Space has gotten away with weak opposition for two cycles in a row, and though GOP state Sen. Bob Gibbs is an improvement, he isn’t Republicans’ ideal candidate. Still, even after Space has leveraged his huge cash advantage to soften up Gibbs on his legislative record during the Taft years, we haven’t seen numbers move in Space’s direction. That’s understandable given this district’s serious Republican lean and Space’s votes with Democratic leadership. Internal polling on both sides has shown Space ahead by single digits but well under 50 percent, and in this climate, that’s not enough of an advantage to justify keeping this race in the Lean Democratic column. Welcome to another district where the NRCC may not even be investing in the race, but the GOP candidate will be competitive anyway.

This confirms what the Politico said earlier this week. If you care to listen, Gibbs will be on Cleveland-native Hugh Hewitt’s radio show on Salem channels tonight around 8:20pm.

Health insurers say they plan to raise premiums for some Americans as a direct result of the health overhaul in coming weeks, complicating Democrats’ efforts to trumpet their signature achievement before the midterm elections.

Aetna Inc., some BlueCross BlueShield plans and other smaller carriers have asked for premium increases of between 1% and 9% to pay for extra benefits required under the law, according to filings with state regulators.

These and other insurers say Congress’s landmark refashioning of U.S. health coverage, which passed in March after a brutal fight, is causing them to pass on more costs to consumers than Democrats predicted.

The rate increases largely apply to policies for individuals and small businesses and don’t include people covered by a big employer or Medicare.

About 9% of Americans buy coverage through the individual market, according to the Census Bureau, and roughly one-fifth of people who get coverage through their employer work at companies with 50 or fewer employees, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. People in both groups are likely to feel the effects of the proposed increases, even as they see new benefits under the law, such as the elimination of lifetime and certain annual coverage caps.

Many carriers also are seeking additional rate increases that they say they need to cover rising medical costs. As a result, some consumers could face total premium increases of more than 20%.

While the increases apply mostly to the new policies insurers write after Oct. 1, consumers could be subject to the higher rates if they modify their existing plans and cause them to lose grandfathered status.

The rate increases are a dose of troubling news for Democrats just weeks before an election in which they are at risk of losing their majority in the House and possibly the Senate.

But apparently, in their first TV ad she had no problem signing off on discrimination against Asians.

30 seconds isn’t much time to convey a message, and consultants earn handsome salaries developing carefully crafted ads. Am I being too sensitive, or is Lee Fisher sending a clear signal to voters that if you look like the man or woman in this scene, he DOESN’T want you to have a job?

Spend any time with an Ohio politician running for office this year and you’ll hear one common theme: Jobs.

The hard-working people of Ohio deserve jobs, they all say.

Ohio Treasurer Kevin Boyce is no different. On many of the platforms available to him — his state website, his campaign literature, a YouTube video, Twitter — Boyce is talking about the jobs his office has supported.

“Our most important work has been creating and retaining almost 55,000 Ohio jobs,” he told supporters in an Aug. 19 e-mail.[...]

When Ohio voters, some of whom are out of work, hear a candidate like Boyce take credit for bringing in new jobs and keeping existing jobs in their state, we doubt the concepts of indirect jobs and “person-years” enter their mind. His calculations give voters the wrong impression.

Further, the significance of Boyce’s role in many of the job-creating state programs is questionable. While the bonds his office sells help fund the program, Boyce has no say in how those programs are run. He is more of a rubber stamp.

We find significant exaggerations and mistakes in Boyce’s statement.

* To begin with, we think it’s a big leap for someone in his position to take credit for the job creation.

* It’s a major stretch to include in the indirect jobs.

* His methodology is suspect because many of the actual jobs would only be counted for one year.

In addition, Boyce’s statement in the YouTube video is not accurate; the time frame is incorrect. He meant to frame his accomplishment from January 2009 to the present, not “in the past year.” The evidence his office provided to support his claim dates back to January 2009, when he took office. Boyce’s campaign literature and Twitter feed also reference the longer time frame.

Strike a match. We rate the statement Pants on Fire.

Treasurer Boyce does occassionally create jobs, but to get them you must be a major investment bank who donates to his campaign, the offspring of Pari Sabety, or be physically present for his job announcements at local mosques.