CityBeat's inauguration page now includes a link to our alt weekly colleagues in D.C., the Washington City Paper, which features a huge inauguration guide for the millions of people already descending on their city. City Paper staffers are sending out constant updates on Twitter and a group blog, Inbloguration, including this multimedia gem from about an hour ago: "Here's a semi-live feed from my basement in Petworth, where whiskey-swilling guests collaborated on an unconscionably patriotic version of 'The Weight.' "

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Anyone familiar with Hamilton County government knows that a large segment of the jobs are essentially political appointments, given to cronies of whichever party controls the particular office doing the hiring.

Still, the political quid pro quo is usually kept somewhat discreet and hidden from public view. Not his time.

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The next president of the United States, Barack Obama, officially has announced a campaign rally for Sunday evening at UC's Nippert Stadium. Gates open at 6 p.m., and he's scheduled to speak at 9. Check out the Obama web site for details.

It's fitting that he makes his final area appearance of the campaign on the UC campus, where he held such a stirring rally in February before the Ohio primary. 

If you have time, do yourself a favor and go see Obama live tomorrow. Then help him win the election on Tuesday.

If you're still undecided, check out CityBeat's endorsement of Obama here.

The next President of the United States, Barack Obama, will appear at an "American Jobs Tour Rally" at 3 p.m. Thursday at the Ault Park Pavilion in Hyde Park/Mount Lookout. The event is free, and no tickets are required, but the Obama campaign would like for you to RSVP if you're going to attend. Click here to do so.

They'll start letting people in at 1:00. The web site advises that no signs or banners are permitted and that you shouldn't bring bags because they're a hassle to search.

The weather looks like it will cooperate.

— John Fox

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is exiting stage left. Praise the lord.

In a surprise announcement today, Palin said she not only wouldn't run for reelection as governor next year, but also won't even finish her first gubernatorial term. Palin will resign her office in the next few weeks.

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The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and several voting rights groups are asking that a special prosecutor drop his investigation into vague, unspecified allegations of voter registration fraud. If the probe isn’t ended, the groups hint that they may file a lawsuit against the Prosecutor’s Office.

This week’s issue of CityBeat features a Porkopolis column detailing the investigation, which was launched by Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters. Deters also is Sen. John McCain’s Southwest Ohio campaign chairman, and many people have viewed Deters’ action as a partisan tactic designed to suppress the surge in new voters on the Democratic side.

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Editor & Publisher has been running updates on daily newspaper endorsements in the presidential race here. The journalism industry magazine has the tally, as of today, at 121 endorsements for Barack Obama and 42 for John McCain and notes that in 2004 the spread was much closer, with John Kerry edging out President Bush 213-205.

E&P isn't counting weekly newspapers like CityBeat, which endorsed Obama last week.

It looks like every major daily paper in Ohio has published an endorsement except The Cincinnati Enquirer. Wonder what they're waiting for?

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Our own guy from West Chester, House Minority Whip John Boehner, is criticizing the selection of Rahm Emanuel to be President-elect Barack Obama’s White House chief of staff.

Boehner says Emanuel, currently a Democratic congressman from Illinois, is the wrong choice from a president who promised to return civility to politics.

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It’s kind of like peeling an onion. Once you begin twisting, more and more layers are revealed.

Ever since CityBeat cited a letter last week written by a Hamilton County Probation Department employee listing the work she’s done for the local Republican Party as a reason she should get a promotion, other county workers have weighed in via telephone calls and posts on local blogs about how common the practice is and what exactly is permitted under the law.

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This week’s issue of CityBeat profiles three of the candidates in the hotly contested race for Ohio’s 1st Congressional District seat. Not surprisingly, two of the candidates are claiming that the other misrepresented or distorted his views.

The campaign of Republican incumbent Steve Chabot took umbrage at a paraphrased statement from his Democratic challenger, Steve Driehaus, that pertained to housing issues. It read, “Worse, Chabot hasn’t proposed any legislation that would help the wave of foreclosures and resulting blight that has swept the West Side over the past few years.”

Katie Fox, Chabot’s spokeswoman, noted the congressman addressed the foreclosure and mortgage crisis by passing a bill in December in a compromise with U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) that gave bankruptcy judges the discretion to modify the value of a mortgage to the true market price and to adjust the interest rate. It applied only to debtors who file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy and lack the income to pay their expenses, according to The Hill newspaper.

The Driehaus campaign responded by pointing out the statement referred to Chabot’s entire 14-year period in office, and specifically stated that the mortgage crisis was causing blight on Cincinnati’s West Side for years before Chabot acted.

Meanwhile, Driehaus also is criticizing TV commercials that Chabot and the national Republican Party are airing that allege Driehaus hasn’t taken a stance on the $850 billion Wall Street bailout plan approved recently by Congress. Chabot opposed the plan.

Driehaus says he’s made it clear he would’ve reluctantly voted for the plan had he been in Congress. “We had to do something, but I think it’s ridiculous that pork spending was put into this bill,” he said. “It would be irresponsible for Congress to allow the financial markets to fail.”

Further, Driehaus criticizes local republicans for waging a whisper campaign alleging that he doesn’t support Barack Obama, the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee. Some West Side residents perceive Obama as too liberal for their tastes. Driehaus has appeared at events with Obama, and his Web site features a photograph of him with the Illinois senator.

Not everyone’s convinced of Driehaus’ sincerity, though. Democrat Eric Wilson, an outspoken Obama supporter who’s running for the seat as an independent write-in candidate, said, “I know the political games. You go to the West Side of town and don’t mention Obama’s name at appearances.”

— Kevin Osborne