The Cleveland Free Times has a good profile of challenger Bill O'Neill (D) running for OH-14 (in the northeast corner of Ohio) against incumbent Republican Steven LaTourette. Also, Hillary Clinton will be in the district campaigning for Barack Obama Friday morning in Kirtland.

O'Neill's race has not received much attention outside the district, but with his strong and varied background as a Vietnam vet, journalist, union organizer, lawyer, appeals judge, pediatric nurse, and single father, he has a shot at winning this district with a PVI of just R+2. LaTourette has angered many constituents by voting for the Iraq war, breaking his promise and voting for the CAFTA trade deal, breaking his promise to leave after 12 years in office, and dumping his wife for a Washington lobbyist.

Background on the race here and here, and more on LaTourette here.

There's more...

Here is an annotated list of the 7 Congressional races in Ohio in which Democrats appear to have a chance at taking seats currently held by Republicans. This update of an earlier (September 7) diary includes total receipts and cash on hand (CoH) figures for the end of the 3rd quarter (September 30) plus independent expenditures on behalf of the candidates.

There's more...

Inspired by this calitics analysis of races in California, here is an annotated list of the 7 Congressional races in Ohio in which Democrats appear to have a chance at taking seats currently held by Republicans.

There's more...

As I am sure most of you saw. Three more Republicans were recently entangled in the Abramoff probe. Of particular interest to me is Ohio Representative Steven LaTourette. While not usually considered vulnerable, this whiff of an Abramoff thing is all it takes to push the race into the competitive category. The question is can we come up with a candidate and a message to make this one a legit race? More on the flip.

There's more...