Mike Williams, Point 41: 50 free tickets for his side

A FEW WEEKS AGO, Mike Williams, the candidate who wants to unseat Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic in the Sept. 13 Democratic primary, proposed an astonishing 40 points that he believed would carry him to victory in the Sept. 13 Democratic primary. Somehow, it didn't include his demand for 50 free seats for the scheduled Aug. 8 debate with the mayor and a third candidate on the ballot, Janice Davis.

That 41st point arrived this week and the combined sponsors of the Akron Press Club and Bliss Institute delivered on his request. At $20 a head for a program series that raises money for college scholarships, that comes to a $1,000 gross gate, even if the freebies would not include lunch. (The seat could have been sold to paying guests.) The event is already sold out at nearly 300, so the hosts agreed to move the event from the traditional Martin Center ballroom to the more accommodating Student Union. The freebies will await their entry until lunch is served before arriving at a specially designated section of the room.

How nice. And with a huge crowd, it could be a seating and parking nightmare. But I'm sure that a room with a view was all that Williams had in mind. I was told that he first asked that everybody get a free ticket in a public spectacle. The Plusquellic forces were left with little leeway to respond to the 50-ticket request, the first of its kind in the many years that I once served as the program chairman.

The response is as puzzling as the Press Club's preferential treatment for then Republican congressional candidate, Tom Ganley, in his losing campaign against Rep.Betty Sutton. When he refused to debate her, he was offered a free pass to appear alone (She spoke at another time). Ganley's solo appearance also was a club first in a series that called for a debate. But in the latest retreat, there was no explanation as to why a minimum 50 free-seat package was included in the deal.

This shouldn't be a big problem for the mayor. He could settle the issue by asking for 50 free tickets for his side, too. Fair enough, Mike?

UPDATE: David Cohen, the University of Akron political science professor and Press Club board member who is handling arrangements for the mayoral debate, has contested my report that Mike Williams was solely offered 50 free reservations for the event. Cohen insists that the 50 freebies for folks who will not be eating lunch will be open on a first-come first serve basis to Williams, Mayor Plusquellic or any public spectator as long as the supply lasts. He did confirm, however, that Williams had first asked that all of the tickets be free for the debate at a venue big enough to accommodate the anticipated crowd. The event has now been moved from the Martin Center to the UA Student Union. The seating assignments dividing the payers and non-payers may still be complicated when the crowd presses forward.

Political stuff that won't cure a headache

ELECTION LEFTOVERS (Best if accompanied by aspirin ):

For all of the raging political attacks on the bailouts of auto companies, including critics like auto dealer Tom Ganley, did you happen to see that General Motors has paid back the Federal government in full, plus interest? Sales of GM and other companies have all risen, which analysts attribute to a rise in consumer confidence. They also note that without the

$50 billion bailout, which saved thousands of workers' jobs up and down the line, GM would have been liquidated. So may we now say, in the rhetoric of the times, that GM got its company back?

There's some fresh conjecture that when the Republican head hunters start carving up new congressional districts in Ohio to accommodate the state's impending loss of two seats, they will match up two Democrats in Northern Ohio - Reps. Betty Sutton and Dennis Kucinich - to kick out one of them. There's a precedent: to eliminate Rep. Tom Sawyer, the ex-Akron-based congressman, Republicans so butchered the county that it was divided among three congressmen. It later cost Sawyer his job, but the GOP and Summit County Republican Chairman Alex Arshinkoff netted nothing from it because Sawyer's district was pieced out to two Democrats and one Republican. Inasmuch as there isn't a Democratic congressman left south of Akron, the options this time are limited as to who will be sent into retirement.

Speaking of Arshinkoff, he told the Beacon Journal that he is now so happy with the election results that "I can't see straight." Careful when you get behind the wheel to head to your favorite restaurant, Alex. There are sure to be other cars on the road. Wouldn't it be safer if you hired a chauffeur and expensed it to party headquarters.?

More talk now that outgoing Gov. Ted Strickland will appoint Atty. Gen. Richard Cordray, one of the brightest Democratic officeholders defeated Tuesday, to the Ohio Supreme court vacancy. Good move, if it happens.

