Xavier University Prof Put Boehner On Path To Speaker: 'John, You Ought To Think About Getting Yourself Back To School'

XU Prof Bill "Smitty" Smith

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A conversation in a suburban Cincinnati tavern 39 years ago after a high school basketball game set John Boehner on the course that has taken him to national prominence. Xavier prof Bill Smith -- who taught accounting for 50 years -- was at the Kenwood Tavern, the kind of neighborhood bar that dots Ohio cities.  He told Boehner it was time to get a degree.  Boehner had dropped out of the University of Cincinnati with bad grades, and was scraping by driving bulldozers, working construction and refereeing high school sports.  He had $400 in his bank account.  Boehner told the story about Smith's impact on his life in the 2006 commencement speech (pdf) he delivered on Xavier's campus in Cincinnati. Here's his recollection about the professor, who was widely known as 'Smitty' and died in 2009:

"After I had been out of school for several years, Bill and I were officiating together, out in Timbuktu somewhere, and in January 1971 we were having dinner after the game at the Kenwood Tavern.  Bill Smith leaned over to me and said, 'John you ought to think about getting yourself back to school.'  He said, 'You need to come to Xavier.'"

Boehner said he couldn't afford it.  Smith paved the way with the admission office.  Boehner took three classes and finished the semester with A and Bs.  He commuted, dropped out, then spent five years in night school.  He graduated in 1977 -- six years after Smitty told him to get a college education.  Now he's about to become Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, one of the highest offices in the land.  And it all started with a barroom conversation.  Bill Smith didn't make the Republican speaker, but he surely helped set him on course for the job.

'Jobs Czar' Lee Fisher Joins 591,000 Ohioans Seeking Work: Resume Must Disclose He Was Deadweight Dud On Dem Ticket

Lee Fisher Deserves Some Blame

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- There are those who are saying today that, "Lee Fisher, quite simply, cost Ted Strickland re-election."  The line originated with Tim Russo at Plunderbund.  And the fact is, Fisher's run for the U.S. Senate was punchless, disastrous, callous, inept, a massive display of ego, the mission of a fool.  Ohio's lieutenant governor did nothing to help the statewide ticket -- he could not raise money, he could not inspire voters, he was a human punching bag for Republican Sen.-elect Rob Portman, who pummeled Fisher.  Every campaign spot by Portman had the add-on impact of delivering a body blow to Strickland.  Fisher was in charge of creating jobs in Ohio -- he couldn't even make one for himself.  Now he's headed for the unemployment lines, where he will join 10% of the state's workforce. Fisher deserves to stand in that line; the other Ohioans deserve paychecks and careers.  To call Fisher an albatross around the neck of Gov. Ted Strickland's unsuccessful re-election campaign would be an insult to albatrosses.  Fisher is a loser -- he lost the 1994 race for attorney general, he lost the 1998 race for governor against Bob Taft.  He was pulverized by Portman on Nov. 2, 2010.    

Plunderbund's Russo has a great analysis of Fisher's anthrax-like harm to the statewide ticket. And he wonders why so many of the state's Democratic leaders were blind to his toxic presence:

"Establishment Democrats at the very top of our party were hell bent on preserving Lee Fisher for Rob Portman to destroy.  DSCC chair Bob Menendez was quite explicit in his threats to Jennifer Brunner. The crowning glory was the total abdication by EMILY’s List of their entire reason for being, abandoning a progressive woman statewide office holder in favor of a male establishment pillar built on sand who they must have known was about to collapse.  It’s hard to imagine a more effective way of destroying your organization’s credibility, and EMILY’s List did that for Lee Fisher.
Then, they all went away.  Every one of the people who made threats of lost state business, who acquiesced to those threats, thus stifling Jennifer Brunner’s fundraising, was nowhere to be found as Lee Fisher literally vanished during the summer, then in a last ditch effort to apparently entertain himself, spiraled into self-parody.

"What was Lee’s effect on the rest of the ticket?  Fatal.  My, how we can count the ways….but one stands out.  Blindingly so.  When Lee Fisher demanded and received the double-dip title of  'jobs czar,' neither he nor Ted Strickland probably expected the entire world economy to collapse in 2008.  Well, it did.  At that point, it should have been clear to every Democrat in Ohio, or Washington DC, that Lee’s presence at the top of the ODP ticket in 2010 would make every Rob Portman 'jobs' attack a double dip, too – those ads would hit Ted Strickland just as hard as they hit Lee Fisher."

