As Laketa Cole prepares to leave Cincinnati City Council for a state government job, sources say she’s settled on Wendell Young as her replacement.

Multiple sources at City Hall and within the Democratic Party are talking about Young’s apparent selection and expressing surprise because he has ran unsuccessfully in three City Council elections and finished in 14th place in 2009’s balloting for the nine council seats, behind fellow Democrats Greg Harris (10th) and Bernadette Watson (11th).

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Hoping to beat the flood of candidates who will jump into the race next year, local Democratic activist Chris Seelbach announced today he will run for a seat on Cincinnati City Council in 2011.

Seelbach, 30, is an Xavier University graduate who helped lead the successful effort in 2004 to repeal Article 12, the anti-gay law that cost Cincinnati more than $25 million in lost business, according to the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

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With just five days left until the primary election, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is touring the state in her converted school bus, “the Courage Express,” for some last-minute campaigning in her U.S. Senate bid.

Brunner made local stops at Take the Cake in Northside, Keller’s IGA in Clifton and Fountain Square downtown.

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Some Greater Cincinnati residents said "Thank you" today to U.S. Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Price Hill).

Working America, an activist group affiliated with the AFL-CIO labor union, delivered over 50 handwritten letters from area residents to the congressman, thanking him for his recent support of President Obama’s health care reform bill.

Also, the letters urge Driehaus to support House efforts to pass a jobs creation bill and to impose stricter regulations on Wall Street financial firms.

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Although Fox News hasn’t touted the results so far on any of its shows, a poll by the ultra-conservative cable TV network found that the public views President Obama and the Internal Revenue Service more favorably than the Tea Party movement.

No, I’m not making this stuff up.

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The weekly “State of the Nation” poll by Research 2000 found that President Obama is viewed favorably by 56 percent of respondents, compared to 39 percent who hold an unfavorable opinion about him. Five percent had no opinion.

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-West Chester) had a whopping 64 percent unfavorable rating, with just 17 percent viewing him favorably. Nineteen percent had no opinion.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Louisville) also had a 64 percent unfavorable rating, compared to 20 percent who view him favorably. Sixteen percent had no opinion.

The poll was conducted for The Daily Kos Web site.

A total of 1,200 registered voters nationwide were interviewed by telephone from March 22-25.

The margin of error is 2.8 percent, meaning there is a 95 percent probability that the “true” figure would fall within that range if the entire adult population were sampled.

Boehner and McConnell can take some solace: Democratic Congressional leaders fared poorly too.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had a 54 percent unfavorable rating, while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) had a 66 percent unfavorable rating, according to the poll.

Still, Congressional Democrats fare better overall than their Republican counterparts.

Congressional Democrats had a 56 percent unfavorable rating, compared to 40 percent who view them favorably. Four percent had no opinion.

By comparison, Congressional Republicans had a 71 percent unfavorable rating, with 21 percent viewing them favorably. Eight percent had no opinion.

That’s an increase of 3 percent who view Democrats favorably from a week earlier, compared to a decrease of 7 percent for Republicans.

Also, the Democratic Party had a 40 percent favorable rating, compared to the Republican Party’s 28 percent.

There’s still seven months until the general election so anything could happen but, if those numbers persist, it might be time for GOP leaders to scale back their talk of a Republican landslide in Congressional races.

The Tea Party might be good at organizing rallies outside the Capitol building in Washington and staging rallies at Fountain Square, but just how pervasive is the group’s views among the American people?

Not very, according to a new poll.

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You might have already received it. If not, it’s coming soon.

In preparation of the May 4 primary, the Hamilton County Board of Elections has mailed cards to all county voters informing them of their polling location and providing absentee voter application forms.

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Local Democrats wasted little time in trying to make some political hay out of this week’s Porkopolis column about an e-mail written by Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Monzel’s chief of staff.

Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman Tim Burke is urging Monzel, a Republican, to fire his employee, Brad Beckett. Burke wrote that Beckett’s e-mail was inappropriate and contained gratuitous insults.

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After years of increasing grumbling among some of the party’s rank-and-file members, Hamilton County Democratic Party Chairman Tim Burke will face a challenger for his post later this spring.

Darren Tolliver, the party’s treasurer who also served as treasurer for candidate Brian Garry in his 2007 Cincinnati City Council race, told precinct executives this week he would seek the chairmanship.

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