This morning The Enquirer endorsed Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper for state auditor, saying about the Democratic candidate: “We trust that Pepper has the straightforward aim to be an honest whistle blower on waste, fraud and inefficiency, wherever it occurs.”

Well, the Enquirer isn’t alone.

In a year when Republicans are racking up newspaper endorsements, so far Pepper has been endorsed by 11 of the 12 newspapers who have so far endorsed in the race.

Even the conservative Warren Tribune in Northeast Ohio cast their vote his way this week.Here’s what some of the said:

The Cleveland Plain Dealer: “”Pepper’s promise to be transparent and to focus on creating more competitive districts is exactly the perspective needed on the Reapportionment Board.”

The Akron Beacon Journal: He is “willing to confront difficult tasks and make tough choices,” and has “stepped up to make the necessary cuts while seeking to protect key priorities.”

The Dayton Daily News – Pepper “has a grander vision, better ideas, and is more driven.”

So who didn’t endorse Pepper? The Columbus Dispatch.

Joined by a handful of female small-business owners, Democrat Maryellen O'Shaughnessy said yesterday that, if elected, she will designate a person in the secretary of state's office to help new and existing small businesses.

The secretary of state's prime function is to oversee Ohio's election system. But the office also contains a business services division that processes new-business filings, protects trademarks and certifies records.

O'Shaughnessy said the new liaison would help business owners answer questions about starting up a company and work through potential issues. She said she will work with the state Department of Development to ensure no duplication of efforts.

"The idea is, to know you've got a resource there," she said.

"This liaison will be a repository of particularly small-business information."

The women who met O'Shaughnessy at the Tip Top restaurant Downtown agreed that the additional help is necessary.

"To the outsider, state government can be intimidating, overwhelming and complex," said Liz Lessner, president of Betty's Family of Restaurants, which includes the Tip Top. "A point person that cuts through the red tape is a great idea."

The women said something as simple as a list of frequently asked questions or a checklist would help.

"Aside from starting an LLC (limited liability company), where do you go from there?" said Mary Relotto, founder of Columbus-based Dames Bond, a networking group. "We need easier access to resources to make it easier for us to do well in business. Sharing the knowledge is like sharing the wealth."

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Gov. Ted Strickland said Monday he would fear for the future of Ohio if his Republican challenger, John Kasich, is elected Nov. 2.

Fresh from a rally the night before with President Obama that drew 35,000 people to the Ohio State University campus, the Democratic governor used words like "reckless," "radical," and "extreme" to describe Mr. Kasich's policies.

"To suggest that we could eliminate our state's income tax while at the same time signing a pledge that he would never, under any circumstances as far as I can tell … support increased revenue from other sources is as irresponsible as anything I've ever known a political candidate to do," he said.

"He's much more extreme than Ken Blackwell ever was," Mr. Strickland said, referring to his conservative Republican opponent of 2006.

…

Mr. Strickland visited a pair of small businesses in Columbus and suburban Dayton Monday to make the case that his "business-friendly" policies, including his championing of business tax reform started by Republicans, have helped position the state for an economic comeback.

He visited Marcy Adhesives, a Columbus maker of adhesive that can be removed without residue for windshields, solar panels, and other glass products, and later Webcore Technologies in Miamisburg, which makes lightweight, high- strength, fiber-reinforced material for use in manufacturing of wind turbines, bridge decks, and other products.

"I think Ohio has great strengths," Mr. Strickland said.

"I think our tax climate is, in fact, very competitive, perhaps the very best in the Midwest. I embraced a tax reform that was passed by a Republican governor and a Republican legislature, and my opponent likes to trash it.

"He tells tall tales about Ohio being noncompetitive and a very high-tax state."

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As a teenager in a rough Columbus neighborhood years ago, Kevin Boyce found himself in a fight-or-flight situation.

He had just stood up to a gang member who was picking on his friend after school. The gang member backed down at first, running away after he and Boyce exchanged words.

But the bully came back with some friends of his own, carrying baseball bats and knives. Boyce held his ground, and a big fight broke out.

"To be honest with you, that was such a common environment in the neighborhood I grew up in that you get sort of immune" to things like weapons and threats, Boyce, now state treasurer, said in a recent interview. "Either you're going in a different direction because you don't want to be around it, or you go right at it. In this case, I knew I didn't have a choice but to go right at it."

The police soon arrived and most of the kids scattered. Boyce, who was known to be studious and involved in athletics, stayed behind to explain his side to police. His reputation and honesty paid off, as a judge eventually dropped any charges for his involvement in the melee, Boyce said.

From this difficult environment, Boyce emerged a college graduate who became a Columbus city councilman at 28.

