Polls are now closed in OH-05. Results will be updated HERE.

Also we may get live reports from HQ where they're watching local TV coverage.

Swing State Project has a handy chart of baseline numbers for how each county performed in 2006 when Robin Weirauch won 43% of the vote.

Update [2007-12-11 19:49:47 by Todd Beeton]:OK, they're taking their sweet time. Anyone care to make some predictions?

<Update [2007-12-11 22:6:52 by Todd Beeton]: Results are trickling, and I do mean trickling in.

With 79.13% precincts reporting:

Latta (R): 56.05%
Weirauch (D): 43.77 %

And by the way, check out this sweet interactive election returns map.

Update [2007-12-11 22:2:52 by Todd Beeton]:The AP has officially called it for Latta. Good effort everyone and thanks to all the volunteers on the ground and of course, Robin. If there's a takeaway, it's that it's going to take outspending us 2 to 1 to keep Democratic challengers to 2006 levels and we all know they just don't have that kind of money. We made them blow a huge wad of cash this time around.

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From lpackard over at dailyKos:

Polls are open here until 7:30pm. The verdict so far? Because of the weather we believe turnout is low. But nobody knows if that is good or bad. It's doubly important that if you know anybody living in the district, you call them now and ask them to go vote for Robin. If you're on Facebook, you can use this event to invite your friends and family to go vote. But a personal phone call is probably best.

The weather is pretty uniformly bad. It's been raining or misting or about to rain all day. At least it isn't icy out. Supposed to be in the upper 30s for the rest of the day.

From Ohio Daily Blog:

This afternoon Robin Weirauch spoke to an ebullient crowd of AFL/CIO members phonebanking at IBEW Local 8 in Rossford, Ohio. Weirauch was introduced as "the next Congressional representative from the 5th District" to foot-stomping and boisterous cheering. "The Republican Party has spent 16% of their available resources into this race," the introducer continued. "This shows that we have a good candidate. This was supposed to be a walkaway for any Republican, just like was for the last 70 years. But we've got the candidate, we've got the momentum, and we're going to win."

And some similar sentiments from Buckeye State Blog:

The energy in the union hall was electric. These folks were excited about the prospect of electing a member of Congress who actually represents them. Robin knows how to connect with the predominantly middle class, blue collar people who make up the 5th district. Her secret is pretty simple. She not only knows what is happening economically, socially, and politically in NW Ohio, but she cares about the people who live here and about their futures. Her message is sincere.

We are down to the final few hours. Every call made, every door knocked, every voter contacted could be the one thing that pushes Weirauch over the top. If you have any friends or family who votes in OH-5, get on your phone right now and remind them that today is the day to make history in Ohio.

Great stuff. Still have just over 2 hours before polls close, so help the GOTV effort if you can.

Update [2007-12-11 17:49:1 by Todd Beeton]:Heh. Poor Bob Latta:

Reports are coming in from Weirauch volunteers that there is not a ‘lotta’ love for Bob Latta in Van Wert, Ohio. Bob Latta was scheduled to meet voters in the predominately red city of Van Wert at 2pm today. According to two canvassers on location, Latta pulled up to find a TV camera but no Latta supporters in sight.

Latta sat in his car for 15 minutes with his head in his hands, and then a Latta staffer got out, talked to the cameraman, and told him to pack up. The staffer then got in the car and they drove off. Latta went all the way to Van Wert, which is in the far western part of the district, and didn’t even get out of the car.

I think it is fair to say that he is not having a very good day.

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Via Facebook:

Subject: Vote TODAY!

Thank you for your support for my election campaign. It has meant so much to me. Now the day we have all been waiting for, Election Day, is finally here! Here's what you need to know about voting today.

Polls are open from 6:30am - 7:30pm. Please be sure to be in line by 7:30pm, and don't forget to bring ID!

Find your polling place: http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sosapps/elect ions/pollinglocationquery.aspx

As our Senator Sherrod Brown said this weekend, if you can get 5 people to vote today, it will actually matter. Please, contact your neighbors, friends and family and make sure they vote today too.

Let's go vote!

