Sarah Palin

Rob Portman defended John McCain and Sarah Palin's campaign for president at the Republican Governors Association meeting in Miami.

Portman, the former U.S. representative from Cincinnati and Bush administration official, toured Ohio with McCain throughout the campaign. At the RGA's press conference Wednesday, Portman stood by the choice of McCain for the GOP's presidential nomination.

MSNBC's First Read reports that Portman "insisted he was the best there was and was facing an incredible headwind" and also defended Palin's preparedness to be president after "an awkward pause...."

Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin attacked Barack Obama for saying he wants to "bankrupt" companies that build coal plans.

Palin was campaigning in Marietta Sunday when she grasped onto Obama comments from a 2007 interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. 

“So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can,” Obama said. “It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”

• More Portman for Treasury speculation.
  
  
• Election day could be an all-nighter. "It will likely be past midnight before full Ohio results are in for the presidential election - thanks in part to the rush of about 1.5 million early votes, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said Thursday."
  
  
• Bruuuuuuuce! 80,000 turned out in Cleveland to see Bruce Springsteen (and Barack Obama). Shortly after Obama started joking about Vice Preisdent Cheney, it started to rain. "You notice what happened when I started talking about Dick Cheney?"
  
  
• Politico: Falsified registrations become votes. "There are already documented examples of fraudulent registrations being converted into fraudulent votes in Ohio, where ACORN and other groups were active. Darrell Nash, an ACORN registration worker, submitted an illegal form for himself and then cast a paper ballot during the state's "early voting" period."
  
  
• Sarah Palin and Joe Biden will both be in Ohio on Monday.


• The state of the presidential race:

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State Sen. Kirk Schuring (R-Jackson Twp.) warmed up the crowd Sunday morning at McKinley High School auditorium before remarks from Republican vice-presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska).

"The political pundits and pollsters have said this presidential race is tightening," Schuring said. "I'm going to predict victory for John McCain and Sarah Palin. They will be the comeback kids and win on Tuesday."

Schuring said that the Democratic ticket was offering more government.

"We must unleash the America spirit," Schuring said. "The work is not over. We won't stop working until the last poll closes on Tuesday."

Both U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) have alluded over the past week to U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) being a socialist. They've walked right up to the line of explicitly saying he is a socialist, but haven't crossed it. Their comments have been scrutinized by the national media in the context of other statements about Obama including those from U.S. Rep. Michele Bachman (R-Minn.) who said she was concerned he "may have anti-American views." Bachman's comments in particular, and the intense national media attention that followed them, resulted in her opponent being flooded with campaign contributions from across the country.

Last week, U.S. Sen. George Voinovich (R-Cleveland) was equally direct with his criticism of Obama. "With all due respect, the man is a socialist,” he said.

A poll conducted by Ohio State University and the University of Wisconsin shows Barack Obama with a 13-point lead over John McCain.

Obama has 53 percent support to McCain's 41 percent. 

McCain has a 48-percent favorability rating to Obama's 60 percent. Fifty-six percent have a favorable opinion of Joe Biden, comapred to 55 percent. 

The Democratic and Republican parties of Ohio are challenging one another’s senior members to denounce their respective nominee’s attacks.

The Ohio Democratic Party sent a press release earlier today wondering why U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, House Speaker Jon Husted or Rob Portman haven’t “stepped up and decried” attacks on Barack Obama like some Republicans have in other states.

In recent days Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) refused to say Obama is a socialist; U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) asked for McCain direct mail to be suspended and U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) condemned Democratic and Republican negative campaigning.

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.

Strickland and Brown at a press conference Monday: Politicker PhotoCOLUMBUS - Ohio's most senior Democrats told PolitickerOH.com that Barack Obama is closing the deal with Ohio voters, helping clear the obstacle of race that may have held him back in previous months.

"First of all I think he has a message that resonates with the people of Ohio, and that's an economic message," Gov. Ted Strickland said. "I think it will be close but in the end Ohio will support Barack and i think Barack Obama will be the next president."

John McCain and Sarah Palin started their campaign together at Dayton's Nutter Center two months ago but will move up to a Cincinnati airplane hangar next week for their rally.

Wednesday McCain and Palin will hold a rally at a hangar at Lunken Airport, the campaign announced. Joining them will be country musician Gretchen Wilson, who'll start the rally at 5:30.

Doors open at 3:00 at Hangar C off of Wilmer Ave.

Ticket information follows: