Akron Recall Is On

Yesterday Akron City Council Clerk Bob Keith certified that Warner Mendenhall's group Change Akron Now has more than enough signatures to recall Mayor Don Plusquellic. Plusquellic will now have 5 business days to resign or City Council will be required to schedule a recall election between 40 and 60 days later, meaning it would be sometime between late June and mid July.

I have an e-mail into the Ohio Democratic Party wondering how they will respond to this recall. When I hear back from them I'll post on it.

Brunner: Under No Circumstances Will I Run for SOS

In a letter to the chairs of county Democratic parties today, Jennifer Brunner unequivocally states that she will not seek re-election to the SOS position:

I want to make it clear that under no circumstances will I consider seeking re-election to the Secretary of State's position, or any other statewide or federal office, other than the open U.S. Senate seat of retiring Senator George Voinovich. I am pleased with the work that you and I have accomplished in improving elections in Ohio and the operations of the Secretary of State's office in less than three years, including protecting each Ohioan's social security number from public access and ensuring trust in Ohio's elections.

Modern & Russo's Leger De Main Re: Brunner

Leger De Main is a French phrase that means sleight of hand, an attempt at diversion. Jennifer Brunner supporters Modern Esquire and Tim Russo are hard at work practicing Leger De Main right now in an attempt to distract attention from Brunner's poor 1st Quarter fund raising totals, and the pressure she is feeling from national Democrats to improve her fundraising or leave the race.

Two national bloggers, Chris Cilliza of the Washington Post blog The Fix , and Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com have written recently that Brunner's lackluster fundraising total in Q1 means that unless her Q2 results show marked improvement, she'll feel the heat from national Democrats to leave the race. Especially since GOP front runner Rob Portman has over $3 million in the bank and a cleared primary field.

I don't know about you, but I really can't see Jennifer Brunner saying no to Rahm Emanuel if he calls her and asks her to step aside. Thus all the heat is on Brunner to at least match Fisher's Q2 fundraising totals or leave the race. The DSCC knows that Ohio is a key pickup opportunity that can serve either as a firewall against GOP gains elsewhere, or as a key piece in the puzzle of 60 senate votes. A bloody Democratic primary where the GOP candidate has a cleared field and can raise funds and define himself at will is their worst nightmare. 

From outside the vitrol that Modern and Russo have for Fisher for whatever reason, it would appear that the candidate who raised $1 million and has 20 years experience is more viable than one who raised $200,000 and has no legislative experience whatsover. So the heat is on Brunner to improve her fundraising totals or clear the field for Fisher. 

So, pay no attention to Modern & Russo's Leger De Main.

Jesse Ventura: "President Obama Inherited a Situation I Wouldn't Wish on My Worst Enemy"

ODP Confirms: David Pepper Announcing Tomorrow

The Ohio Democratic Party has confirmed what Ohio Daily Blog speculated on earlier today: tomorrow morning Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper will announce his candidacy for Auditor of State, flanked by Chris Redfern and Gov. Ted Strickland. Look out, Mary Taylor. From the presser:

Tuesday: David Pepper Campaign Announcement

Will be joined by Governor Ted Strickland, Chairman Chris Redfern

David Pepper, Hamilton County Commission President, will make a major announcement regarding the 2010 campaign tomorrow at Ohio Democratic Party Headquarters.

Governor Ted Strickland will speak. ODP Chairman Chris Redfern and other elected officials will attend the announcement.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009
10:30 a.m.
Ohio Democratic Party HQ
340 Fulton St., Columbus

Light Posting Notice

My apologies for not putting this up yesterday, but posting will be light today through Sunday as I'm on vacation.

Welcome Back Modern, Wither BI?

While it would appear that Modern has returned to BSB , it seems that Tim Russo's Blogger Interrupted has been offline since this morning. The Google cache version of BI doesn't show any farewell message or anything. Hmm. Interesting...

Seriously, Does Arlen Specter WANT A Primary Opponent?

Because saying shit like this will get him one, pronto. From Political Wire:

In an interview with the New York Times Magazine, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) said he hopes Norm Coleman (R) prevails in his Senate recount court fight against Al Franken (D) in Minnesota.

Said Specter: "There's still time for the Minnesota courts to do justice and declare Norm Coleman the winner."

Carrie Prejean: First a Boob Job, Now Naked Pics Too.

The controversy surrounding the Religious Right's newest poster child against gay marriage just continues to mount. First, Miss California Carrie Prejean was asked about her views on gay marriage by openly gay judge Perez Hilton. Her answer:

“I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage,” Prejean said. “And you know what? I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised.”

Prejean ended up finishing 2nd to Miss North Carolina. On his blog the next day, Hilton used a vulgarity to describe Prejean and suggested her repsonse may have cost her the crown. This was enough to make Prejean the religious right's new champion against the so-called "gay agenda."

But that's when the problems started. First of all, we found out that she had breast implants paid for by the paegent. That was the first chink in the armor. Now, we're finding out that there are nearly nude photos of her floating around on the Internet.

Hey Religious Right, once again, you've demonstrated why that old adage suggesting that he who is without sin should cast the first stone, means that you all should make yourselves a nice, steaming cup of STFU, and allow others to live their lives as they wish.

Akron Recall Heating Up

I dunno what Pho has been up to, but a story in today's Beacon Journal points to increasing evidence of the raging fire that the potential recall of Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic has become. 

Warner Mendenhall, the leader of the recall effort, has a $169,000 IRS lien for unpaid taxes against him, and in the past had a $1,500 lien for unpaid child support against him, which was satisfied in 2006. When the anti-recall Citizens for Akron decided to point that out to Akron residents in a mail piece by calling him a "tax cheat" and a "deadbeat dad" , Mendenhall took offense and filed a complaint with the OEC.

Rather than filing against Citizens for Akron with the OEC, Mendenhall would do better to explain why this recall effort is not the personal vendetta that it is rumored to be.