Former Ohio Attorney General Petro pays for breakfast

Former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro Tuesday sponsored the Ohio

delegation's breakfast at the Republican National Conventionl to push for

the re-election of Ohio Supreme Court Justices Maureen O'Connor and Evelyn

Lundberg Stratton.

But in doing so, Mr. Petro may have been contributing to some future

political competition for himself. The former attorney general and state

auditor is talking about running for chief justice in 2010 when mandatory

retirement forces Chief Justice Thomas Moyer off the bench.

Both Justices O'Connor and Stratton have also been mentioned as possible

candidates, assuming they win re-election on Nov. 4. The court is currently

made up entirely of Republicans, the only branch of government where the

Ohio GOP made gains in 2006.

Young Republicans

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has been successful in reaching

out to young voters, particularly on college campuses, but the Ohio

Republican Party insists it can play the youth game, too. It has pointed to

a large number of new faces among the 170 or so delegates and alternates at

the St. Paul convention.

"As young people, we do paycheck to paycheck,'' said Chase Francis, 26, of

Findlay. She's regional vice chairman of Ohio Young Republicans. "That is so

important to us - gas prices, lowering taxes, eliminating government

programs that are not working.''

Here's one that Michigan won

The Ohio Republican Party moved up its breakfast meeting to an earlier time

Tuesday in anticipation that delegates were going to be treated to a

"special guest.''

That guest was expected to be First Lady Laura Bush, who in the end opted

instead to speak to the Michigan delegation nearly 30 miles away.

And then she had the nerve to tell the Michigan delegates that they were

going to be the Ohio of 2008.

Apparently she hadn't cleared her message with her husband's former

political director Karl Rove.

"You were it four years ago and four years before that and, guess what,

you're it again,'' Mr. Rove told the Ohio delegation at roughly the same

time.

First Lady speaks

BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. First Lady Laura Bush branded the state of Michigan as the Ohio of 2008 hoping to pressure the state s delegates into campaigning harder for Senator John McCain.

"I want you to feel the pressure of it," Mrs. Bush said. "Michigan could be the Ohio of these times and could be the state that carries the ticket for us."

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First lady Laura Bush speaks Monday during the opening session of the Republican National Convention. <br> <img src=http://www.toledoblade.com/assets/gif/weblink_icon.gif> <font color=red> <b>READ DAY 1</font color=red></b>: <a href=" /apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080901/NEWS09/309019997/-1/NEWS" target="_blank "><b>GOP Convention blog</b></a>

The first lady spoke briefly to delegates at their breakfast meeting Tuesday before the second day of the Republic National Convention in St. Paul.

After a scaled down opening day, Mrs. Bush said the convention would kick into a higher gear Tuesday with speeches by President George W. Bush by video and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.

Mrs. Bush acknowledged that shortening Monday s opening day was the right thing to do.

She also said Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would carry weight for the Republican ticket in November.

I am so proud I am going to be able to vote for a Republican woman, Mrs. Bush said to applause.

- Ignazio Messina