The Cuyahoga County, Ohio Board of Elections has posted the first volume of returns. In no particular order:
For the Republican candidate, 10th Congressional District, 9 of 651 precincts:EDWARD F. HERMAN 626 (41%)
BRUCE COBBELDICK 413 (27%)
BILL SMITH 246
MATT WEBB 210
For the Democratic candidate, 10th Congressional District, 9 of 651 precincts:DENNIS J. KUCINICH 5283 (86%)
GEORGE PULLING 848 (14%)
For Issue #23, Cuyahoga County Public Library Replacement Levy, 16 of 704 precincts:AGAINST THE TAX LEVY 5300
FOR THE TAX LEVY 5251
For Issue #30, Health & Human Services Continuing Levy, 27 of 1458 precincts:FOR THE TAX LEVY 11284
AGAINST THE TAX LEVY 7373
For Issue #31, Economic Development Proposed Levy, 27 of 1458 precincts:AGAINST THE TAX LEVY 10794
FOR THE TAX LEVY 7730
For your information, I support Ed Herman; oppose the Cuyahoga County Library levy on account of their replacement far overreaching the purported loss of state funding, and the library's ability to return to voters with a more modest proposal before the end of 2004; oppose the Health & Human Services levy on account of the fact that Cuyahoga County likely has at least half a dozen floating levies of the same kind; and oppose the Economic Development levy because the best medicine for economic development in Cleveland is a massive reduction of taxes and other business-repellents.
Two interesting facts to note. Dennis Kucinich lost by a wide margin for president in his own district, though that can mean two things: either Greater Cleveland Democrats think Dennis incompetent or they prefer not to lose him as a representative should he win the Democratic nomination, as minuscule a probability that may carry.
Second: I'm not familiar with Dennis' primary victory margins in 2000 and 2002, so his current share of 86% of the vote may be insignificant. But seeing as how Dennis has trounced his Republican opponents by a 4-to-1 margin in the 2000 and 2002 General Elections, the rumors of breakup between Cleveland and Kucinich may have something to them. We'll see. More later, with updated results.
THE GOODS ON KUCINICH: After about twenty minutes of Googling, I've got them. A big thanks to Fox News. In 2000 Kucinich won 93% of the primary and ran unopposed in the May 2002 primary. Now he's pulling about 85% of the vote. Ed Herman is holding steady with 40% of the Republican vote.
If Dennis Kucinich is vulnerable, he's as vulnerable as he'll ever be right now. Godspeed, Ed.