George W. Bush

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The Ohio Republican Party responded to the news that the Ohio Democratic Party plans to begin airing a TV ad that highlights the loss of jobs in Ohio during the Bush administration by saying that pointing fingers is not going to put people back to work.

ODP executive director Doug Kelly told supporters in an e-mail soliciting contributions that the ad, "Not Numbers," will win the election in Ohio.

The ad comes after the ODP issued a report Monday highlighting job losses in Ohio over the past eight years.

ORP deputy chair Kevin DeWine responded on behalf of Republicans.

"Pointing fingers will not put people back to work," DeWine said. "Ted Strickland said if Ohioans elected him governor he would turn around Ohio's economy, yet he's presided over the highest unemployment rate in nearly two decades."

Liberal political action committee TruthandHope.org is on air in Ohio with a television ad linking John McCain to George W. Bush.

The PAC's chair Eugene Hedlund said "Judgement" is airing right now and will be followed with "Thank John McCain." 

Federal Election Commission reports show that the PAC has paid advertising company Spotrunner.com $4,800 for television ads. The company is also airing an ad in Michigan.

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Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) was fired up Wednesday night in Youngstown, Ohio.

Biden spoke to the Mahoning Valley crowd in downtown Youngstown for 25 minutes, and talked about Republican presidential nominee John McCain's bogus "change" credentials, the economy and how it's time to "get up."

Biden said that McCain was promising the same things that President Bush did in 2000, and cited how Bush had not held up any of his promises of fiscal responsibility and bipartisanship.

Gov. Ted Strickland drew large applause at the Democratic convention when he made fun of President Bush and his economic record by saying the president "came into office on third base, and then he stole second." 

After Strickland announced millions in budget cuts due to a defecit, the Ohio Republican Party is using Strickland's joke against him.

Ohio Republican Party deputy chair Kevin DeWine said Strickland inherited budget surpluses from the Taft administration but squandered them.

"I guess you could say Ted Strickland came into office on third base, and then he stole second," DeWine said.

COLUMBUS - Gov. Ted Strickland said the national economy's performance has put Ohio's budget into deficit and called on President Bush and Congress to stimulate the economy.

Strickland said the national economy has slowed and taken Ohio down with it, reducing tax revenue and creating a $540 million budget shortfall for the final year of the state's biennial budget.

"Certainly the best long-term solution is to get the national and Ohio economies moving again," he said.

In the meantime, Strickland ordered $199 million in budget cuts and $339 million in "cash adjustments" to keep the state's budget in balance. The largest change to the budget is a 4.75 percent cut to the budgets of most state agencies. Strickland said these measures come after $733 million in budget adjustments last January.

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MINNEAPOLIS -- Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) said he didn't believe President Bush would affect the Republican National Convention if he were or were not to attend.

Pawlenty, who the main host of the convention and spoke to the Ohio Delegation this morning, was asked by PolitickerOH.com if it was a good for the party that Bush would not speak tonight. Pawlenty said it didn't matter either way if Bush attended, even though his approval rating is about 30 percent.

"I think Senator McCain has established his own identiy and his own brand so I don't know that President Bush's presence being here or not being here is oging to effect that one way or the other," Pawlenty said.

Pawlenty said Bush is still fairly well-liked inside the GOP.