Ohio Election Results: Ballot Totals Reported From Governor's Race, U.S. House, Legislative Contests

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Click here to see the latest election results in Ohio. Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's office is streaming the vote totals for races across the state.  These are the best and most up-to-date results available on Nov. 2, 2010.  Provisional  ballots -- which could decide the outcome in close contests -- won't be counted for another 10 days.

Tight Ohio Race Will Trigger Federal Lawsuit: Democrats Said Prepared For Court Fight Over Provisional Ballots

Al Franken had to lawyer up 

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- If the battle for governor or any other statewide races end up to close to call on election night, the Ohio Democratic Party plans to litigate to make sure all votes are tallied properly.  ODP will fight a legal battle in U.S. District Court -- most likely Cincinnati or Columbus -- to ensure that all 88 counties tabulate provisional ballots uniformly and use the same methods.  Democratic sources confirmed by e-mail within the last hour that the federal voting rights case would be filed in the Southern District of Ohio, which has U.S. judges located in Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton.  Provisional ballots are set aside and counted 10 days after the general election.  Independent statewide polls show Kasich and Strickland in a virtual dead heat.   If the election comes out that close, get ready for the lawyers.  The Columbus Dispatch reported today that the Dems were already seeking a federal court order:

"Yesterday, the Ohio Democratic Party filed a request for a federal court order to require county elections boards to provide voter addresses and other identifying information from provisional-ballot envelopes upon request."

The line appeared in Dispatch reporter Mark Niquette's long story that suggested a close race between Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and Republican John Kasich could become a legal fight. However, if there was such a lawsuit already pending, it was not publicly available in the court clerk's offices Tuesday.  Other elections officials told The Daily Bellwether that the Ohio Democratic Party had written to local boards of elections trying to gain access to addresses and other info from provisional ballot envelopes.  Hamilton County had gotten one of the letters, and apparently turned down the ODP request.  Litigation in close elections is nothing new -- it took months for Minnesota officials to decide if Al Franken won that state's U.S. Senate seat in 2008.  Franken had a 312-vote margin that was recognized by the Minnesota Supreme Court nearly seven months after the election.  And everybody recalls Bush v. Gore and the U.S. Supreme Court 5-4 ruling that said George Bush won the presidency even though he lost the popular vote.

NPR's Robert Krulwich May Have Started Urban Myth With 1848 Cincinnati Photo: There's An Older Picture In Columbus

The Parkers, 1840-1845

CINCINNATI (TDB) --  The September 1848 photo of two people standing on the Cincinnati riverfront has been making worldwide headlines. The claim to fame: NPR's Robert Krulwich suggested it could be the "First Photo of a Human Being Ever." But it's not, and a little research would have quickly shown Krulwich he was off base. The Ohio Historical Society has several photos in its collection of the same vintage.  And one is at least 3 years older than the 162-year-old Cincinnati daguerreotype -- it could be 8 years older.  It took The Daily Bellwether less than 30 minutes to find the photos by searching the historical society's online portal called OhioPix. It's a pretty fascinating spot to peruse.  The oldest photo of people in the collection is a daguerreotype of John and Persis Parker with three children -- it was taken between 1840 and 1845.  Unfortunately, there is no information about the Parkers; what they did, where they lived, what became of them.  The children could be two sons and a daughter -- but the details are absent.  All we know is that they gathered, put on what looks to be their Sunday best, and had their picture taken.

There are two really famous John Parkers in American history -- neither is involved with the oldest photos of humans in Ohio.  Capt. John Parker led the American militiamen on Lexington Green in April 1775 against the British.  His famous words before the shooting started:  "Stand your ground, don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here."   Parker died of tuberculosis before the Revolutionary War concluded.  The other famous Parker is John P. Parker, an abolitionist who lived in Ripley, Ohio near Cincinnati.  His father was a free white man; his mother was a slave.  By the 1840s he owned a foundry and became active in the Underground Railroad.  He would cross the Ohio River into Kentucky and lead runaways slaves to freedom in Ohio -- some would escape to Canada and start new lives.  As for Persis Parker -- the woman in the photo -- all we know is that it was not an unusual name for a female in the early 19th Century. Persis as a name for a woman seems to be taken from Persia, the ancient name for Iran.