It's no small irony that six of eight Democratic representatives who opposed the extension of unemployment benefits and were on Tuesday's ballots are out of work, having been dispatched by the voters. Also, Blue Dog Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a Democrat who gave the White House a headache. also was defeated. Shouldn't that say something about sticking to your beliefs instead of appeasing the other side? Are you listening, President Obama?

Kasich, DeWine create jobs- for themselves!

IF EVER AN election was preordained - or God's will, as some of the victors will call it - Tuesday's results will do nicely for a class in Politics 101. For some time, the national pundits had been convinced that life, as the Democrats once knew it, was over. The economy, a bottomless supply of campaign money, Tea Party hysterics and a determined assault on President Obama's policies from the board rooms of powerful corporate interests were a deadly brew for the party in temporary power. It was even worse in Ohio, where Cuyahoga County woke up each morning to more evidence of Democratic corruption, Gov. Strickland was burdened with a serious recession not of his own making in a state where manufacturing jobs had already been vanishing back in the years when Republicans had long controlled everything in Columbus but the course of the Scioto River..

As a so-called swing state, Ohio also finds a way to eat its young, as it did in the defeat of Atty. Gen. Richard Cordray, one of its most promising younger voices, to a bland Republican

retread, Mike DeWine, who came along for ride because as a once-defeated U.S. senator, he needed a job. (And so much for the unanimous scintillating major newpaper endorsements of Cordray!)

At the national level, it does discourage optimism for the nation's future when John Boehner says, yeah, we'll work with Obama but only if we don't compromise any Republican principles. It sounds like the comment that has often been attributed to Nikita Khrushchev that "what's mine is mine and what's yours is negotiable."

Or how about Mitch McConnell's pledge that the GOP's top priority was to make Obama a one-term president - this from the Senate minority leader who couldn't even get his own man nominated in Kentucky's Republican primary.

Well, it's now up to the Republicans in Ohio and across the land to see what they can do to turn the economy around by reducing the budget deficit and cutting taxes at the same time. If they seriously believe it can be done that will qualify them for the White Queen's boast to Alice in Through the Looking- Glass that she could believe six impossible things before breakfast.

FOOTNOTES: There was one bright spot in Ohio on Tuesday: Democratic Rep. Betty Sutton's convincing defeat of Tom Ganley, the conservative auto dealer who once had boasted that he would put up $6 million of his own money for his campaign. The moral: Even successful businessmen make bad investments ....

Some talk around town centers on Summit County Republican Chairman Alex Arshinkoff's future now that he will claim to be a preeminent force ($$$ ) in Kasich's election. Some say that Arshinkoff will have less of a chance getting a job in the new administration than getting appointed to the University of Akron Board of Trustees, a position he once held. If so, it will be fun to watch how that plays out.

Scary signs of the times: Tea Party Republican Carl Paladino's snarling appearance before his crowd with a baseball bat after he was thrashed in the New York gubernatorial race by Democrat Andrew Cuomo. Paladino , a wealthy real estate developer, vowed he would return, and waved the bat that would serve as his weapon.

Tom Ganley: The bombast of wanting your country back

TOM GANLEY, whom we all know as a wealthy auto dealer, opened his remarks at the Akron Press Club luncheon Tuesday with a cry that must have echoed across the entire University of Akron campus. Adding his voice to the current Tea Party manifesto, the Republican nominee for the 13th Congressional District declared:

"I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK."

We can only hope that we will get at least some of it back when the shouting ends moments after Election Day, but not for the reasons that have so steamed up Ganley and the right-wing candidate class this most discordant election season. Still it was Ganley's moment to preach to his choir what it already knows. Since the guy loves to come at us with statistics, let me add a few: More than 80 pct. of the 103 in attendance were seated at tables reserved by their boss. There was a handful of mindful Republicans at another table. As a seasoned regular at Press Club luncheons, I can only say they used to be a lot more fun.

Attendance figures would be remarkably insignificant except that he went down the same road when he said that he refused to debate Rep. Betty Sutton at the Akron Press Club and Cleveland City Club because he will only show up on a "fair" playing field where his opponent wouldn't have packed the hall with her friendly "outside" organizational supporters (notwithstanding the 10 tables his campaign reserved!) . Obviously not aware of a press club's open door policy, Ganley later backtracked on the insult to the Akron Press Club, saying he was largely talking about the Cleveland City Club. Too late, Tom. You did show up at the very same lectern when you had it all to yourself. Go figure.

