First Energy announced this morning that they will be keeping their R. E. Burger Plant in Shadyside, Ohio open, a move that will save over 100 Southeastern Ohio jobs. Governor Ted Strickland was on hand for the announcement this morning, and Congressman Charlie Wilson released the following statement.

“I'm so pleased that we've saved more than 100 jobs in this community and a vital part of our tax base that supports our county and our schools. First Energy and the Utility Workers deserve a tremendous amount of credit for working together, thinking outside the box and coming up with a creative solution that shows power companies can be and will be friendly to our environment. Companies, like First Energy, should be supported as they continue to generate the cost effective energy that we require now through coal, and transition to the clean energy plants of the future that we'll need.”

-- Congressman Charlie Wilson

The plant either had to install $330 million worth of pollution control equipment or shut down as part of a 2005 settlement. Many believed that plant would be closing.

While the Democratic candidate squeaked out a narrow victory (either 59 or 65 votes) in the NY-20 special election last night, it was nowhere near enough of a margin to overcome the 6,000-10,000 absentee and military ballots that are yet to be counted.

For those hoping for a quick result, it’s not happening. Military votes will continue be accepted until April 13th, just as long as they were postmarked by election day. It’s also pretty much a given that a race this close will involve legal challenges, and the Republicans are already starting down that road. There’s also been some movement on the Republican side already to start a recount fund.

As for the big referendum on Obama, Politico’s already calling it a loss for Republicans.

The first election to take place during the Obama administration was a push, with neither side winning big or losing big. But that in itself ranks as a defeat of sorts for the GOP, which invested heavily in the race.

Republicans made this race a referendum on President Barack Obama, his stimulus plan and big government policies. But voters divided almost exactly down the middle, showing almost no sign they wanted to brush back the new administration. And this is precisely the kind of place where it would have been obvious had voters been so inclined — a Republican-leaning, small-town district that voted for Obama in 2008.

Maybe it’ll be a wake up call for some people? Nah, probably not.

I figure if I'm going to follow it, I might as well live blog it. Don't expect much in the way of fast paced action, or for me to stay awake through the whole thing.

Jennifer Brunner has another endorsement under her belt in her bid to become a Senator. The group 21st Century Democrats has endorsed Brunner.

The group was founded by Senator Tom Harkin, commentator Jim Hightower and Congressman Lane Evans with the purpose of electing progressive candidates. It’s considered to be the fourth largest progressive PAC in the nation.

The press release can be found after the break.

Update: Here’s an interesting little fact. As of last summer (but not anymore, see the comments), the executive director of 21st Century Democrats was Mark A. Lotwis. Lotwis was Ted Strickland’s congressional chief of staff from 1997-1998.

Dan Lucas, the organizations current president, worked for Sherrod Brown’s Senate campaign.

While accepting an endorsement from the UFCW, Jennifer Brunner took the opportunity to firmly voice her support for the Employee Free Choice Act.

"Opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) want you to believe that there will be no more secret ballot elections. That is not true.

"The secret ballot is still an option but what's important is workers will decide how to determine if they should bond together to form a union. Without the Employee Free Choice Act, a union secret ballot election is vastly different from a public secret ballot election. Union secret ballot elections under current law lack many of the protections from employer intimidation and coercion that would not be tolerated in a public secret ballot election.

"Without the worker protections of the Employee Free Choice Act, job security, health care, and the hope of a secure retirement remain under threat. The Employee Free Choice Act will give back to workers their right to bargain for a better livelihood and in so doing will sustain families and communities for a strengthened American middle class. After all, it's the middle class and our working families who will pull our nation out of this mess left to us by the Bush Administration."

-- Jennifer Brunner

While Brunner has previously said that she supports card check before, this is the most I’ve seen her say about it and it leaves little doubt of her sincerity.

Remember that transportation budget compromise that was supposed to be voted on today? Well the votes been delayed, but it’s a good thing.

At issue is an emergency clause that offers COBRA health benefits to the unemployed immediately on passage rather than after a 90 day waiting period. Initially, Republicans could promise enough votes to pass with the clause in the bill, but this morning they had a change of heart. They asked for the clause to be reinserted.

