

Brunner ended the year with just $60,860 in the bank. In fact, she spent more — $143,634 in the last quarter — than she took in. Full records are not yet publicly available so it cannot be immediately determined what she’s spending money on.

Say it with me folks:

Jobs continue to be one of the main topics of conversation in Washington. API’s President and CEO Jack Gerard explains the oil and natural gas industry’s potential as a jobs creator:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And I can only say amen to this:

The U.S. oil and natural gas industry could help to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs if it were given the opportunity–with no handouts and no stimulus. It just needs a sensible energy and tax policy that encourages domestic energy production.

U.S. Senate candidate and Lt. Governor Lee Fisher has lost his campaign manager just as he heads into the most important phase of the campaign against Democratic rival and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

It’s unclear why Geri Prado, a top manager with Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign before joining Fisher about 10 months, is not longer leading Fisher’s team.

Methinks the leftists base will bang their high chairs even louder for Jennifer Brunner to be the Democratic nominee.

UPDATE:

DDN has more details:

Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher is getting a new campaign manager for his U.S. Senate race, John Collins, campaign spokesman, announced on Wednesday, Feb. 3.

Geri Prado, who had been a top political adviser in Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign before joining Fisher’s campaign, is out.

Jay Howser, who has worked most recently with Democratic Sens. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana is in as campaign manager, the campaign said.

Chris Dodd?  The Senator so corrupt and unpopular that he is retiring? Nice. And Mary Landrieu just screams competence, right? Sheesh.

Despite seeing mixed results, Columbus City Schools shouldn’t give up on merit-pay bonuses for teachers.

The question of whether merit pay can lead all teachers and students to better results is too complex to be answered by a few years’ worth of data at only a few grade levels.

Moreover, even without statistical proof that merit pay lifts entire schools, it undoubtedly is true that teachers whose students improve more than others are bringing the most value to the enterprise of teaching, and so giving them extra reward is both fair and smart.

It’s fair, because teaching should be no different from other professions, in which measurably better results yield greater compensation. And smart, because recognition can attract and keep talented people in the classroom.

Columbus school officials and teachers deserve credit for being willing to try merit pay in a variety of pilot programs. Most teachers unions doggedly oppose merit pay, saying it will lead to “unhealthy competition” and that principals can’t be trusted to award it fairly.

As Sally Oldham, the Columbus Education Association’s vice president, can attest, sister unions have criticized Columbus teachers for being willing to bend on the traditional insistence that teacher pay be determined by their years of experience and level of education

There is near universal complaints about teacher pay and yet very little discussion of why salary should not be connected to results. The public for the most part just fails to see that unions protect the bottom at the expense of the top. They make it unattractive to be a teacher by making those interested in the subject but not in multicultural and psychological mumbo jumbo jump through a bunch of licensure hoops and sit through attrocious curriculum in college.

The system is set up to reward mediocrity when combined with longevity. It discourages passion and creativity.  This is not a recipe for high pay and excellence.

Anything that can be done to reduce the power of the unions and move toward merit and skill rather than mere tenure and credentials is to be applauded.

Via Jonah at the Corner

Source.

Warren County commissioner Mike Kilburn is expected to file petitions today, Jan. 20 to challenge U.S. House Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Miami Twp. in the May Republican primary.

Kilburn, a commissioner for 28 years, said it’s time for a more conservative approach in the 2nd Congressional District, which covers eastern Warren County and a large portion of several other southern Ohio counties.

Kilburn said he will file his petitions at the Hamilton County Board of Elections, the county with the largest population in the 2nd Congressional District. The primary will be held May 4.

I am not familiar with Kilburn. Anyone have strong opinions on how this will, or should, play out?

Gubernatorial Race

Kasich 42.5

Strickland 32.6

Other 7.8

Not Sure 17.2

Governor Strickland’s Job Approval Rating

Excellent 6.3

Good 24.6

Fair 38.2

Poor 27

Not Sure 4

U.S. Senate Race

Portman 36.9

Fisher 30.7

Other 8.8

Not Sure 23.7

—

Portman 40.4

Brunner 34.5

Other 6.4

Not Sure 18.8

The survey was conducted by  Wenzel Strategies January 8-12 and included 1001 Ohio registered voters contacted by phone. The poll carries a 95% confidence interval and a margin of error of +/- 3.07 percentage points.

More details here.

Image via Wikipedia

For those of you not on Twitter, where this link has been making the rounds, some interesting polling on the Dreihaus-Chabot re-match:

A new SurveyUSA poll sponsored by Firedoglake shows incumbent Democrat Steve Driehaus substantially behind former Republican Congressman Steve Chabot in Ohio’s 1st congressional district. If the election were held today, Chabot would beat Driehaus in a head-to-head match up, 56% to 39%.

The 2010 election will be a rematch of the last cycle. In 2008, Driehaus managed to unseat Chabot, who had represented the 1st district for over a decade, by 52.5% to 47.5%. Given Chabot’s long political history in the district it should be safe to assume that both candidates have high name recognition. The race is currently rated a toss up by the Cook Political Report.

And can you say “ha-ha”?

Do you approve or disapprove of the job Barack Obama is doing as President?

Approve 42%
Disapprove 55%
Not Sure 3%

My, my how things can change in so short a period of time …

Of course, there is a long way to go until election day but you can’t tell me Democrats can’t feel the ground moving underneath them.

As I said in the previous post, I think she is a great addition and this is a top notch ticket to lead Ohio in 2010.

Click here to view the embedded video.