He did want you to know in an imperious delivery that he was (1)a successful businessman (2) that he was a successful businessman and (3 to 32 ) that he was a successful businessman with 32 aut0 dealerships in Ohio.

Easing slightly away from the Tea Partiers' aroused attacks on President Obama's religion and birthplace, Ganley said he honestly didn't know what religion Obama practiced nor where he was born. For God's sake, Hawaii, Mr. Ganley, Hawaii, where all of those darker skinned Americans wear outrageous floral shirts and hula skirts.

Not much else is worth reporting because you've already heard it so many times as we tiptoe through a landscape of Halloween goblins: we can solve our economic problems by cutting corporate and individual taxes, Obamacare must be defunded ,the budget must be balanced, it was wrong to bail out General Motors and Chrysler, government is wrong to fund the arts, and corporate and individual taxes should be - oops, I already reported that, didn't I.

But there's no need to tell him, in the lingo of the day, to man up. He assured us that nobody owns him and that he packs a concealed weapon. Won't argue with that.

Where are Dubya and Alex these days?

WITH TWO WEEKS to go until Election Day, things have gotten awfully quiet for two Republican compatriots who had no trouble grabbing headlines in past campaigns - George Bush and Alex Arshinkoff. Some observers say the former president has been pre-occupied with the fortunes of the Texas Rangers in the playoffs - a team in which he once held a handsome stake. But I suspect that Republicans find him much more valuable to their fortunes if he remains in the distant centerfield seats where his mere presence won't remind people of the debris he left behind.

Arshinkoff, the Summit County Republican Chairman, may be another matter. In the past he has bombastically shared the stage at rallies in the county for his GOP brethren to flag the party loyalists to the polls. Not so, this year. No big rallies hereabouts, no Arshinkoff. Last summer he even denied knowledge of a fundraiser for Tom Ganley, the Republican challenger to Rep. Betty Sutton, even though the 13 th district covers a lot of ground in the county.

I can only guess that his pal, gubernatorial candidate John Kasich, has told him to remain under wraps to avoid stirring up the kind of controversy that Arshinkoff is known to inspire at campaign time. You may recall that he once threatened to boycott United Way because an innocent scavenger hunt had a Democratic campaign office on its itinerary. He also tore up the GOP playbook by challenging the Republican Hudson City Council that ordered him to take down a big Bush sign from his front yard because it violated the village's zoning ordinance.

Will he still materialize before Election Day? Hard to know about anything he will do. Meantime, the silence is golden.

Bizzaro: Why did Ganley slash his TV advertising?

A FUNNY THING happened to Tom Ganley on his road map to Congress. But I'm not sure what it is. To call the campaign bizarre would be true enough but still leave the question unanswered. What began more than a year ago as the auto dealer's boastful entry into politics as a short-lived senate candidacy with a $6 million war chest, flinched yesterday with the report that he is suspending his TV advertising campaign as a congressional rival to unseat U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton.

The explanation from his campaign manager, Jeff Longstreth, was just as bizarre. The candidate was looking for a way to "break through the clutter" of political ads on Ohio's airwaves. Well, that will surely occur if Ganley pockets his millions and, as Longstreth reports, spends no more than $300,000 on cable TV and radio.

The announcement drew all sorts of puzzled speculation on Ganley's intent. One source suggested that he was cutting his losses because his campaign might be going south. Another said that it was an expression that he was well ahead of Sutton. And another political observer familiar with the campaign predicted that he would lose by 10 points.

Interestingly, many of the published reports referred to recent allegations that he groped a wannabe campaign volunteer. When the story broke in the Plain Dealer more than a week ago, I decided to be the cool guy who would pass on it. There's no avoiding it now. His pullback of the TV ads has hit him with unintended consequences. At least, it has now trumped all of the the criticism of his refusal to meet Sutton in debates.

Congressional debates: What makes Ganley run?

SHOULDN'T SOMEBODY take auto dealer Tom Ganley aside and whisper to him that he is supposed to be a Republican congressional candidate and not a passenger in one of his cruise-controlled demos with a new car warranty? As we have noted more than once, he has rejected invitations to debate his Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton, for the flimsiest of excuses - this from a financially powerful operative who boasts that even as a political rookie in his late 60s, he will turn Congress around as a hard-nosed businessman with no seniority.

