So reports the Dispatch:

One day after the death of U.S. Rep. Paul Gillmor, a number of high-profile Republicans emerged as possible candidates for his Ohio seat, including his wife, Karen, state Rep. Robert E. Latta of Bowling Green and state Sen. Stephen Buehrer of Delta.

That’s happened before, notably with Sonny Bono’s House seat and with Mel Carnahan, who as a dead person defeated eventual US A.G. John Ashcroft for a US Senate seat for Missouri- of course everyone knew that Jean Carnahan would be taking over.

I don’t like this. Politics is becoming increasingly hereditary, unfortunately. Bush, Kennedy, and Gore all have their dynasties- and now the Clintons are attempting to establish a family brand. It’s rather undemocratic- but many of us are voting for them.

UPDATE: This blog is reporting that Karen Gillmor won’t be running (via Jeff Coryell).

The latest Quinnipiac poll of Ohioans has been released:

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner has opened a 47 - 40 percent lead over her GOP counterpart, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, up from a 43 - 43 percent tie in an August 8 poll….

Giuliani and Clinton both lead in their respective parties.

Also, Dems beat Repubs in all polled matchups except McCain vs. Obama.

(Via The Daily Briefing. Previous post: Rasmussen: Guiliani edges Clinton by 1 pt in Ohio.)

Jill Miller Zimon has a post up on an arrest in California of the founder of a charter school network. Apparently, the schools themselves weren’t for-profit, but the schools used the services of a for-profit company, owned by the same person. Clearly a conflict of interest. Jill writes about how this might affect Ohio:

Mary Taylor’s been publishing audits that indicate a problems with the charters. But she’s also been the benefactor of their profits. How will she interpret what’s going in California, for herself and her responsibilities?

Let’s not forget another readon why I dislike the profit aspect: because so many of the profits go to politicians.

By that logic, we should never have any Democrats doing anything about the public schools. Why should anyone trust Democrats to regulate public schools when they receive so much from teachers’ unions? In the public school system, we’ve got politicians giving raises to teachers, who give some of it to their unions, who contribute some of it to politicians in an attempt to get more money for teachers and to protect the monopoly teachers’ unions want on public funds, thus guaranteeing a more or less permanent revenue stream to Democrats.

The solution for Ohio is broad reporting requirements for spending and education results for all schools, public, charter, and for-profit. The legislature has to be smart enough to properly regulate all schools that receive public money. Then let parents decide where to send their children and where to spend the money earmarked for those children. Public schools fail and waste money too. There needs to be a credible alternative.

Political blogs are not subject to FEC regulations, unless they’re paid for by candidates. So, there is a First Amendment. I’m not impressed that the FEC is ruling on these matters at all. I mean they could just as easily rule the other way.

From CNN:

Ohio Rep. Paul Gillmor was found dead in his apartment Wednesday, a Republican leadership aide said.

The aide said the body of the 68-year-old Republican was found by staff members who went to his apartment after he failed to show up for work. There was no immediate word on the cause of his death. Gillmor’s office did not respond to a reporter’s call.

Gillmor, who represented Ohio’s 5th District in the Bowling Green area of the state, was first elected to Congress in 1988.

He was 68. I saw this first at Right Angle Blog.

From ONN, an update on the Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby story:

No charges will be filed against a middle school administrator whose toddler daughter died when she was left in her mother’s SUV for about eight hours on a day when temperatures reached about 100 degrees, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Leaving the child in the car was “a substantial lapse of due care” but did not meet the definition of reckless conduct necessary for prosecution, said Clermont County Prosecutor Don White.

In similar news, there’s this:

An Oregon rugby player remains in jail Tuesday after being arrested on charges he left his 2-year-old daughter in a vehicle in the parking lot of a Nevada brothel on a 95-degree day.

Lucien Hoffman, of Bend, Ore., is being held in the Storey County Detention Center in lieu of $40,000 bail on charges of child neglect.

Police arrested Hoffman early Sunday night at the World Famous Mustang Ranch brothel in Sparks, Nev., after a security guard found the child crying inside the car, according to Storey County Sheriff’s Det./Sgt. Kenneth Quirk.

Father of the year.

UPDATE: Thoughts on the Ohio case from Mark Daniels.

UPDATE: Next post: SUV mom did it several times immediately before.

CNN is reporting that Idaho Sen. Larry Craig will likely resign soon. More on that at Nixguy and from Ryan at Buckeye State Blog, who’s got a well-considered post:

I find it quite sad that this man, because of societal pressure feels unable to come out of the closet and admit to himself that he is gay. It is a sad state of affairs when people feel this boxed in because of what they do or who they are that they have to resort to the kinds of activity that Senator Craig engaged in.

