Division I regional track finals
Fenwick graduation 2012
Ponitz graduation 2012
Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2008 > November > 12
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Senate Democrats name new leadership team
Ohio Senate Democrats on Wednesday, Nov. 12, picked state Sen. Capri Cafaro of Warren as their new leader, passing over state Sen. Tom Roberts, D-Dayton.
“I would have loved to have done it but we wanted to be united in our caucus,” Roberts said.
Joining Cafaro on the leadership team will be Shirley Smith of Cleveland as assistant leader, Ray Miller of Columbus as minority whip and Jason Wilson of Bridgeport as assistant minority whip.
The Democrats hold 12 of 33 seat in the Ohio Senate.
Next week, the Senate Republicans will fill two holes created by the resignations of state Sens. Jeff Jacobson, R-Butler Twp., and Bob Spada, R-North Royalton.
State Rep. Tom Patton, R-Strongsville, who won Spada’s seat, will be sworn in and begin serving in the Senate during the upcoming lame duck session. Kettering City Councilwoman Peggy Lehner, who will succeed Jon Husted in the Ohio House beginning in January, will fill Jacobson’s seat for the last few weeks of the current legislative session before moving over to the House.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
GOP leaders clash over Ohio House election results
Kevin DeWine, deputy chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, and state Rep. William Batchelder, R-Medina, who wants to be House minority leader, sharply disagree about one reason why Republicans lost control of the Ohio House in the Nov. 4 election.
Last week DeWine, also a state representative from Fairborn, cited a House Republic “caucus civil war” involving Batchelder and Rep. Matt Dolan, R-Novelty, as one reason the GOP lost control. Batchelder and Dolan both aspired to be Speaker but after the election Dolan said he would not seek the minority leader post.
Batchelder still is seeking the minority leader post and said on Tuesday, Nov. 11, that the decision by the caucus is expected to be made on Thursday, Nov. 13.
DeWine told reporters last week that the “civil war” “served to distract the staff, the candidates and the members from doing the task at hand.”
“They were more interested in many instances in trying to figure out their position on the totem poll and who they were best friends with than they were trying to put the resources and time and effort into electing as many Republican candidates as possible,” DeWine said.
Batchelder countered:
“I thought that was really out to lunch
“…Quite the contrary, I think we had people out there working who otherwise wouldn’t have been involved. We need to spread the responsibility for the campaign throughout the caucus.”
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Will economy improve under Obama?
Democrat Barack Obama made “Yes, we can” his campaign slogan but nobody knows for sure whether Obama or anybody else can turn around the bad economy, called by some the worst since the Great Depression.
A Quinnipiac University Poll released today, Nov. 12, however, found that voters by a 70-11 margin expect the economy to be better by the end of Obama’s first term as president in 2012.
The problems, however, are staggering - banks still are in trouble, the domestic auto industry is on the verge of bankruptcy and unemployment, particularly in states like Ohio, is climbing.
Still, Americans are optimistic people who often have voted for presidential candidates who promise brighter days ahead, including Republican Ronald Reagan and now Obama.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment |
New poll: Voters believe economy will improve under Obama
Democrat Barack Obama’s campaign slogan was “Yes, we can” and a new national poll finds that voters seem to believe him when it comes to improving the economy.
The Quinnipiac University poll, released today, Nov. 12, found that by a 70-11 percent margin voters expect the economy to get better in Obama’s first term, which won’t start until he and vice president-elect Joe Biden are inaugurated on Jan. 20.
The poll also found, however, that voters - by a 54-34 percent margin - don’t expect Obama to cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans as he promised during the campaign.
Also, 28 percent said Obama would be a great president, while 34 percent said he would be a good president, 14 percent said he would be so-so and 8 percent said he would be a bad president.
“Americans have exceptionally high hopes for President-elect Obama,” Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a press release.
For full poll results, click here.
The stumbling economy clearly was on voters’ minds in the poll. When asked an open-ended question on what was the single most important problem facing the nation, 68 percent identified the economy or related issues such as unemployment. No other issue got in the double digits.
Obama will become the nation’s first black president and 69 percent said they think his election will lead to improved race relations, while 22 percent said it won’t.
In other expressions of the “Yes, we can” - or “Yes, he can” - tone of the poll, voters said:
*65-27 percent that Obama will make the U.S. more energy independent.
*55-34 percent that he will be able to significantly improve education.
*50-40 percent that he will be able to provide health care coverage for Americans who don’t have it.
*70-23 percent that he will be able to reach across party lines to get things done.
There were some not-so-rosy poll results. There were partisan splits on two big issues. Democrats said get out of Iraq promptly; Republicans wanted to stay until Iraq is stabilized.
Also, Democrats said the government should provide health care for everyone while Republicans disagreed.
The poll surveyed 2,210 registered voters nationwide from Thursday, Nov. 6, to Monday, Nov. 10, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.
