Alert Reader Becky turned me on to this story from Hamilton County, Ohio:
Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen will remove his name from the Nov. 2 ballot today and if Ohio Treasurer Joseph Deters wins the write-in candidacy he will announce today, Deters will step down from his state office to become the full-time prosecutor.
“Joe is not going to hold both jobs at once,” Hamilton County Republican Party chairman Mike Barrett said today. “Joe plans on being the prosecutor. Joe is not resigning the treasurer’s job until the (prosecutor’s job) is open.”
Unopposed for election on the November ballot, Allen has been besieged by criticism and calls for his resignation since his Aug. 25 admission to an affair with a subordinate.
Allen’s absence from the ballot means the race will be strictly between write-in candidates and the GOP believes it has a sure-fire winner in Deters, the former prosecutor and current Ohio treasurer.
Deters will file today as a write-in candidate.
“Joe should win the write-in contest,” Barrett predicted.
Seems like no big deal, really — or does this little scandal have the potential of turning Ohio into this year’s Florida? Becky writes:
That means anyone running (currently 1 Republican and 4 Democrats) are ALL WRITE-INS. Local papers are saying that this will hold up returns by several hours as all ballots from this county must be reviewed by hand for all the write-in canidates. Hard to say who this may hurt at this point, but it throws Ohio’s results, at least final results, behind Hawaii.
It’s hard to imagine a scenario where Kerry could win without Ohio, but it’s even harder to imagine one (excepting a nation-wide blow-out) where Bush could win without the Buckeye State.
If we’re all until the wee hours on November 2nd due to irregularities in Ohio, remember that you read it here first — thanks to Becky.
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