The Beacon Journal took note of his evasiveness Sunday. His campaign manager strung out the Akron Press Club for more than a month before agreeing to no more than a solo flight at a club luncheon on Oct. 26. That was sort of an undeserved reward for his adamant refusal to face Sutton on the dais. (She agreed to debate but accepted a luncheon slot on Oct. 20 - alone, of course.)

The Cleveland City Club, the state's prestigious political forum, was not as accommodating to Ganley's rules for a walk on the red carpet. It invited the candidates to debate, but when Ganley refused, it simply said something that sounded like, "Too bad, Tom - Betty Sutton will have the audience all to herself when she appears on Oct. 22." As it should be.

Apparently at a loss for even a mildly lucid explanation on where Ganley is these days, his communications director, Meghan Snyder, told the BJ:

"Tom is ready to debate Betty Sutton, if we can do so in a situation where the only thing on the agenda is the issues. We will not grant her the opportunity to continue to lie about him in a public forum." Good grief, Ms. Snyder. Who decides the issues? And what better way to counter those "lies" than in a public forum with your rival?

On the other hand when a candidate is prepared to spend millions in unchallenged TV ads, he might just as well be campaigning from an isolated pad back in the parts department.

Cash for Clunkers: Which Ganley do you believe?

REPUBLICAN TOM GANLEY, the candidate who refused an invitation from the Akron Press Club to debate U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton, may find that he can't avoid another debate: With himself. That awkward challenge arose in a Plain Dealer PolitiFact/Ohio piece noting that auto dealer Ganley has been slamming the Cash for Clunkers program as a worthless government initiative led by Sutton because "not one job did it create." But the PD reported that a year ago there was a completely different Tom Ganley with effusive praise for the program in a Warner Cable interview by host Tom Conklin.

Let's roll back the tape, in which he declared:

"Once again, the government was searching for ways to stimulate our economy and create jobs. And I'm sure you read General Motors is going to a second shift in Lordstown because of this. That creates jobs; it also creates taxpayers. They are bringing back something close to 1,300 jobs we've stimulated through the Cash for Clunkers. Plus, I have created jobs out of necessity in my stores because of the large volume of folks coming. We are bringing back people that we had laid off."

The paper reported that during the Clunkers period, Ganley's 32 dealerships sold 934 cars worth $20.6 million. Reporter Sabina Eaton said that after reviewing the facts, she concluded that "Ganley clearly changed his tune. We rate his gymnastics to be a Full Flop."

Amateur politician that he is, do you think it's time for him to give himself a seasonal Tuneup?

P.S.: He has now agreed to be a soloist at the Press Club on Oct. 26. Sutton will be there on Oct. 2o.

DeWine, Ganley: Candidates on cruise control

IT'S NOW official that there will be NO debates at the Akron Press Club involving two Republican candidates who appear to have put their campaigns on cruise control. Both Tom Ganley, the GOP challenger to U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton, nor Mike DeWine, who is trying to unseat Atty. Gen. Richard Cordray, have unequivocally turned down invitations to debate their Democratic opponents.

As one who moderated many of the previous Press Club debates before stepping aside a couple of years ago, I'm not inclined to salute this wary twosome for their political wisdom and courage. For better or worse, debates come with the territory, particularly for these guys whose yearnings tell them they ought to be in political office for awhile until something better comes along.

Item: Ganley, the mega-auto dealer who is relying heavily on TV ads, did make a solo appearance at the Press Club last fall when he was running for the U.S. Senate. But he has flinched at the thought of facing an incumbent now that he is running for Congress. (He didn't even show up for Alex Arshinkoff's big finance dinner.) DeWine finally agreed to speak alone on Sept. 28 without the bother of an opponent staring him in the face. So Cordray has had to settle for an appearance sans DeWine on Oct. 7.

There has been a long tradition at the Press Club that when both candidates are invited, there would be an empty chair for either candidate who didn't show up. The Cleveland City Club has played by those rules, too. In this instance, however, Press Club board members tell me that club president Bruce Winges, the Beacon Journal editor, is skittish about having Sutton speak alone without offering Ganley another date for his solo even though he's already been there in a campaign mode. Inexplicably, Winges, in a conciliatory mood, is said to feel that unless he gave Ganley a similar opportunity now it would look too "political" by the Press Club. Good grief! Will there next be an agreement to have Ganley address the club's audience from his patio?

