OH-02 Dem Vic Wulsin: Asks That Today's Clermont County Straw Poll Be Cancelled

BATAVIA (TDB) -- Clermont County Democratic Chairman Dave Lane says today's OH-02 straw poll has been cancelled. It would have offered a glimpse into the pre-primary popularity of candidates Steve Black and Vic Wulsin in a key SW Ohio county. Lane said the poll was cancelled at Wulsin's request because Black has temporarily suspended campaigning while mourning the death of his father, retired Judge Robert L. Black. Lane led a gathering of Clermont County Democrats in a moment of silence for the judge, whom he described as a respected jurist and civic leader.

Josh Levin, Wulsin's campaign manager, was at the session. He said she continues to campaign, but did not think the straw poll would be appropriate. Lane, the county chair, told The Daily Bellwether the county party in suburban Cincinnati is officially neutral in the Black-Wulsin contest. It had considered convening an endorsement meeting in mid-January, but scrapped the plan. He said Wulsin -- who was the candidate in 2006 and narrowly lost to Clermont County Republican U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt -- asked that the endorsement session be dropped. He said he did not know which way the party leaders would have voted -- Black or Wulsin. He said both candidates are running aggressive bids for the nomination.

"I can tell you, in Clermont County among the Democrats, Victoria of course has the most name recognition. She has it from her past campaigns, and she came close to beating Schmidt, so people know who she is."

He said Black, a Republican who switched party to seek the Dem nomination, faces some opposition because of his GOP past. Lane said it should be a non-issue.

"My personal view is that any time that a Republican chooses to see the light and join us, well, he is welcome. We should take all the Republicans we can get. I don't hold that against Steve Black. A person who switches parties from Republican to Democrat to run for office, I don't question that at all."

Lane said Paul Hackett -- the party's 2005 nominee who lost a special election against Schmidt -- had spent time in the GOP before leaving it permanently.

"Hackett, he had shadows of Republicanism in his history. There was some history of him switching back and forth."

Lane, in the interview, declined to say who would come out on top March 4. He said either Wulsin or Black would be strong in the November general election.

"I could see a scenario where Steven Black could sway more of the conservative swing voters in the general election. But look at the last general election. Victoria came very close."

OH-02 Dem Steve Black: Another Campaign Manager Departs

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Just two months ago, Democrat Steve Black was touting the arrival of a new campaign manager who had a wealth of experience. But Joel Coon is now gone, The Daily Bellwether has learned. Black is a Cincinnati lawyer who switched from Republican to Democrat and is challenging physician Victoria Wulsin in the OH-02 primary next March.

Coon was brought in to replace Mary Huttinger, who for a time was signed on with Black. If that sound like musical chairs hang on to your seat: Huttinger was Wulsin's campaign manager in 2006 when she won the Dem nomination. The Black-Wulsin winner gets to run for the southern Ohio U.S. House seat that currently is held by Jean Schmidt, who beat Wulsin but now has a challenger in the GOP primary.

Black's campaign has not publicly announced Coon's leave taking after about three months on the job. Coon was reached by phone today and confirmed he has moved on.

"I would rather not get into the reasons why I left. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about Steve Black. He's a good candidate. He has the highest integrity. Leaving -- it was something I had to do. Steve can beat Jean Schmidt. He's a very good candidate."

Coon was a former John Edwards campaign aid involved in rural issues.

While Coon is out, The Bellwether hears that former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee executive director John Lapp is in as the ad man for Black campaign. Lapp joined the political consulting firm McMahon Squier Lapp and Associates after 2006 elections and is considered an architect of the Dems' victory that ended GOP control of the House. At the DCCC, Lapp was in charge of a $60 million budget. He knows Ohio River politics -- he worked for former U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas who held a Kentucky House seat on the opposite side of the river from OH-02. He was Lucas' campaign manager, then his chief of staff. Lucas retired to keep a promise about term limits.

OH-02 Dem Vic Wulsin: Foreclosure Wave Hits Jean Schmidt's Home Town

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Democratic Congressional candidate Vic Wulsin says the foreclosure crisis is so serious that 75 homes are on the market over defaults in Loveland, an affluent Cincinnati suburb. Republican U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt, who now holds the OH-02 seat, lives in that community.