I think that’s the only reasonable take on the situation. Think Brokeback Mountain. And it’s very different from the Jeridian glee on the matter.

In somewhat related news, the Columbus Police and park people are working on cutting down lewd behavior in the city’s parks:

The Columbus police vice squad said that secluded areas attract the wrong sort of crowd, like the woods that line the parking lot of Rhodes Park.

Officers are working closely with the city to get thick brush cleared in problem areas.

In addition, the city’s recreation and parks department has begun putting new facilities in the parks that promote positive activities and increase traffic.

I’m glad they’re promoting positive activities, whatever they are. 100 people have been arrested so far this year.

From It’s a Paul World:

It is only a matter of time before Idaho republican senator Larry Craig resigns. I see a tearful entering rehab speech in his future also. That’s usually how these things go.

SNL had a Peter O’Toole skit that addressed that kind of thing. Of course we don’t know yet if Craig is going to take that route.

A group I’ve never heard of before issued a report today:

More than a quarter of Ohio adults are obese, and nearly as many say they never exercise, according to figures released Monday by a group tracking America’s climbing obesity rates.

Obesity rates are on the rise in 31 states, including Ohio, according to a report from the Trust for America’s Health, a research group that focuses on disease prevention. No state showed a decline.

Well at least this group has no agenda and are just releasing this info so that we’re all better informed. (Yeah, right.)

Federal and local governments should play a larger role in preventing obesity, said officials at the Trust for America’s Health. People who are overweight are at an increased risk for diabetes, heart problems and other chronic diseases that contribute to greater health care costs.

That health care cost argument is the gateway to much government control of our lives. From the group’s site:

TFAH recommends a comprehensive approach for helping individuals make healthy choices including support from families, communities, schools, employers, the food and beverage industries, health professionals, and government at all levels. Some key recommendations include:

* Think big. The federal government should develop and implement a National Strategy to Combat Obesity. This plan should involve every federal government agency, define clear roles and responsibilities for states and localities, and engage private industry and community groups.

Hmm. Not too invasive.

From the AP in the IHT:

Gov. Ted Strickland toured the region Sunday with officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, as residents removed waterlogged carpets and couches from their homes, beginning the cleanup from the flooding.

“It’s difficult to exaggerate or embellish upon what’s happened here. It’s absolutely devastating,” Strickland said.

Strickland said he wanted the U.S. government to declare a major disaster in the parts of Ohio inundated by the past week’s powerful storms and record floods that were blamed for at least 18 deaths in the Midwest. He said a declaration could come early Monday.

Six tornadoes touched down in Michigan on Friday. Also, there were tornado warnings on Saturday in central Ohio, including for Columbus.

Hundreds of thousands of people were without power after their homes were battered by fierce winds and flooding rainstorms that slammed the rain-soaked Midwest.

Tornado warnings were issued Saturday afternoon for parts of central and southeast Ohio. Downed trees and power lines were reported in the southern part of the state, said National Weather Service meteorologist Andy Hatzos.

The old one-two punch. Beautiful weather today, though.

Jim Hughes, currently a State Rep from Columbus, was one of the names bandied about to run in Deborah Pryce’s stead for the OH-15 seat. The Dispatch blog has him removing his name from consideration:

Hughes’ exit narrows the potential field of GOP candidates to replace Pryce, now in her 15th year in Congress. Former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro remains the leading GOP candidate, but former Franklin County Commissioner Dewey Stokes also is interested in the seat. Former Columbus Mayor Greg Lashutka also is gaining traction in some Republican circles. Lashutka, an executive with Nationwide Insurance, has been unavailable for comment on whether he is entertaining a bid for Congress.

Stokes or Lashutka would be “interim” until reapportionment when presumably things would change drastically (Ohio is expected to lose 2 seats), but that would be sufficient if one of them won.

(Previous post: Turned tables for OH-15.)

Following on yesterday’s story about Open Left’s targeting conservative Democrats, Cadillac Tight has an interesting response to Matt Stoller’s response.

Matt says:

And of course, the wingnuts are freaking out, it’s always a nice bonus to hear them squeal and defend conservative Democrats.

Now I don’t use the term “squeal” in this manner as it strikes me as a bit homophobic, but if anyone’s squealing it’s Democrats. Republicans are squealing with delight, maybe. Here’s what Stoller has to say to the two Ohio Dem bloggers who complained:

(By the way, Left in Ohio and Buckeyestate Blog, there’s nothing stopping you from writing a positive profile of Charlie Wilson and Zach Space putting their Bush Dog votes in context.).

