Of course, even if all the exit polls show Strickland with a double-digit lead and Blackwell still pulls off some kind of miraculous out-of-nowhere "victory," Farhad Manjoo will be ready to jump into the breach, tell us that everything's hunky-dory and try to lull us all to sleep with a gentle chorus of "Don't Worry, Be Happy."

I'm shocked Manjoo didn't cover this poll to begin with and somehow manage to tell us that it really means Blackwell has strong support and that the sky is green.

I have one word for Ohio democrat dreamers...Diebold. Better luck some day.

I would like to know how Strickland is actually seen as dull; or why people do not know him. Has he recently come into the race? What's his background that he's an unknown candidate. I didn't get the answer to that question while reading this article.

Secondly I do not think that this is an

untraditional Democratic message:

"In the Old Testament book of Micah, we are asked this question: 'What then is required of us?' And the answer: 'To do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with our God.'

Personally, I hope that the polls will remain with Strickland 20 points ahead of Blackwell at the end of the campaign. Then, at least, they will have to explain why, at the last moment, supposedly tons of voters apparently changed their minds. In fact, I hope all the Congressional and Gubenatorial races are separated by 20 points--then those where Democrats are leading will be regarded suspiciously and possibly the cat will be out of the bag. Maybe after that, we will finally get our paper trail, but by then it might be too durn late.

What the author didn't mention is that Ken Blackwell has steadfastly refused to step aside as Ohio's chief election officer despite the glaring conflict of interest now that he's running for governor. (Blackwell and his staff invariably dismiss these demands for him to relinquish his chief election officer duties as "silly"!!) Given what he was able to do in that capacity in 2004, handing down a series of illegal and unethical rulings that ultimately handed Ohio to George Bush, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Ken Blackwell were to "win" the governor's mansion in November despite being 20 points behind Ted Strickland. At the very least, there's little doubt that Democratic precincts will once again be allocated too few voting machines, resulting in people having to stand in line for hours to vote. Blackwell was directly responsible for this sleazy tactic in 2004 and it would be incredibly naive to think he won't do it again this November. Disenfranchising people who tend to vote Democratic is, after all, what Ken Blackwell does best.

One also has to wonder about Blackwell's ethics when he not only continues to give what amounts to campaign speeches at churches all over Ohio but also actually encourages them to "push" his candidacy, knowing that a group of 56 Ohio clergy members have already filed two complaints with the IRS, challenging the tax exempt status of the World Harvest Church and Fairfield Christian Church, both of whom these clergy members claim are "acting like electioneering organizations" for Ken Blackwell.

To say that I find Blackwell's conservatism repelling would be a gross understatement. Although I've been in a state of outrage for years over what the GOP has done here in Ohio, it still amazes me that Ken Blackwell got his party's gubernatorial nomination, beating out a much more palatable and moderate candidate, Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro. To this lifelong Ohio Democrat, Ken Blackwell is the very epitome of everything that's bad about Republican policies and politics. To me he's nothing more than a George Bush "knockoff" who thinks the Ohio governor's mansion will be his ticket to the White House. Here's hoping 80% of Ohioans join me in voting for Ted Strickland on November 7th (because those electronic voting machines that have been jammed down our throats could very likely make anything less than 80% for Stickland a win for Blackwell!)

I realize that people are pratically obsessed with polls in today's elections, but I find it hard to believe that almost 70% of Ohio proclaim to not know who Strickland is. I grew up in Ohio and currently live in Ohio and i've known who he is for about eight years and i'm in my early twenties. Here's why: Strickland used to be the Representative in the House for my district until the districts were redrawn after the 2000 census. The truth is that 1/4 of Ohio know who he is because he probably was their representative at one point and probably another 1/4 know who he is because of his current run for governor. I find it hard to believe that he's winning the race in one poll by twenty percentage points and then in another poll 70% of Ohio don't know who he is; how that adds up, i'll never know.

I'll end with this little ray of hope in terms of his chances of winning the Governor's race: the district I lived in and the old district he represented is about as hardcore Republican as they come, but Strickland managed to win easily almost every time. After they redrew the districts they gave him a new district that was also primirily Republican. He won again and again and he won fairly easily. Strickland has always been well-liked among Repubs and Dems and that is why he will be the next Governor of Ohio.

The 58-year-old Blackwell earned concerned gasps when he revealed that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer six years ago and then won a supportive round of applause when he announced that, with God's help, he is now cancer-free.

What about those secular liberals in the sciences who did the research to create your cancer treatment?

I would like to see a religious conservative try to live for a year without any of the things given to them by the labor of secular liberals.

They have no gratitude whatsoever. They thank God and then they disrespect the humans who were part of the equation.