Wulsin says Schmidt is out of touch and voted against the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act that passed the House by a 291-127 margin last week. There were 64 Republicans who supported the bill, which establishes lending standards.

Overall, according to Wulsin, there are 2,103 foreclosures pending in Cincinnati. Ohio has the third highest foreclosure rate in the nation. Wulsin says she would have supported the bill, HR 2915. The Wulsin campaign pointed to this Yahoo link as its source about foreclosure activity in Loveland. Wulsin contends Schmidt has had support from builders and bankers over the years, and favors real estate lenders over borrowers now struggling to hang onto their homes.

"I support this bipartisan, common sense effort to rein in an industry that has spun out of control, and would have voted for it. I believe we must protect all Americans from unfair and predatory lending practices.

"We need to stand up for our hard working families, not the Wall Street insiders who made billions when times were good and are now looking for a government bailout. Maybe she's listening to the developers who have supported her political career. . . I have one question for Jean Schmidt: Isn't it Congress' job to protect families who save up and buy a home in good faith, and then lose it because the system was rigged from the start against them."

Viral YouTUBE Spot Slams OH-02 Dem Vic Wulsin: Outraged Black Denies It's His

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A three-minute viral ad called the Color Of Change Is Black has mysteriously appeared on YouTUBE and its slams OH-02 Democrat Vic Wulsin as a super liberal who is soft on abortion, soft on terror and supportive of gun control. Wulsin's primary opponent, Steve Black, disavows the ad as a political dirty trick and wants it pulled off YouTUBE immediately. The ad uses images of infants in the womb and video of the two hijacked airliners slamming into the Twin Towers on 9/11. A note accompanying the ad says Ohio's 2nd district Democrats "deserve someone better than Victoria Wulsin on election day. Vote for Steve Black."

The ad has gotten about 5,600 views over the last week. But Black says it was not made by his campaign. He has faxed and e-mailed Google -- the corporate parent of YouTUBE -- demanding that the ad be removed. He says he has lawyers drafting a formal cease and desist notice. The fax states:

"The mention of my name in the caption to this video is unauthorized. Neither I nor any person in my campaign has any involvement in this outrageous production. We must ask you to remove this video from your website immediately. Your failure to do so would cause injury to all concerned in the politics of Southern Ohio."

[UPDATE: 4:29 PM edt -- Chris Baker at Ohio 2nd has also spoken to Steve Black. Baker says the ad reeks and has a Karl Rovian touch. Baker was not impressed by its production quality, and suspects it might be some kind of GOP attempt to harm Democrats.]

[UPDATE 2: 8:46 PM edt -- Matt Naugle at Right Angle Blog is praising the ad, and questions only the quality of the production, not its content or mysterious origination. He says the appearance of the viral attack ad in an Ohio congressional race represents the kind of weapon Republicans need to use aggressively against Democrats. Is Matt hinting he knows that it is a GOP production?]

[UPDATE 3: -- The video has been removed by whoever put it on YouTUBE. OH-02's Chris Baker has a snapshot.]

When Black contacted The Bellwether earlier today, he said Color Of Change Is Black was created maliciously to harm both his and the Wulsin campaign. He said he planned to contact Wulsin to see if there is some response they could undertake jointly. He sounded genuinely upset and nearly beside himself. Black is a downtown Cincinnati lawyer who was a Republican until this year. He switched parties to run in the primary against Wulsin, the Dems 2006 nominee in OH-02. Black said he was disgusted with the Bush administration and national GOP policies, and he is worried that the viral ad will wreck his chances as a Democrat.

"I'm afraid that 5,600 people are going to think Steve Black put that out there. We would never put something like that out there," Black told The Daily Bellwether, adding that he learned of the ad about 24 hours ago. "It's clearly a smear. It's posted anonymously. The worst part of it it urges people to vote for Steve Black. It's disgusting, it's deplorable.

"We've been trying to figure out who did it. We don't know yet. People acted in a completely anonymous way. They should be held accountable. This is political speech. It should have some identification about who did it. It's not mine."

So far, no reaction from Wulsin.