Steeler campaigns in Ohio territory

A shout of "Go Browns!'' greeted Lynn Swann, former champion Pittsburgh Steeler, sports broadcaster, and unsuccessful candidate for Pennsylvania governor when he ventured into the backfield of the Ohio delegation on Wednesday.

And when he had the nerve to say he was rooting for his alma mater, the University of Southern California, over Ohio State on Sept. 13, his speech for John McCain had to compete with a chorus of "O.H.-I.O.'' from the crowd.

He then felt the need to drop a not-so-subtle reference to his four Super Bowl rings.

Hurricane aid

They have front-row center seating on the floor of the Republican National Convention, but Ohio's delegation in St. Paul took their turn on Tuesday assembling "comfort packages'' to be sent south for victims of Hurricane Gustav.

This followed contributions from the delegation and their corporate sponsors of more than $20,000 toward the recovery.

Fox News party hats

Conservative TV and radio talk show host Sean Hannity blasted journalists for critical coverage of GOP vice presidential pick Sarah Palin, particularly news that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, as well as what he characterized as overly favorable coverage of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

"I'm going to argue that you're going to look back in 2008 as the year that journalism in America was put on life support and died,'' he told the Ohio delegation Wednesday.

Incidentally, delegates and alternates entering the Republican National Convention Tuesday were handed plastic red, white, and blue party hats with the logo of Fox News emblazoned on top.

Ohio's highlighted at convention

A pair of Ohioans took center stage at the convention Tuesday night - U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner, of southwest Ohio, the convention's chairman and former Ohio House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson, of Reynoldsburg, co-chairman of the Republican National Committee.

"Republicans have come to St. Paul driven by our belief that country should come before politics, and government should serve the people, not the other way around,'' said Mr. Boehner. "Under the leadership of Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin, Republicans are returning to our roots and reclaiming our mantle as the party of reform, the party America needs us to be.''

Ms. Davidson talked of the progress women have made in Republican politics since Judith Ellen Foster, the first president of the National Women's Republican Association, became the worst woman to speak at a GOP convention in the Twin Cities in 1892.

"Ever since that convention, women have been an integral part of the party,'' she said. "And today, 116 years later, we are holding a convention that will nominate a Republican woman, Gov. Sarah Palin, our next vice presidential candidate. How fitting that we return to the Twin Cities for her nomination.''

Show and tell

Ohio Republicans' candidate for state attorney general in the wake of Marc Dann's scandal-forced resignation, former federal prosecutor Mark Crites, recalled how his young daughter introduced him to her classmates at show-and-tell in the 1980s.

"This is my father, D. Michael Crites. He works for President Reagan. He's a federal prostitutor,'' she said.

"The kids were impressed,'' Mr. Crites told the Ohio delegation Wednesday.

"The teacher was not.''