After eight years on the council, Boyce was appointed by Gov. Ted Strickland, a fellow Democrat, to be Ohio treasurer when Richard Cordray left the office to become attorney general. Boyce took office in January 2009.

The appointment made him the first black Democrat to hold a statewide executive office in Ohio. Two black Republicans have held such office.

Now Boyce, 39, is running statewide for the first time. He's counting on the work ethic, focus and resiliency he developed growing up to help him prevail over another young, up-and-coming Ohio politician: Republican Josh Mandel, a 33-year-old state representative from Lyndhurst…

The office is charged with protecting and investing Ohioans' tax dollars. In the 2009 fiscal year, the Treasury managed a combined investment portfolio of $15.5 billion.

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Boyce moved around a lot as a kid while his mother struggled to cope with the loss of his father. When Boyce was 7, his father, Henry, was murdered while visiting family in Atlanta. Boyce said that in an instant, he joined many kids in his neighborhood who grew up without fathers.

His father's death instilled in him the importance of having a stable family — Boyce is married with two sons — a value that motivated Boyce to earn good grades and to work hard in the sports he played, notably football and track.

"He had a maturity about him, a focus about him," said Atiba Jones, a friend of Boyce's who attended high school in Columbus with him. "That was a rare quality."

Jones recalled Boyce's uncanny preparation, whether before a sporting event or before a City Council meeting. "If you think you're going to beat him at something, you better be prepared," Jones said. "A lot of it had to do with how we grew up."

Boyce graduated in 1995 from the University of Toledo, where he met his mentor, former Toledo mayor and state representative Jack Ford. Boyce was a legislative aide to Ford after college and became executive director of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus in 1997. Two years later, he was chief of staff for the House of Representatives' Democratic Caucus when Ford served as minority leader.

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory, a former state representative and state senator, met Boyce in the mid-1990s when he was an aide to Ford and worked with him at the Black Caucus. He praised Boyce's preparation, hard work and inquisitive nature.

Boyce was appointed to the Columbus City Council in late 2000 and was elected to full terms in 2001 and 2005. He chaired the finance committee for three years before Strickland tapped him to be treasurer. Boyce said his experience on the finance committee and with the state budget process helped equip him for the treasurer's job.

But Boyce said that before he accepted the offer, he considered to what degree, as treasurer, he could act as a public servant. He discovered he could stay in touch with everyday people through community-based Treasury programs that help small businesses grow and educate people about financial literacy.

Boyce said that, if elected, he hopes to maintain those ties to the community while keeping the state's investments sound — a feat he touts from his first two years in office, despite arriving at the Treasury during the country's financial meltdown.

"At the end of the day, people just need public servants to do things to make their life a little better," Boyce said.

President Obama rallied a crowd of about 35,000 Sunday night on the campus of Ohio State University in hopes that "Yes, we can!" will be as loud a rallying cry for other Democrats as it was for him two years ago.

"The biggest mistake we can make, Ohio, is to go back to the very same policies that caused all this hurt in the first place," he told the crowd in the chilly autumn air under the moon. "The other side is counting on all of you having amnesia."

Mr. Obama is not on the ballot, but Gov. Ted Strickland and U.S. Senate candidate Lee Fisher are, and they were counting on the enthusiasm demonstrated last night to spread well beyond the lawn of the Ohio State Oval.

The crowd of 35,000, as estimated by university police, was the largest yet in the series of rallies the President has headlined recently around the country in a bid to hold onto governors' mansions across the nation and curb the gains Republicans expect to make at the congressional level.

First Lady Michele Obama joined her husband on the campaign trail Sunday, the first time she has done so since two days before the 2008 election.

Mr. Obama characterized this election as being about to whom America wants to hand the keys to the economy after Republicans drove it into ditch and waited while Democrats pushed it out.

"You can't have the keys back. You don't know how to drive,'' Mr. Obama shouted to cheers. "If you want, you can roll with us, but you gotta be in the backseat … We don't want to go backward. We're moving America forward.''

In a 27-minute speech, he urged the crowd to befuddle pollsters and rise above frustrations that the economic recovery he promised two years ago hasn't happened yet.

"It's not easy,'' he said. "Believe me, I know it's not easy … I know it gets discouraging sometimes, but don't let anybody tell you this fight isn't worth it. Don't let anybody tell you you cannot make a difference."

…

Seeking to fire up the Democratic base and the young voters who helped put him into office in 2008, President Barack Obama urged an overflow crowd on the Ohio State University Oval last night to reject a Republican agenda "that nearly destroyed the economy."

"We need you fired up because in a little more than two weeks, you can set the direction of this state and the direction of this country for not just the next two years, but the next five years, the next 10 years, the next 20 years," Obama said to the crowd, which university police estimated at 35,000. It's believed to be the largest Obama rally since his inauguration.