My favorite MSM twitterer, Marc Kovac, has reported that Gov. Strickland has said that he’s looking at five people for the lieutenant governor spot. That’s an awfully big step back from a Ryan announcement this week.

Couple that with Ryan telling the Dispatch that he’s still undecided, and I think it’s clear that someone may have jumped the gun.

The U.S. Department of Labor has announced over $8 million in grants for several Ohio automotive plants and suppliers.

“Ohio recently has experienced significant dislocations in the automotive industry. Today’s grant will provide core, intensive and supportive training services to the affected workers to help prepare them for new jobs in other fields.”

-- Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis

Specifically mentioned are the General Motors Corp. truck assembly plant in Moraine, the Chrysler north assembly plant in Toledo, and the GM Lordstown plant in Warren. Grant money will also 12 automotive suppliers around Ohio. Altogether, these plants account for 2,428 laid off workers.

Things have changed a bit since I posted about Lee Fisher’s lead in ActBlue fundraising last week. Fisher’s still in the lead, but not by much.

Currently, Brunner trails by only $1,013. The totals are:

• Lee Fisher - $51,412 from 114 donors
• Jennifer Brunner - $50,399 from 266 donors

Which also means that Brunner has more than double the number of donors that Lee has.

Of course, I must point out that this is only ActBlue fundraising. We’ll have a better gauge after the numbers come in from the reporting period that ends tonight, though it could be several days before we hear anything.

The transportation budget conference committee finally reached an agreement last night, after several days of debate.

The bill includes the passenger rail plan.

“The House and Senate found common ground and made prudent compromises to support a very important bill that helps put Ohioans back to work and protects our key priorities. Democrats and Republicans came together to achieve this agreement, and by doing so we have helped move Ohio forward with economic growth and a stronger transportation system. This plan is good for Ohio.”

--Armond Budish, Speaker of the House

It’ll be up for a vote later today, and must be approved by tomorrow. A few of the highlights from the budget compromise can be found after the jump.

While I haven’t talked about it a whole lot, today’s the special election in New York’s 20th congressional district to replace Kirsten Gillibrand.

This is a fairly conservative district and, while the race has become pretty close, I don’t have high expectations. If the Democratic candidate does pull off a win, however, it would be a huge blow to the Republican Party’s comeback efforts.

I’ll definitely be following this one.

So apparently the Washington Post revealed today that Tim Ryan will run for Lt. Governor, with an announcement coming later this week.

But on the flip side, how many of us would have sworn Ryan would be running for Senate at this point just a few months ago?

So let’s start the speculation. Is it really happening? Did Lee Fisher and Ryan make a deal in advance? Let’s hear what you think…

As I said last night, this morning President Obama announced that GM and Chrysler must shape up if they want to keep receiving government stimulus money. GM was given 60 days to restructure, Chrysler must find a partner (likely Fiat) within 30 days and sign an agreement that’s fair to taxpayers. He also announced that the government would be backing the warranties on these companies vehicles in an effort to ease the minds of potential buyers.

This afternoon I managed to hear from a senior administration official who says that the government has stood behind GM and Chrysler, and has decided now to help them more. At the same time they say President Obama made it clear that the government won’t help them forever, and now it’s time for these two companies to take action.

These companies submitted plans, but the government didn’t feel that they went far enough. The goal is to get these companies off of government assistance as soon as feasible.

There’s also some talk of using bankruptcy as a way to get past any minority stakeholder groups who stand in the way of getting these companies back on their feet (should that become necessary). This sounded like a worst case scenario though, and isn’t currently planned.

It seems that GM has already begun restructuring with the announcement that their CEO would step down. Chrysler also seems to be making strides to reach their goal, with a deal with Fiat in the works (and possible even already made.

Apparently the Akron recall effort is getting a little desperate, they’ve resorted to using robo-call push polls to attempt to drum up support for their effort. Pho has the details, but they seem to be running several different calls.

If anyone can manage to grab a recording of one of those push polls, I would absolutely love to hear it.