Time out for a little history here: Over the years Democrats have always agreed to debate their opponents. The late Rep John Seiberling never turned down a challenge from his opponent. When the Press Club series began a decade ago, neither Mayor Don Plusquellic nor former County Executive Jim McCarthy failed to show up at the Martin Center on time to face their rivals.

The rules of combat have now changed and the Press Club's front office is riding the fence when there shouldn't be the slightest question about what it should do. Why now?

Ganley, DeWine in a political game of dodge-em

WITH TWO MONTHS to go to the November Election, Republican Tom Ganley seems to have decided to become the stealth candidate against 13th District U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton. His team has flatly refused an invitation to debate Sutton at a luncheon co-sponsored by the Bliss Institute and the Akron Press Club. The refusal comes from a man who would have you believe that as a bold rookie congressman lacking seniority he would still be forceful enough to make significant changes in how they do business on Capitol Hill.

So if you want to know what he thinks and are bored by the TV political commercials, you can get a copy of the right-wing Human Events in which he was recently quoted as seeking to "reopen" all entitlements. There was a bit of a backlash at his automobile agency in Akron yesterday as a group of senior citizens picketed in the fear that he would try to slash Social Security and Medicare, non-discretionary programs .

Ganley is the second Republican to dodge a Press Club debate with the same sponsors. Earlier, former Sen. Mike DeWine rejected a shared dais with Atty. Gen. Richard Cordray. I'm told that he would agree to a solo performance , but not a debate. How will we ever survive all of this forthright action from Mssrs. Ganley and DeWine?

What to ask a Republican candidate

THE TABLOID at the supermarket checkout counter was quite explicit:

OBAMA IS A MUSLIM, the headline screams.

The shoppers can't miss it. More than one will believe it and share his or her conviction with others. Mob ignorance is spreading. Pew Research poll says 18 pct. now believe the myth. Worse yet, 43 pct. are on the fence. The figure is rising. Mainstream Republicans dance around the subject as the cancer spreads in their party. What a disgracefully hateful way to play politics. Is this what desperate partisanship is all about? Oh, well. Glenn Beck will pray for you.

Never in my lifetime has a major political party remained so silent before a Goebbels-type lie.

Never has the nation been so threatened by a party totally without coherence and conscience. So I will try to do what I can. Between now and the November elections I will confront any so-called mainstream Republican candidate and insist that he or she give me a simple yes-or-no answer as follows:

Since politics begin at the local level, to Summit County Republican Chairman Alex Arshinkoff, I would ask: Is President Obama a Muslim? Speak up so the Tea party, to whom you played nice in the primaries, can hear you.

To Republican congressional candidate Tom Ganley, I would ask: Is Obama a Muslim? Yes or no. No weasel's answers like the one you gave to Congressional Quarterly that you, um, don't know.

To Republican gubernatorial candidate and Arshinkoff favorite John Kasich I would ask: Is Obama a Muslim? Yes or no.

To Republican attorney general candidate and Arshinkoff favorite Mike DeWine, I would ask: Is Obama a Muslim? Yes or no.

Unless we do this, how else will know how honest this current breed of right-wingers is going to be as the campaigns progress. So far we haven't heard much more than they want to cut taxes and kill health care reform. I know. The question shouldn't have to be asked. But it is a huge wedge issue that the GOP is using in scandalous ways to take over the country. Trouble is, these guys could very well succeed in further dividing America unless their opponents and the mainstream media start demanding clear answers.

GOYAesque: The squareoff between Sutton and Ganley

THERE WAS quite a contrast between two p0litical events in our area last week, the Summit County Republican Finance Dinner staged behind closed doors at the Akron West Hilton and a wide open fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton at the United Steelworkers Local 21 Hall on Kelly Ave. The first event charged at least $250 per plate for the hundreds of local GOPers who attended; the latter at the union hall asked for $25 and featured bottled water and boxed pizzas. Talk about breeds apart!

The two events clearly defined the opposites that will be projected in the contest between Democrat Betty Sutton, a favorite of organized labor, and Republican Tom Ganley, the wealthy auto dealer who is blanketing the 13th District with his TV auto ads for his 32 dealerships.

