Mike Crites

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon that he was not interested in being appointed to the position of state treasurer.

Mallory was responding to several news reports that speculated he may be leaving Cincinnati for the position.

On Election Day, Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray (D-Pleasant Twp.) won his race for Ohio attorney general against former U.S. Attorney Mike Crites (R-Powell). Cordray's win will leave a vacancy in the state treasurer's office, which will be filled through an appointment by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (D-Lisbon).

COLUMBUS – Republican attorney general candidate Mike Crites conceded his race against Richard Cordray (D) Tuesday night, but told PolitickerOH.com he will consider future campaigns.

Crites, a former U.S. attorney for the southern district of Ohio, ran his first political campaign this year for attorney general. Crites said he’ll think things over in the next few weeks.

“There are going to be a lot of different options and there are going to be different ways to approach it,” Crites said, adding that he would want to talk to his campaign consultant, Mark Weaver.

State Treasurer Richard Cordray is projected by the Associated Press to win election as Ohio’s next attorney general, his second elected statewide office in as many years.

Cordray (D-Pleasant Twp.) won 69 percent against former U.S. Attorney Mike Crites (R-Powell) 27 percent. Independent Robert Owens won about 4 percent.

Cordray was elected treasurer in 2006 and previously served as Franklin County treasurer.

Democrats may win all three statewide votes they're pushing come Election Day, according to a poll by the Columbus Dispatch.

Attorney general candidate Richard Cordray (D-Pleasant Twp.) is beating Mike Crites (R-Powell) by 17 points, 57 to 40 percent. Independent Robert Owens has 3 percent support.

Ballot issue 5, which seeks to revoke payday lending regulations limiting high interest rates for short-term loans, looks to be defeated by 69 percent of voters. (A "yes" vote would keep the low interest rate.)

Issue 5 has widespread, bipartisan opposition

A poll conducted by Suffolk University shows Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) leading Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) by 9 percentage points among likely Ohio voters in the race for president.

The poll was conducted October 16 to October 19 among a sample of 600 likely voters with a +/- 4 percent margin of error.

The poll showed Obama getting 51 percent support compared to 42 percent for McCain, and 3 percent undecided. Respondents who said their minds are made up on the election amounted to 87 percent, compared to 10 percent saying they might change their mind.

The Ohio’s Future political action committee, headed by former U.S. Rep. Rob Portman (R-Cincinnati), gave $8,000 to GOP candidates during the third fundraising quarter.

The PAC’s Federal Election Commission report shows contributions to attorney general candidate Mike Crites, state Reps. Bill Bachelder and Josh Mandel, state House candidates Bob Mecklenborg, Shannon Jones, Virgil Lovitt, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Maureen O’Connor and the Gallia Co. Republican Party.

During the last three months the PAC raised about $5,500. PAC director Andrew Ciafardini said Portman has been careful not to try to raise money for the committee while taking it away from other Republicans.

COLUMBUS -- Richard Cordray is leading in the polls and fully stocked with money but that hasn’t caused him to shy away from hitting Mike Crites in the race for attorney general.

The first attorney general debate sponsored by the Columbus Rotary Club took place Monday afternoon at the Hyatt Regency where Cordray (D-Pleasant Twp.) and Crites (R-Powell) tangled about whose qualifications best suit them to be the state’s top lawyer.

Crites, a former U.S. attorney for the southern district of Ohio and private-practice attorney, said he should be elected because of his decades of prosecutorial experience. Cordray has been treasurer for less than two years and prior to that Franklin County treasurer and state solicitor.

Electing someone who has not managed a legal operation will set up the state for another Marc Dann scandal, Crites said.

An elections complaint filed by attorney general candidate Mike Crites against opponent Richard Cordray will not be heard by the Ohio Elections Commission before Election Day.

Crites' complaint is that Cordray accepted money that was allegedly laundered from a wealthy Wachovia Securities trader to his step daughter before being donated to Cordray, and allegedly exceeded campaign contribution limits.

OEC executive director Phil Richter said this issue is not one that requires the commission to automatically expedite its hearing. 

"It's been the commission's historic position not to expedite those matters," he said.

A new ad by Republican attorney general candidate Mike Crites is explicitly saying Richard Cordray supported former attorney general Marc Dann.

The ad, which has aired at least once on Columbus television this week, has video of Cordray endorsing Dann in 2006.

"....Someone who with investigative power will make things right in this state and not allow things to go wrong as they have time and time again in Columbus, our candidate for attorney general, Marc Dann," Cordray said in the ad.

Richard Cordray’s campaign may file a complaint against attorney general rival Mike Crites over a contribution he received weeks after promising to dismiss a lawsuit if elected as the state’s top attorney.

Crites received $5,000 from the RPM Manufacturing in America's political action committee on August 31, according to contribution reports filed with the secretary of state. Ten days earlier Crites announced that if he became attorney general he’d drop the Ohio’s lawsuit against 10 companies over a lead paint complaint.

Cordray’s campaign alleges that this donation and Crites’ subsequent promise to dismiss the lawsuit amounts to a quid pro quo under state law and is grounds for a possible complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission.