Even though, technically speaking, he doesn't have an actual book yet - or a publisher.

The Cleveland-area state senator is promoting his book Good Enough Isn't Good Enough Any More: Fifty Great Ideas to Get Ohio Moving Again and Build a Prosperous Future for All Americans.

He said it will be out in mid-March once he finishes negotiating with an Ohio publisher. He acknowledged it's not likely to make any best-seller list. He said the campaign will guarantee to buy most of the books from the publisher.

The 100-page book, parts of which he shared with reporters, focuses mostly on his economic ideas: giving companies a tax credit for each job they create and giving tax cuts to people who invest in startups.

"The issue in Ohio, folks, is jobs and job creation," said Fingerhut, an admitted long shot. But everyone says they are for jobs.

Here was his detailed plan for actually creating them, Fingerhut said.

"No one expects it's going to rival Ron Suskind's book," Fingerhut said, referring to the best-selling book about former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill.

If Fingerhut had read Suskind's book, The Price of Loyalty, he would learn that he didn't even need to run for office.

That's because, according to that book's only mention of Fingerhut's opponent, it turns out that George Voinovich is "a conservative Democrat."

"Secretary O'Neill was criticized for being politically tone deaf," said Voinovich spokeswoman Marcie Ridgway. "I guess this is proof of it."

DON'T BLINK! Give Greg Harris points for creativity. The Cincinnati Democrat running for Rep. Steve Chabot's congressional seat calculated the costs of what he called "Chabot-nomics" - translating the deficit into everyday terms.

At $521 billion a year, the current estimate, the federal government is racking up deficits at the following pace:

•  $4,130 in the time it takes to blink an eye (250 milliseconds).

•  $57.5 million in the time it took President Bush to give his State of the Union speech (59 minutes).

•  And $3.3 billion in the time Britney Spears was married (55 hours).

RICH GET RICHER: The first President Bush headlines a fund-raiser this week for Rep. Rob Portman - a guy who is already sitting on $1.6 million and wins his races by 3-to-1 margins.

Some of the money will go to other Republicans. As a member of the House GOP leadership, Portman is supposed to make sure the party keeps its majority, spokesman Kyle Downey said.

And maybe it might be used for something else, though probably not for at least six years because higher offices are all booked.

"If there's ever an opportunity for Rob to serve the people of Ohio in another office, he wants the resources to do so," Downey said.

THEY SAID IT: "He's awful purdy."

Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., assessing his colleague and presidential candidate John Edwards, D-N.C.

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Carl Weiser covers Washington news for the Enquirer. E-mail cweiser@gannett.com or call (202) 906-8134.