In his speech to the Akron Press Club last October, Ganley reminded his audience that he was an ordinary guy from a middle class family in Cleveland whose father was a mechanic and mother a waitress. It was his way of taking a little of the shine off his personal Midas-like bankroll, more than $6 million of which reportedly will be spent on this campaign. Sutton, a lawyer, grew up in Barberton in a family whose father was blue-collar. She won't come close to matching her opponent, dollar for dollar.

So the greater issue in the hall was how much impact Ganrley's money will have on the campaign. Moreover, will the Democrats get out their people to vote this year. They aren't taking chances, several of the union speakers headed by USW International President Leo Gerard bluntly called out the troops in the indelicate language that was current in the days of URW President Pete Bommarito and continues to ricochet in the rafters today.

If Sutton is to win, he declared forcefully , then those in the hall must "GET OFF YOUR ASS."

It's the sort of indelicately blunt talk that has long resonated in the union halls and brought cheers from the listeners. In this instance, the audience included Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic, Summit County Executive Russ Pry and Sen. Sherrod Brown, as well as a number of labor leaders from northeast Ohio. Informality was the standard for the evening.

There was some mention of Sutton's leadership in the Cash for Clunkers program that Ganley trashed while showing a multimillion dollar profit from it. I suspect there will be more of that theme as the campaign progresses. For now, there will be the repeated reminders to GET OFF YOUR ASS and work for Sutton.

Come to think of it, that demand serves perfectly as the acronym for the Spanish painter GOYA. He painted some troubling scenes including one large series of prints that he captioned "The sleep of reason produces monsters." He was a great artist, but how could he have imagined what we're witnessing in campaigns from coast to coast?

Obama a Muslim? More stuff for Bullfinch's Mythology

THE FANCIFUL debate over whether President Obama is indeed a Muslim is the latest right-wing rage that should be confined to the pages of Bullfinch's Mythology. It is the product of a mythological advanced society in which semi-literate (at best!) political opponents and their disciples refuse to accept fact over fiction.

The latest evidence of the effects of the political wallowers are in the new Pew Research study that shows public opinion relating Obama to Muslim beliefs has risen from 11 pct. in March 2009 to 18 pct. in August 2010. But Pew also found that those who said they don't know whether Obama is a Muslim has increased during the same period from 34 pct. to to 43 pct. So when Rush Limbaugh refers to the president as an Imam, he and his kindergarten class know that it's working to damage Obama.

You can add Tom Ganley, the Republican congressional candidate in the Ohio's 13th District, to the "don't know" column, which leaves open the possibility that Obama might very well be you-know-what. When asked by CQ Roll Call, Ganley dodged the question by saying he doesn't "have a position on whether he's a Muslim." (Read: Obama might be - just enough to keep the voters guessing without disturbing the Far Right.)

Thomas Jefferson was a lucky man. There were no well-paid network and cable "news" staffs to advance the issue of whether he was a Deist (he was) nor ask him why he spent so much of his time rewriting the Bible. Wow! Can you possibly imagine how that would go over with the Big Media today?

New rule: If you don't have to debate, don't.

IT'S BEGINNING TO appear that Ohio's Republican candidates are so confident of victory in November that they are reserving their presence for the friendliest of partisan audiences. A case in point is Mike DeWine's decision to reject an invitation from the Bliss Institute and Akron Press Club to debate Atty. Gen. Richard Cordray. You'd think that a former U.S. senator, lawyer and seasoned GOP soldier would not hesitate to cast himself before a mixed audience, no matter his opponent. But then, who is more confident than DeWine of returning to office under the radar from his imposed retirement after his loss to Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2006?

On another GOP front, Tom Ganley's 13th District congressional campaign manager now says no decision will be made on a similar Press Club/Bliss invitation until at least the end of August. By then, of course, program dates should be filled for the hosts. As one who spent years as the Press Club's program chairman before stepping aside two years ago in merciful relief, I always interpreted these long delays as a "Thanks, but no thanks."

And speaking of confidence these days, there's Ganley's campaign manager, Jeff Longstreth. "We're just positioning ourselves to win this." he cheerily told me on the phone . "And right now we're in such good position today that I wish the election was tomorrow."(That projection against Ganley's campaign opponent, Rep. Betty Sutton, does seem a trifle euphoric at this moment, even with Ganley's millions that will be funneled into TV ads. But one of the essentials of a campaign manager is to be euphoric.)