While Lee Fisher may have a lot of high profile endorsements, don’t count Brunner out of that game just yet. Last week she was in New York, where Caroline Kennedy hosted a fundraiser supporting Brunner’s Senate run.

"After the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation awarded Jennifer Brunner a Profile in Courage Award last year, I watched as she stood up for Ohio voters and reformed Ohio's election system.  The whole country would benefit from Jennifer's approach to public service, and that's why I am supporting her for the U.S. Senate."

-- Caroline Kennedy

This was the first time Caroline Kennedy hosted a fundraiser for someone who wasn’t a member of her family.

Brunner also scored a pretty big early endorsement late last week. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the largest private sector union, rolled out several coordinated endorsements from major halls all around the state.

For the last few days we’ve heard round after round of Republican criticism being hurled at President Barack Obama’s budget, but so far the Republican’s haven’t really offered up any ideas of their own.

Until today that is.

A group of Republican’s have put out a budget proposal titled “The Road To Recovery”. There’s just one small problem, it has no numbers.

Yes, the great Republican alternative they’ve been working on is little more than a 19 page pamphlet calling for tax cuts. Worse, they don’t say how much those tax cuts would cost (because that would be a number).

I am exaggerating of course, there are a few numbers in there. They took every chance they could to throw in an astronomically high number and attribute it to those pesky money wasting liberals. For example, they say “Democrats propose nearly $1 trillion in new spending on health care reform”. But as Ezra Klein points out, the actual number is $634 billion. That’s not an exaggeration, that’s an outright lie.

Marilyn Brown is officially in the Secretary of State race as a candidate. This statement just went out:

Columbus – Today, Franklin County Commissioner Marilyn Brown officially announced her candidacy for Ohio Secretary of State.

“I plan to build on the reforms and improvements started by Secretary of State Brunner.  In addition, I plan to focus on strengthening the relationship between the Secretary of State’s office and our 88 county boards of elections”, said Brown.

Marilyn Brown began her service as County Commissioner after defeating a three- term incumbent in 2006. During her term, she has brought her strong management skills and her willingness to listen to and work with all people to build a cooperative working environment.

Brown also touted her work to help the Franklin County Board of Elections provide better service to voters. “I am proud of the great work we were able to do in Franklin County with in person early voting at Veterans Memorial, funding a voter education campaign, and mailing notice to all voters reminding them of their voting location.  These actions helped reduce voter confusion and the long lines experienced in recent elections,” said Brown.  “Voters need to have confidence in our electoral system and we need to make it as easy as possible for them to exercise that right.  That is exactly what I plan to do as Ohio’s next Secretary of State.”

Prior to her election as County Commissioner, Marilyn had over 25 years experience in public service in Greater Cleveland and in Columbus. She has worked on a number of complex public policy issues including women’s access to college, fair housing, diversity training, and heading up a chamber of commerce. Marilyn holds a masters’ degree in organizational development from Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.  Most recently, prior to her election, Marilyn was Public Affairs Director for the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission for eight years.

Marilyn and her husband, Franklin County Probate Judge Eric Brown, have two daughters Beryl and her husband Andrew; and Daryn. The Browns have two grandsons, Vincent and Max.  The Browns are members of Congregation Tifereth Israel in Columbus.

There’s no chance of Jennifer Brunner backing down now, this Senate primary is a fight to the finish.

I think it also should be mentioned that Brunner was mostly left out of the release. No endorsement, nothing. I’m betting that means something.

While we're still awaiting the official announcement from Marilyn Brown, let's take a quick look at what it means.

I see two possible scenarios here:

• Brown will announce she is running, or
• Brown will announce her intention to run

If she actually gets into the race, that means Brunner is in this Senate race for the long haul. It'll be awfully hard to consider Secretary of State as a fallback when you've talked someone else into putting her own job on the line to run for it.

On the other hand if Brown announces her intention to run, I think Brunner gets most of the advantages with less risk. If for some reason her Senate campaign flops, she can go back to running for SOS. Brown may be a little worse off, but not too much so.

Either way, with this move Brunner guts the criticism that she should stay on as Secretary of State.