This month's midterm elections represented a political windfall for Republicans, and many right-wingers see the victories as a mandate for smaller government and a public rejection of the Obama administration. Still, former State Rep. Tom Brinkman Jr. says, "The best thing that happened for Republicans, from a political position, is that they did not win the Senate." That gives the new Speaker of the House, Rep. John Boehner, "a tremendous amount of power."  

To borrow a phrase from Richard Nixon, let me make one thing perfectly clear: I am not a fan of the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST). But they might have a point in the latest local election controversy about 31 students being driven from Hughes High School to the Board of Elections Oct. 13, during school hours, to participate in early voting. When the students disembarked from vans, they were spotted by a campaign worker for Brinkman, who alleged they were wearing stickers promoting Congressman Steve Driehaus and holding green Democratic sample ballots. Hughes Principal Virginia Rhodes has been suspended for two weeks as a result.  

Watching Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes squirm and contort the reasoning about his double-dipping plans during the past week has been supremely entertaining to anyone who's followed his political career closely. A former radio disc jockey, Rhodes has always had a flair for showmanship.  

Ever since David Pepper finally confirmed last week what CityBeat first reported online in mid-March — that the prominent local Democrat will run for Ohio Auditor next year — speculation has run rampant about who will campaign for the seat he's vacating on the Hamilton County Commission.   

No one likes paying unnecessary taxes or wasteful government spending, but not everyone agrees on abortion, gay rights or whether pornography is harmful. A regional group that's trying to revive its fading political power, the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST), knows this lesson well.