One long-held theory is that the only candidates who accept invitations to debate are those who are running second or worse. The late congressman from Akron, John Seiberling, dashed that theory by accepting all comers even though he was heading for another landslide victory. But Seiberling stubbornly believed in the public's right to know about the candidates who sought their votes, no matter the probable outcome on Election Day. Obviously times have changed for some of today's candidates. And not for the better when a flood of television hyper-ads are created to make a stronger case for you.

Joe Pistone: Tom Ganley's campaign infiltrator

LET THE GAMES BEGIN:

Joe Pistone, a.k.a Donnie Brasco, has been booked - not on criminal charges, for heaven's sake - to arrive in Northern Ohio on July 21 for a major shindig to honor auto dealer Tom Ganley in his quest for the 13th District congressional seat. That's the word from the Ganley camp, who are ecstatic that they can present to the voters a star-quality supporter who likes Ganley. (The recent fund-raising visit by John Boehner doesn't - and shouldn't - count). You may recall a movie that was sort of based on Pistone's life as an FBI undercover operative who infiltrated the New York Mafia for six years and lived to tell about it.

Jeff Longstreth, Ganley's campaign manager, has no further details at this time for the visit. He also says that's the extent of their plans for possible others, although more will be forthcoming. Ganley, who will be 68 this year, wants to reinforce his image as a tough law-and-order guy, and believes FBI has an accommodating sound to it in his bid to defeat Rep. Betty Sutton, the Democrat.

For the moment the Ganley campaign has been relying on TV ads to soak up some of the millions that are being set aside. But Longstreth dismisses questions that his boss will spend $6 million - the figure tossed around when Ganley, a severe conservative, was a senate candidate. But Sutton is already taking advantage of Ganley's campaign wealth by reminding her supporters to be generous with contributions to at least make a dent in his costly high-maintenance campaign to send him to Washington.

The Ganley-Fedeli axis: When $$$ soar

MEGA-AUTO DEALER Tom Ganley's congressional campaign against U.S Rep. Betty Sutton is being defined these days by one striking feature: Money, big money. You may recall that at the grand rollout of his campaign he was said to have pledged $6 million of his own cash for the race. He later "loaned" the campaign $2 million that's likely to be channeled into a TV assault on Sutton. Now comes word that he will be honored at a fund-raiser promoted by his staff in the richly appointed corporate offices (complete with a big restaurant) of the Fedeli Group on Rockside Rd. on June 3. It's owned by another millionaire to the umpteenth power, private insurance broker Umberto Fedeli - from whom many blessings have flowed to Republican candidates. (I'm told Fedeli meets annually with the pope for inspiration at the Vatican.)

The tickets run from $1,000 to $2,500. At that price, it's not likely that you will find any pensioners or undocumented workers in the crowd. The highlight of the evening will be a visit by House minority leader John Boehner, whatever that's worth for a pol whose approval ratings are hanging out in the 20s.

So far, Ganley's name-dropping successes have included an endorsement from true right-winger Bay Buchanan, an appearance on Mike Huckabee's Fox program, with well wishes from the host, and now an elbow-rubbing event with Boehner. None of this would be seductive in a northern Ohio congressional district. Still, with Fedeli aboard, the two could provide a new kitchen in his restaurant to return Sutton, as some would have it, to a woman's traditional role.

Ganley campaign insists on brakes for clunkers

THE PLAIN DEALER'S Sabrina Eaton of the paper's Washington Bureau has opened a Pandora's box with today's piece on the business workings of Republican congressional candidates Tom Ganley and Jim Rinacci. While Ganley, the giant auto dealer who is on the ballot in the 13th District, has made his opposition to government programs a staple of his campaign, Eaton noted that his dealership took advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program with the sale of 934 cars worth $20.6 million. Here, the narrative gets a little sticky for Ganley because after the GOP primary, which he is quite likely to win, he will be running against U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton, the Democratic congresswoman credited with setting up the clunkers program.

Likewise, Rinacci, a conservative whose many business enterprises include a Chevrolet dealership, sold only 40 cars worth $754.167, Eaton reported. In this context with Ganley, Rinacci's sales could have qualified for a flea market.