There are at least a half-dozen daguerreotypes in the state collection that are dated between 1845 and 1850.  Louis Daguerre, a Frenchman, invented the process that involved exposing chemically treated metal plates to capture an image.  It was wildly popular.  NPR's Krulwich now says the earlier photo could be from 1838 in Paris, where a man seems to be getting his shoes shined on a street corner.

Democratic Early Voters Surging On Cincinnati's West Side: Oh-01 Lifeline For Steve Driehaus vs. GOP's Chabot



Data Shows Dem Oh-01 Voting Surge

 CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The so-called "enthusiasm gap" that had Republicans fired up and voting in droves while Democrats sat on their keisters has vanished in the heaviest populated portion of Ohio's 1st Congressional District.  Early voting data shows 15,604 Democrats have voted in Oh-01, a number that has blown past  Republican turnout.  The surge took place late last week and over the weekend.  The GOP now trails with 14,424 early voters.  Republicans had been ahead in the Oh-01 matchup for more than a month.  Nearly 60% of the early votes cast in Hamilton County -- which includes Cincinnati -- are in Oh-01, which indicates massive public interest in the mid-term House contest.  Steve Driehaus, a freshman Democrat, faces Republican Steve Chabot, who held the seat for 14 years.  Both are from Cincinnati's West Side, and their rematch is clearly SW Ohio's most closely watched.  If Dems show up for Driehaus, their votes in statewide races will help the statewide ticket from Gov. Ted Strickland on down.  Nearly 12,000 independent votes have been cast in Oh-01 ahead of Election Day -- if they break nearly even Driehaus has a chance.  Driehaus has been written off by many political experts and commentators.  But the numbers suggest that Democratic voters are hanging with him.  Of the 26,000 Democratic early ballots issued in Hamilton County through Oct. 30, 18,566 were in Oh-01 and 84% have been returned.

Democrats have also been showing up in greater numbers at the Hamilton County Board of Elections to cast ballots ahead of the polls opening on Nov. 2.  Through Oct. 30, there were 3,674 Dem votes vs. 1,024 Republican.  [UPDATE: 1:24pm -- At noon today, the board of elections reported the latest count at that downtown polling site, 3,828 D, 1,059 R.  These are walk-in voters.  The tide is still surging Dem on election eve.]  Some suggest this is an indication that the Democrats' ground game has traction, and that the party's get-out-the-vote efforts are delivering results.

Still, polls (the few that have been disclosed) have shown Chabot leading, but the Republican has cautioned his supporters not to grow overconfident.  Last week on his campaign blog, Chabot said "there is nothing certain in life" but sounded like he was pretty sure he was going to flush Driehaus.  At the time, nobody was sure if the voting surge by Democrats would arrive.  Everyone was talking about the enthusiasm gap.  Here's Chabot:

"We're less than a week away from what could be one of the most momentous midterm elections in history.  All indications are that the American people are chomping at the bit to change the direction the Obama Administration and the Pelosi/Reid Congress have been taking this nation.  I believe we will win our race, and we'll once again be represented by someone who truly believes in less government, lower taxes and fiscal responsibility.  However, there's nothing certain in life, and ultimately the voters of the First Congressional District have the final say, and they will deliver their verdict . . ."

Hamilton County Democratic Sample Ballot Election 2010: Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland Leads The Ticket

Click It and Print It

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Here's the Democratic Party line-up that is on the ballot Tuesday Nov. 2, 2010 in Hamilton County, Ohio.  Gov. Ted Strickland heads the list, Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper is there on the card, and U.S. Rep. Steve Driehaus. D-01, is the in the middle.  Scan down a bit and you will spot the names of Dusty Rhodes, who is running for reelection as County Auditor, and Jim Tarbell, who is seeking a seat on the Hamilton County Commission.  State Rep. Connie Pillich is after another two-year term in the Ohio House of Representatives.  Her opponent, Mike Wilson, is a founder of the Cincinnati Tea Party.

And don't forget to vote in the the judicial races, including Bill Mallory, Nadine Allen, Jody Luebbers and Steve Black.  You can print out this official Hamilton County sample ballot and take it to the polls operated by the Hamilton County Board of Elections.  The sample ballot is nice and blue.