Bob Cusack at The Hill writes about U.S. Rep. John Boehner's emergence as a leader in the Republican party even during a time of turmoil.

"Despite being a top House GOP leader as Democrats picked up 30 seats in 2006 and 24 in 2008 (including special elections), Boehner’s power has grown in recent weeks," says Cusack.

Some Members of Congress are more technologically savvy than others, and according to SourceWatch, three from Ohio are using the micro-blogging tool Twitter to keep their constituents aware of their actions (out of a total of 32 across the country):

• John Boehner 
• Bob Latta
• Tim Ryan

Latta seems to have figured it out, though he hasn't updated his account since Nov. 17. Boehner's is essentially a glorified RSS feed for his press releases, and Ryan updates roughly once a week. This morning he wrote that he's "In recess for the day."

A two year long renovation of one of the state's most politically relevant landmarks, The Golden Lamb, was recently completed. The history of the state's oldest hotel, operating in Lebanon since 1803, is intertwined with the state's politics.

The Southern Ohio Ladies Aside, Cleveland Firefighters Memorial Pipes and Drums, and the Ohio State University Marching Band have all been invited to march in the Inaugural Parade to take place in Washington, D.C. after President-elect Barack Obama is sworn into office.

The three groups were selected from nearly 1,400 organizations that applied to march in the parade.

In January, Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus) will become the first Democrat to hold the 15th Congressional District seat since Robert T. Secrest in 1967.

Secrest, in turn, was the only other Democrat to have represented the district since 1919. He served between 1933 and 1967, but during that span he resigned three times -- the first time to serve in the Navy during World War II. He won ten of his 11 general election bids for the seat, losing only in 1946, his first run after returning from the war. Secrest also served between 1949-54 and 1963-67.

This week's Winners & Losers. | CLICK HERE

The Gannett chain is laying off workers across the country, and their newspapers in Ohio were not spared the pain. The Gannett blog, which is run by a former Gannett editor and reporter (and has no formal affiliation with Gannett Co.), has been one of the main sources of information regarding the layoffs. Gannett staffers have been posting comments -- many anonymously -- with whatever limited information they have about layoffs at their papers. Using this information, the blog estimates that nearly 1800 jobs have been cut so far across the Gannett network.

The 15th Congressional District contest between Mary Jo Kilroy (D) and Steve Stivers (R) is still too close to call. Unofficially, Stivers leads by about 150 (currently at 594) votes out of more than 250,000 cast, but the counting isn't over and it would go to a recount if the final margin is less than half of one percent.

Kilroy's been through this before. The last time the result was similarly close was in 2006 when she narrowly lost to former U.S. Rep. Deborah Pryce (R). The margin was so close that a recount was required. Pryce won re-election by just over 1,000 votes out of 220,000.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Lorain) was one of just 13 senators in the Democratic caucus who one week ago voted to strip Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) of his chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security.

Today's Hotline reports that former Secretary of State Ken Blackwell "is now considering a bid" for chair of the Republican National Committee. In August, Blackwell was named vice chairman of the RNC's platform committee.

If he were to run, he would join an increasingly crowded field that so far includes Michigan Republican Party chair Saul Anuzis, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, former Mike Huckabee campaign chair Chip Saltsman and South Carolina Republican Party chair Katon Dawson.