Note that he gets both blogs’ names wrong- on purpose? Anyway here’s Joe at Cadillac Tight (a great blog name by the way):

I’ve never been a liberal or a progressive, and much as Stoller might hate it, neither are many other Democrats. If resisting efforts like this one from OpenLeft equates to “squealing” and membership in wingnuttia, then let me tell you, there are hosts of squealing, wingnutty Democrats out there today — At least as many as there are members of the “progressive movement”. Being liberally inclined in social policy matters certainly doesn’t obligate me to support the current antiwar, hard left proposals of OpenLeft or the netroots. In fact, I’d argue that in terms of electoral reality, I’m doing the Democratic party a much better solid than Bowers and Stoller are.

That’s pretty much how I see it.

(Previous post: National lefties telling our lefties what to do.)

Here’s David Potts of Left of Ohio on Open Left’s campaign to purge the party of conservative Democrats:

I wasn’t around the blogs during last years primary mess but I’m still learning to hate the national blogs. Matt Stoller, Chris Bowers, and the other members of Open Left have decided to launch a campaign against the following Democratic members of the House of Representatives that they’ve dubbed the “Bush Dogs”, a play on the Blue Dogs.

There are two Ohioans on the enemies list: Zack Space (OH-18) and Charlie Wilson (OH-06), who are a bit too far to the right for Open Left. Of course we remember how well this plan worked out when they tried it with Joe Lieberman in Connecticut. I’m sure there are a few Republicans who hope Stoller and Bowers succeed.

I wonder how they feel about Hillary Clinton. Bush and Cheney lite, I guess.

There’s more on this at Cadillac Tight (via Instapundit).

Oh, by the way, Charlie Wilson’s campaign site doesn’t disclose who paid for it. Call the election police.

I had a post about MyFoxToldeo.com up a while back. Now Variety reports that Fox is planning on spreading that format to 160 markets. The local Fox TV affiliates will be handing over management of their local sites to Fox Interactive Media.

Steve Boriss of The Future of News writes:

Increasingly, it appears that [Rupert Murdoch] sees a day when all news outlets have converged onto the Internet, and we will all log onto www.MyFox[YourCityHere].com to receive ALL the general news we get today — national news, international news, financial news, metro area news, human interest stories, crime/sex/violence news, entertainment news, local sports, local weather — ALL of it. Replacing EVERYTHING — metro newspapers, national newspapers, TV networks, local broadcast TV, cable TV. One-stop shopping for all news except the emerging hyperlocal news and news of family and friends (whoops — scratch that — News Corp already owns MySpace).

As Variety notes however, Sinclair Broadcasting hasn’t signed on to the deal yet. Sinclair owns Columbus’s Fox affiliate (and the ABC affiliate too). But I note that myfoxcolumbus.com, myfoxcleveland.com, and myfoxcincinnati.com are all registered by the corporate web management company MarkMonitor.com.

Bill Sloat on newspaper websites:

Harvard University has studied news site traffic on the Web and the findings are grim for most of the nation’s big city newspapers, which appear to be attracting fewer visitors this year than last. They are losing audience share to blogs, aggregators, major national news sites such as the Wall Street Journal, Google and Yahoo. Local TV Websites also have rising trendlines. The report is by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. It is called Creative Destruction, and it is must read because it covers the entire spread of Web-based news sources.

Here’s that report.

I have no idea where the Dispatch might fit into this. As far as I can tell, they don’t publish their numbers. But I’d be surprised if they were any different from the national averages. Here’s more at Reflections of a Newsosaur:

“The overall traffic level…hides important differences within the newspaper sector,” says the study. While the leading newspapers have been gaining traffic, “the websites of most other newspapers — whether in large, medium-sized, or small cities —have lost audience and their sites on average have substantially fewer visitors now than a year ago.”

Traffic fell in most mid-size markets in the period from April, 2006, to April, 2007, according to the study. “The sites of small-city dailies also are not growing,” said Thomas E. Patterson, the author of the study. “Although two of the nine [small-city] sites we sampled had a traffic increase of 20% or more from the previous April, five sites suffered a decline, including one that lost 20% of its web audience.”

I’ve mentioned before how the Dispatch website is broken. I have the impression that the thing is held together by scotch tape- not even duct tape! They can’t even get their new podcast into a feed so people can subscribe with iTunes or some other aggregator.

This is not generic slam at the MSM. As I’ve also said before, no one else can do what the Dispatch does. But that site needs to be rethought from the ground up.