P.S. If you want to volunteer for my campaign today, please stop by the office anytime at 116 S. Main, Bowling Green or call 419-352-1583. To sign up for phonebanking from home, email phonebank4robin@gmail.com.

Robin Weirauch's Facebook group has used Facebook wisely, creating a sort of up to the minute OH-05 information and content hub that is also able to disseminate information simply and quickly. It will no doubt serve as a model for how campaigns can exploit social networking sites next year.

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• Jim Himes, Democratic candidate taking on Chris Shays in CT-04 has stepped up to rally his supporters to phonebank for Robin Weirauch in OH-05 and Phil Forgit in VA-01. In the wake of the news that Chris Shays injected himself into the OH-05 race by contributing $2,000 to Weirauch's opponent, Bob Latta, in the waning days of the campaign, Himes sent out an e-mail to his list:

  We don't have as much money to throw around as Chris Shays' campaign does, but we do have "people power" -- can you set aside an hour or two to make some phone calls to help get out the vote for Robin and Phil?

  Contact Robin Weirauch's campaign here: phonebank4robin@gmail.com

  Or to help Phil Forgit's campaign, contact Adam White, Deputy GOTV director: adwhite07@gmail.com

  If you can make some get-out-the-vote phone calls today or tomorrow, an hour or two of your time can make a big difference in these very close races.  Wouldn't it be great to end 2007 with two more Democratic seats in Congress?

  Indeed. Have you made calls for Robin or Phil yet? It's not too late. Take up Himes's call to action.

  And find out how you can help Himes finish off his quarter strong HERE.

• As if these special elections weren't going to be low turnout enough, the weather forecast in OH-05 is pretty miserable: 90% chance of precipitation combined with near freezing temperatures. This is truly going to come down to GOTV and who's more motivated. By the sound of things on the ground, that certainly seems to favor Robin Weirauch. You've got strong absentee ballot returns, Obama supporters stepping up to phonebank for Weirauch, not to mention some incredibly passionate volunteers on the ground working til all hours for Robin. This is great to see and is exactly the sort of perfect storm we'll need to win this seat. Keep it up!
• It may not be getting the coverage that OH-05 is but in VA-01, Phil Forgit is running one hell of a campaign. He received the endorsement of the local Daily Press over the weekend (a key line: "Forgit represents momentum toward the pragmatic middle, and toward solutions, which is where Congress needs to go" -- no liberal rag, they) and Forgit really impressed at this debate on Friday against his two opponents, Republican Rob Wittman and self-described conservative Independent Lucky Narain (h/t Raising Kaine.) The fact that Wittman and Narain may split conservative votes in the district is something that's gone relatively unexplored and could really make an impact in Forgit's favor tomorrow. So don't count this guy out.

These two districts are really red; they really shouldn't be all that competitive but we've seen what we can accomplish with special elections through intensified GOTV efforts. So, call or e-mail your friends and family in the districts, get them out to vote and e-mail the folks above about doing some last minute phonebanking. These races are going to come down to the wire and Robin and Phil need all the help we can give them.

There's more...

One day out, a view from the ground - Todd

(disclosure: I am volunteering out here for Robin Weirauch for Congress)

In case you hadn't heard, we had an ice storm here in OH-05 (it was too icy to play hockey in Toledo). However, that sure wasn't going to stop the Weirauch campaign volunteers. I took some time out from keeping the printers and our network going to go out for a bit in that mess along with an army of very dedicated (and thoroughly soaked) volunteers. This is how icy it was. I actually broke my scraper trying to clear the windshield.

(photos after the flip)

Update [2007-12-10 15:0:46 by Todd Beeton]:Also, dailykos has a piece on just how discouraged the GOP is about this race; also, check out local blogs Buckeye State Blog and Ohio Daily Blog who brings us the good news that absentee ballot returns are "closer than expected" and this tidbit:

I just checked ActBlue and Robin has received $90,066 from 1208 contributors. Wow. Over at the rightwing equivalent, SlateCard.com, Bob Latta has received $1,808 from 20 contributors. Poor Bob! Lots of money from fat cats, but not much grass roots love.

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