Polls suggest there is an "enthusiasm gap" this year between Democrats and Republicans. But standing on a stage set up in front of Hayes Hall on a crisp fall evening, Obama hammered home the Democratic message nationwide and in Ohio – especially in the fiercely contested race between Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and GOP challenger John Kasich – that electing Republicans this fall would take the nation backward.

"This is the same theory they have been peddling for years," Obama said of GOP policies on regulation, taxes, trade and other issues that he blamed for causing the recession. "And Ohio, it is up to you to tell them we do not want what they are selling. We've been there before, and we are not going back."

Obama started his 27-minute speech by referencing the OSU Buckeyes' 31-18 loss to the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday night.

"Now, let me just say, I am sorry about last night," Obama said. "But one thing I know about Buckeyes is, you all don't quit. You get up, you keep fighting, you keep believing, and that's what we need from you right now."

First lady Michelle Obama, campaigning with her husband for the first time since rallies in Ohio two days before the 2008 election, introduced the president and led the crowd in a chant of "O-H, I-O."

"This is a serious moment for our country," she said. "There is so much at stake."

The Columbus rally was the fourth in a series of "Moving America Forward" events with Obama, including a similar rally last month at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

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Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern made a visit to the Fremont Democratic Campaign Office on Tuesday to talk with about 30 local volunteers and supporters about the upcoming election and how crucial their involvement is to ensure a party victory Nov. 2.

He also compared Democrat and Republican candidates and briefly talked about Rich Iott, the Republican congressional candidate for Ohio's Ninth District. Iott made national news last week for participating in Nazi re-enactments.

"What he (Iott) doesn't know is that we know more than he's telling us," Redfern said, noting earlier this year, Iott was still listed as an active re-enactment member.

And when Redfern first found out about Iott's re-enacting he said his first thought was, "Why is he running for Congress?"

"It's like a little secret he didn't want to tell," he said.

…

During Redfern's hour-long speech, he said there are 2.5 million registered Democratic voters in Ohio and 1.4 million registered Republican voters.

"We have a million-vote advantage," he said, telling Democratic supporters they need to canvass the county and make phone calls.

He also talked about what Gov. Ted Strickland has done while in office.

"We have a governor that has provided a tax cut to seniors and reduced income taxes for every Ohioan," Redfern said, noting Strickland has also done much for higher education with the tuition freeze.

"These are tough times and this recession was brought on by greed and recklessness of Wall Street. … And there are two wars that are not paid for," he said.

In regard to Strickland's opponent, Republican John Kasich, who had worked for Lehman Brothers on Wall Street, Redfern said, "Name a company where they go bankrupt and someone gets a bonus.

"Kasich may be a fine man, but his views are quite different on how we move this state forward," Redfern said.

…

Morgan Wills, a 17-year-old from Clyde, is the youngest volunteer and supporter at the Democrat headquarters at 509 W. State St. in Fremont. She has been volunteering since July.

"I want to stand up for what I believe in and help inform people so that they can make the right decision," she said.

Ted Strickland pledged four years ago that as governor he would press to turn around Ohio. He and fellow Democrats made much about the state losing jobs under Republican rule. So it's no surprise that Republicans have returned the favor in this campaign season, pointing ceaselessly to the nearly 400,000 jobs lost since Strickland took office.

What Republicans don't highlight, and what Ohioans should keep in mind, is that the past two years, the governor has faced economic conditions among the worst in the past half-century. No governor of a state like Ohio, Democratic or Republican, has overcome the punishing recession. The country has lost 8.5 million jobs. John Kasich, the Republican challenger in the race for governor, views Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana as a model. Well, Indiana has been similarly battered.

This context isn't an attempt to make excuses for Strickland. Rather, it is a bid to establish the appropriate standard for assessing the governor's performance. The fair question is: What has Ted Strickland done to prepare Ohio for the future, for the new economy that will gain momentum, once clear of the recession fallout?

The answer is: The governor has made much progress, crafting a record worthy of a second term.

We recommend the re-election of Ted Strickland on Nov. 2.

When the governor arrived at the Statehouse, the thought finally was beginning to jell: Higher education is indispensable to a robust economy. The objective isn't simply to see more Ohioans with advanced degrees. Colleges and universities must be equipped to serve as engines of regional economies, collaborating with private companies, sparking entrepreneurs, fueling innovation and job creation. The task called for a rethinking of higher education in the state, and that is what Strickland has delivered (with bipartisan help).

Colleges and universities that once competed at seemingly every turn have begun to operate with more coherence, positioned to take greater advantage of their strengths. Strickland seized the opening to gain a chancellor of the Board of Regents more accountable to the governor. He tapped Eric Fingerhut, who has written a considerable success story, launching imaginative ways to improve access and affordability, plus devising paths to centers of excellence, the focus required to spur the state economy.

