Republicans Endorse a Mayoral Candidate

The HamCo GOP has made their endorsement for the mayoral race to run against Mark Mallory -- Dr. Brad Wenstrup. The decision is met with some enthusiasm, but a lot of "huh? what?" Dr. Wenstrup has no political experience, but he is a highly decorated Iraq war veteran. He also served as the Chief of Surgery at, of all places, Abu Ghraib.

...but somehow that's not a problem.

In short: the local Republicans have nominated a pretty face with a strong-ish past in a desperate effort to appear relevant in comparison to a semi-popular mayor. I doubt the Abu Ghraib thing will play at all locally, much to the disappointment of Tony Fischer who is running for Council who seems to want to play up the Iraq bit, as well, in his campaign. (Word to the wise: international war politics probably don't play well locally, and the Iraq War... well, do you want to go there?) The HamCo GOP blog seems to be very excited about their pick, though you'll find information on Wenstrup's webpage as yet unfulfilling.

Funny, those two -- Fischer and Wenstrup. I suppose if anytime is the right time to make the attempt and move on up, now is it. I'll be curious to see if the "cutie [single] Cincinnati boy home from Iraq dying to make a difference at home" line will work, for either of them.

Another fun little thought: the above picture was taken from a COAST blog posting. Chris Finney is "involved" with COAST, as is, I believe, Chris Smitherman. I wonder if Smitherman and the NAACP will ultimately endorse Wenstrup thanks to pressure from Finney and COAST, and due to the ongoing (and seemingly unresolvable) difficulties between Smitherman and Mallory. It's just a thought, though...

PS --> Wenstrup was recently featured as one of Cincinnati's own "Dr. McDreamy's," so the good doctor has some "good looks street cred."

Cincy Dem Council Endorsements

Thanks to the Cincinnati Blog for the heads up...

The Democratic endorsements for Cincinnati City Council in the 2009 election are:

Jeff Berding (i)
Laketa Cole (i)
Tony Fischer
Greg Harris (i)
Nicholas Hollan
Laure Quinlivan
Cecil Thomas (i)
Bernadette Watson
Wendell Young

(i) = incumbent
Links are previous mentions of that person on this blog.

Hey, aren't we missing someone?

IMPACTCincinnati at City Council with NAACP

I don't have anything official for you guys yet -- pictures, quotes, etc. -- but I have received several phone calls today that IMPACTCincinnati's presence at the City Council meeting, along with the NAACP and the African-American community, is the beginning of something beautiful.

Word on the street was that local fabulosity, Jill Benavides, more or less rocked out her speech to Council, and the collected community was hugely receptive to the dialogue they have proposed. Word is that even Smitherman was receptive to beginning the change that needs to happen between the LGBT and African-American communities, addressing each's concerns about the other (both racism in the LGBT community and homophobia/heterosexism in communities of color).

Honestly, I wasn't sure this morning, and I had received a lot of negative responses to IMPACT's proposal, from people I love and respect. I think, however, from everything I'm hearing, it was the right thing to do at the right time.

Word on the steret is that both the Cincinnati Beacon and CityBeat were there. Keep an eye out for their responses.

Update: This also got posted on both the Beacon and Back2Stonewall.com, an interview with Cameron and Jill:

2010: I was talking about it first

Two other big local blogs have started talking about the 2010 election.

[snarky] Duh. We here at QueerCincinnati.com were so talking about it first. [/snarky] :-)

But here's the two updates we hear about:

• From (blogrolled, but not often used) a Republican Butler County blogger: a rundown of some major races, much like I've already done. A few interesting points... 1) the author suggests that Mr. Strickland will start nosediving in the polls, much like Taft did at this point. Um. Coingate? Apparently, scandal isn't their thing. 2) He expects that Chabot will run again, despite him now running a storefront law firm (where did I see that picture? a link would help). The expectation is that Krekorian will be back in the race; let's hope what's-her-face (Vic Wulsin) stays out this time (love her, but she hasn't won yet, let's pass the torch). 3) The blogger is also trumpeting a third party candidate in the Senate race -- William Pierce. In nursing school world, "trumpet" is sometimes preceded by the word "anal." Sorry, minor joke.
• Cincinnati Blog points us to a candidate for Cincinnati City Council -- Tony Fischer, an Iraq vet. This is the first time I've commented on the Council, so how about we start following that race, too? (Mr. Fischer's Election Website -- ain't he so adorable?)

More to come, as always...