It is interesting to hear the negative spin that Ganley's campaign chairman put on the trade-in program.

"The program," Jeff Longstreth told Eaton, "was, at its basic level, an unnecessary intrusion of government into the private business sector," adding that it merely helped car buyers and not the dealers. "It was unnecessary federal spending that is indicative of the current administration's policy of spend, spend, spend."

But as Sutton's campaign manager Julie Sweet replied: "If he is now saying it's a bad program, he's trying to sell you something, and it's not a car."

I doubt that you will see many clunker traders lining up at the dealers' counters to return their ill-gotten machines as their patriotic duty. I also doubt that Sutton will take Ganley at his doleful word on the program by returning her Distinguished Service Award from the Ohio Automobile Dealers Association for her work on the clunkers program.

Whose turn is it to make the mashed potatoes?

LADIES, IN CASE you're looking for a job, you might check the Medina County Republican Party. It has an opening in the kitchen and sort of advertised it in a party newsletter that told its loyalists: "Let's take Betty Sutton out of the House and put her back in the kitchen." Rep. Sutton is being challenged in the 13th Congressional District by car dealer Tom Ganley so it's not likely that she will be wearing an apron this election year.

The Medina County GOP chairman, Bill Heck, said he didn't see any sexist intent in the county newsletter but explained that it was published by the Republican Party and not written by him. (Don't those guys talk to each other over in the next county?) After all, he said, his wife was twice elected to county offices. They doubtless ate out a lot.

BJ: Selling cars, or political candidates?

DID YOU SEE THE front page of the Beacon Journal today? It couldn't have been more useful for conservative Republican auto-dealer Tom Ganley's congressional campaign had his own people laid out the page. A huge photo of one of his Toyotas with the Ganley trademark license tag quite prominent in brilliant red. The story was about how local auto sales are accelerating. Oh? Since more people look at newspaper photos than read the actual article, this one was - how can we say it? - at least subliminal. (By the way, Ganley is running against U.S. Rep Betty Sutton, a Democrat, in the 13th congressional District.)

Will Tea Party dump Ohio GOP overboard?

A FUNNY THING is happening to the Ohio Republican Party on its avowed fail-safe way to sweeping the Democrats in November. Despite its cordial attempts to play nice with the Tea Partiers, the Republican team is finding that wishing won't make it so. N o less a party celebrity than Ohio GOP chairman Kevin DeWine extended an olive branch to the Tea Party in a visit to Akron last week, inviting the outriders to come through the front door to join the state party.

But by Sunday, the Plain Dealer was reporting the latest collision between State Sen. Jon Husted, the Republican candidate for secretary of state, and Ralph King, the leader of an outfit called the Cleveland Tea Party Patriots. For whatever reason - and you don't need many these days to stake out an opponent - King & Co. don't like Husted. Worse than that, as King explaind to the PD reporter, "The only relation Jon Husted would have with the Tea Party is if he would have been driving the British ship into Boston Harbor." Safe qualifier. Even Google couldn't put Husted on that British ship. Besides, King accused Husted of showing "open hatred and contempt for the Tea Parties." Husted, of course, denied it.

There will be a lot of this sort of political auto de fe as the Tea Partiers flex their muscles, or whatever, this year, and Republican candidates are spending more time genuflecting to them than demanding that they stop telling lies. As matters now stand, the state GOP ticket is leaning heavily to a detente with the enemy.

John Kasich, the candidate for governor, has spoken at their rallies while trying to fend off Democrats' charges that he is tainted by being a white collar manager for Lehman Brothers up to the time that it went bankrupt. (Curiously, he has defended his years of employment with the big bank by suggesting he was little more than a walk-on each day - a claim of low-level servitude that seemed contradictory to his bonus of $432,200 in 2008 on top of his salary of $182,692!)

Rep. Seth Morgan, a very conservative GOP candidate for state auditor, has been endorsed by the State Tea Party; auto dealer Tom Ganley, challenger to Democratic U.S. Rep. Betty Sutton in the 13th congressional district, has appeared at Tea Party rallies; and U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine,who wants to be attorney general and should know better, has announced that his first task upon entering the office would be to file suit to repeal the health care reform law - and what Tea Partier would be against that?

As political campaigns go, this year's will be more irrational than ever. Don't be surprised if there are some surprises over in the Republican camp.