For too long, higher education had suffered in the budget process. Strickland broke with the pattern. He struck a bargain with the schools: They would receive new protection, and he would expect increased efficiency and cooperation. The achievement shouldn't be slighted. If sustained, the investment promises handsome dividends for the state.

The higher education story deserves attention because it represents the gritty structural work required to lay a sound economic foundation. The job involves more than slashing tax rates. It demands coordination and organization.

Consider the steps forward on related fronts. The governor — with help — has created a more inviting climate for renewable and advanced energy, Ohio now with standards to attract investment and build on its manufacturing base. The Third Frontier has been renewed, the state benefiting further from the rigorous program for developing new technologies and jobs. Akron knows about the improved response of the Department of Development. The state played a critical role in the Bridgestone and Goodyear projects. The governor has launched a comprehensive effort to pare and improve regulations.

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The new evidence-based model provides a framework for supporting the components of academic success, such as top-notch teachers, a challenging curriculum and principals more in the role of educator than manager. The model moves away from a funding system driven by local property wealth. In doing so, it begins to meet the constitutional test set by the courts. Is it unfunded? Are districts still on the levy treadmill? You bet, much to the dismay of this editorial page and others. Yet the political reality is: The governor accomplished about as much as he could.

The economic and political reality has been harsh. To his credit, the governor has made tough choices. He has relied far more heavily on spending reductions to close budget holes. Civil unrest hardly erupted when he put off a scheduled reduction in income tax rates. Most Ohioans understood. He has protected key priorities.

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Ohioans get to cast three votes for the state's highest court this fall.

One of the six-year terms is literally no contest. Justice Paul E. Pfeifer, 67, a lawyer and cattle farmer from Bucyrus, is unopposed for his fourth term…

Far more bitterly fought is the contest to replace the late Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, who died last spring after announcing he'd be retiring. By then, both parties already had settled on their candidates: second-term Justice Maureen O'Connor for the Republicans and Franklin County Probate Judge Eric Brown for the Democrats. In an effort to give his party a leg up for this fall, Gov. Ted Strickland appointed Brown to complete Moyer's term.

Perhaps because of the competition or their different legal approaches, Brown and O'Connor have a testy relationship. During their meeting with this editorial board, they clashed over administrative issues, including the use of technology, and how to deal with the state's glut of foreclosure cases.

… Brown was a top litigator for both Democratic Attorney General Lee Fisher and Betty Montgomery, the Republican who succeeded Fisher, and was Ohio's lead lawyer on the national tobacco settlement. He joined the Franklin County bench in 2005. O'Connor was a trial court judge in Summit County, then its prosecutor. As Bob Taft's first lieutenant governor, she ran the Department of Public Safety before winning a Supreme Court seat in 2002. Even on a court that, until Brown's appointment, consisted only of Republicans, O'Connor has often been a swing vote on close decisions.

However, Brown's more low-key approach suits the chief justice's job better than O'Connor's occasionally abrasive and confrontational style. That, coupled with Brown's broader focus on how best to support the local administration of justice in Ohio's 88 counties, gives him the edge.

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COLUMBUS: John Glenn may be a space hero, but some things can bring a guy right down to earth.

A letter the 89-year-old Glenn recently received from a third grader who was studying the former astronaut and U.S. senator's legendary life as the first American to orbit the Earth and the oldest to fly in space did just that. Glenn had the letter with him Friday at a campaign event for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, a fellow Democrat.

The boy drew Glenn a picture of an airplane and asked a couple questions.

"Then he finishes with this, which I think is great," Glenn chuckled before onlookers at the Linden Cafe near downtown Columbus. "'I'm glad you're still alive because a lot of my classmates' biography choices are already dead. I hope you write back.'"

Glenn said it was the fastest return letter he's written.

Looking characteristically fit, Glenn said he and wife Annie now consider themselves "senior senior-citizens." Yet he continues to add his famous presence to Ohio campaigns. In addition to his historic Friendship 7 flight, Glenn represented Ohio in the U.S. Senate for 25 years until 1999 and returned to space at age 77 as a crew member on a 1998 shuttle flight.

In years past, he's campaigned mostly for Democrats but also supported ballot issues under Republican Gov. Bob Taft.

On Friday, he joined Strickland running mate Yvette McGee Brown at the cafe, located in Columbus' largely African-American Linden area, where patrons sought his autograph or a picture with the legendary astronaut.

Their bus tour continued to Zanesville, St. Clairsville and Steubenville, passing through Glenn's native Guernsey County in eastern Ohio.

Strickland faces Republican John Kasich, who saw New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie campaign for him earlier this week.