Events Calendar
In This Section
Most Read Stories
Robbers order bar patrons to empty pockets
Family found dead in Ohio home
Man gets 3 years in prison for having sex with horse
Akron man turns himself in after authorities turn up heat
Boy tells 911 operator he shot father in anger
Sex-toy study at Duke University raises some eyebrows
Akron police follow blood trail to murder suspect
Child in home when gunmen break in, demand cash and drugs
Blogs:
Pets:
Not 101 Dalmations…but close!
The Heldenfiles:
Friday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
For your Saturday entertainment, part II …
Akron Zips:
No. 1 UA hopes to be perfect on Senior Night
Tribe Matters:
Tribe makes roster moves
Cleveland Browns:
Lewis doesn't like boycott
Kent State Sports:
Kent State @ Akron | Preview
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs at Knicks
Buckeye Blogging:
Weekly ‘B’ Deck Report – New Mexico St.
Varsity Letters:
Wrestling, bowling teams prepare for season
All Da King's Men:
Bigger And Better Boondoggles
Blog of Mass Destruction:
The Shooter
Akron Law Café:
NEW U.S. Supreme Court Database
See Jane Style:
Muffle Your Muffler
Car Chase:
Perfect Weather for an Autumn Drive
Let's Talk Real Estate:
RUMORS: Downtown Restaurant Explosion
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Jack is looking for a trip to Southern Ohio the week of November 16.
Sound Check:
The Black Keys to perform benefit concert at Musica on November 27
HRLite House:
Personal Rant – Why People Do Not Live in Northeast Ohio
Akron Gamer:
New 'Call of Duty' could set entertainment record
By Philip Elliott
Associated Press
POSTED: 08:02 a.m. EST, Nov 05, 2008
COLUMBUS: Democrat Barack Obama's coattails were long in Ohio, where Democrats in the state's congressional delegation gained two U.S. House seats and the party regained control of the Ohio House for the first time in 14 years.
The Democratic president-elect on Tuesday won the state that gave President Bush his second term in 2004.
The Democratic wins brought the congressional delegation to a 9-9 tie, depriving Republicans of their 11-7 majority. In the state House, the party picked up seven seats held by the GOP to hold at least 51 seats in the 99-member chamber.
Democrats also retained the powerful attorney general's office.
The GOP, meanwhile, was on track to keep its 21-12 dominance in the state Senate and retained its 7-0 control over the state Supreme Court.
The presidential contest was hard-fought in Ohio, with both Obama and Republican John McCain sparring over the economy. Housing foreclosures and soaring unemployment marred a state that saw an average of 61 jobs disappear during Bush's eight years in office.
That might have, in part, explained why voters rejected casino gambling and kept a law capping interest rates on payday loans. Elsewhere, voters also picked Democrat Richard Cordray to replace a scandal-riddled attorney general.
Republicans kept all seven seats on the state Supreme Court, as two Cleveland-area challengers proved unsuccessful.
Most eyes focused on the high-profile presidential contest, which spent $2.7 million during the campaign's final week on television ads.
Early returns favored Obama, who found an advantage in counties that four years earlier supported Bush's re-election. With 95 percent of precincts reporting, Obama led by about 4 percentage points. Of the almost 5 million votes counted, about 201,400 votes separated the two.
''I have a problem with Obama's point of view on fundamental moral issues,'' said Jason Hatcher, a 37-year-old photographer who voted for McCain in Cincinnati.
''Also, I don't agree with his plan to redistribute wealth. I don't make much money but I don't think that means I deserve someone else's money.''
Exit polls for the Associated Press and television networks found that six out of 10 Ohio voters said the economy is the most important issue now facing the country.
Overall, about nine out of 10 Ohio voters say they're worried about the direction of the economy in the next year. Almost everyone voting Tuesday says the nation's economy is in bad shape.
''It's bad and everybody knows it's bad,'' said 21-year-old Jericka Adams, who voted for the first time in a Cincinnati church. ''The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. It's scary. You have to work more and you have less to show for it.''
She said McCain was too similar to Bush: ''I think Bush's policies have messed up the economy and a lot of other things, and I think McCain will be too much like Bush.''
Scattered voting problems were reported around the state — some people had to wait in line for an hour, a few voting machines malfunctioned and poll workers in some precincts feared running out of paper ballots — but it was an otherwise smooth Election Day, officials said.
No Republican has ever won the White House without carrying Ohio. Only two Democrats have done so. The state has voted for the winning candidate in every election since 1964.
Election officials early in the day predicted an 80 percent turnout, yet the state's top elections official, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, said indications from the state's more populous counties, such as Cuyahoga and Lucas, showed Ohio could fall short.
In Ohio's U.S. House races, enthusiasm for Obama hurt long-time Republican incumbent Steve Chabot, who had represented a heavily black Cincinnati-area district for 14 years. Democrat John Boccieri, a state senator and Iraqi war veteran, picked up the Northeast Ohio seat long held by U.S. Rep. Ralph Regula.
Republicans held onto retiring U.S. Rep. Deborah Pryce's central Ohio district, and Republican state Sen. Steve Austria won the western Ohio race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. David Hobson.
Of the seven seats Democrats picked up in the Ohio House, four were held by incumbents and three were open seats.
Issue 6 would have given the state its first Las Vegas-style casino near the southwest Ohio town of Wilmington. Ohio voters have rejected statewide gambling three times before since 1990.
The payday lending law cuts the annual percentage rate that lenders can charge to 28 percent and limit the number of loans customers can take to four per year.
Cordray, the state treasurer, raised more than $2.5 million to compete against Republican Mike Crites, a former U.S. attorney for southern Ohio.
Former Democratic Attorney General Dann resigned in May amid a sexual harassment scandal that involved his top aides and female subordinates.
Democrats eyed two seats on the Supreme Court but fell short. A pair of northeast Ohio judges — Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Joseph Russo and Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Peter Sikora — tried to break the all-GOP hold of the court and failed. Justice Maureen O'Connor, a former lieutenant governor to Bob Taft, and Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, who sought her third, six-year term both were successful.
Associated Press writers Meghan Barr, Julie Carr Smyth, Mark Williams, Matt Reed, Kantele Franko and Stephen Majors in Columbus, Terry Kinney in Cincinnati and Thomas J. Sheeran in Cleveland contributed to this report.
COLUMBUS: Democrat Barack Obama's coattails were long in Ohio, where Democrats in the state's congressional delegation gained two U.S. House seats and the party regained control of the Ohio House for the first time in 14 years.
The Democratic president-elect on Tuesday won the state that gave President Bush his second term in 2004.
The Democratic wins brought the congressional delegation to a 9-9 tie, depriving Republicans of their 11-7 majority. In the state House, the party picked up seven seats held by the GOP to hold at least 51 seats in the 99-member chamber.
Democrats also retained the powerful attorney general's office.
The GOP, meanwhile, was on track to keep its 21-12 dominance in the state Senate and retained its 7-0 control over the state Supreme Court.
The presidential contest was hard-fought in Ohio, with both Obama and Republican John McCain sparring over the economy. Housing foreclosures and soaring unemployment marred a state that saw an average of 61 jobs disappear during Bush's eight years in office.
That might have, in part, explained why voters rejected casino gambling and kept a law capping interest rates on payday loans. Elsewhere, voters also picked Democrat Richard Cordray to replace a scandal-riddled attorney general.
Republicans kept all seven seats on the state Supreme Court, as two Cleveland-area challengers proved unsuccessful.
Most eyes focused on the high-profile presidential contest, which spent $2.7 million during the campaign's final week on television ads.
Early returns favored Obama, who found an advantage in counties that four years earlier supported Bush's re-election. With 95 percent of precincts reporting, Obama led by about 4 percentage points. Of the almost 5 million votes counted, about 201,400 votes separated the two.
''I have a problem with Obama's point of view on fundamental moral issues,'' said Jason Hatcher, a 37-year-old photographer who voted for McCain in Cincinnati.
''Also, I don't agree with his plan to redistribute wealth. I don't make much money but I don't think that means I deserve someone else's money.''
Exit polls for the Associated Press and television networks found that six out of 10 Ohio voters said the economy is the most important issue now facing the country.
Overall, about nine out of 10 Ohio voters say they're worried about the direction of the economy in the next year. Almost everyone voting Tuesday says the nation's economy is in bad shape.
''It's bad and everybody knows it's bad,'' said 21-year-old Jericka Adams, who voted for the first time in a Cincinnati church. ''The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. It's scary. You have to work more and you have less to show for it.''
She said McCain was too similar to Bush: ''I think Bush's policies have messed up the economy and a lot of other things, and I think McCain will be too much like Bush.''
Scattered voting problems were reported around the state — some people had to wait in line for an hour, a few voting machines malfunctioned and poll workers in some precincts feared running out of paper ballots — but it was an otherwise smooth Election Day, officials said.
No Republican has ever won the White House without carrying Ohio. Only two Democrats have done so. The state has voted for the winning candidate in every election since 1964.
Election officials early in the day predicted an 80 percent turnout, yet the state's top elections official, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, said indications from the state's more populous counties, such as Cuyahoga and Lucas, showed Ohio could fall short.
In Ohio's U.S. House races, enthusiasm for Obama hurt long-time Republican incumbent Steve Chabot, who had represented a heavily black Cincinnati-area district for 14 years. Democrat John Boccieri, a state senator and Iraqi war veteran, picked up the Northeast Ohio seat long held by U.S. Rep. Ralph Regula.
Republicans held onto retiring U.S. Rep. Deborah Pryce's central Ohio district, and Republican state Sen. Steve Austria won the western Ohio race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. David Hobson.
Of the seven seats Democrats picked up in the Ohio House, four were held by incumbents and three were open seats.
Issue 6 would have given the state its first Las Vegas-style casino near the southwest Ohio town of Wilmington. Ohio voters have rejected statewide gambling three times before since 1990.
The payday lending law cuts the annual percentage rate that lenders can charge to 28 percent and limit the number of loans customers can take to four per year.
Cordray, the state treasurer, raised more than $2.5 million to compete against Republican Mike Crites, a former U.S. attorney for southern Ohio.
Former Democratic Attorney General Dann resigned in May amid a sexual harassment scandal that involved his top aides and female subordinates.
Democrats eyed two seats on the Supreme Court but fell short. A pair of northeast Ohio judges — Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Joseph Russo and Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Peter Sikora — tried to break the all-GOP hold of the court and failed. Justice Maureen O'Connor, a former lieutenant governor to Bob Taft, and Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, who sought her third, six-year term both were successful.
Associated Press writers Meghan Barr, Julie Carr Smyth, Mark Williams, Matt Reed, Kantele Franko and Stephen Majors in Columbus, Terry Kinney in Cincinnati and Thomas J. Sheeran in Cleveland contributed to this report.
