Former U.S. Rep. Bob Schaffer, a 1980 graduate of Moeller High School, is locked in a tight Republican primary race with brewer Peter Coors. The primary is Aug. 10; the current senator, Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell, is retiring.

Schaffer, who now lives in Fort Collins, Colo., grew up in West Chester. He played split end on Moeller's football team, including its 1979 champion team.

"I got a big fat national championship ring sitting somewhere in my house," he said.

The son of Bob and Flo Schaffer, who both worked for Cincinnati public schools, Schaffer credits his Cincinnati youth with his career in public service.

"My memories of growing up usually involved weekends and spare time tagging along with my dad, who was always volunteering with special Olympics, youth functions, church functions," said Schaffer, 41. "That's a part of the country where everybody pitches in and meets whatever needs exist in the neighborhood."

Schaffer attended the University of Dayton and married Maureen Menke, whom he followed to Colorado.

He won a U.S. House seat in 1996, but limited himself to three terms. He said he gets back to his parents' house about twice a year. A brother, Jim, also lives in West Chester.

"At the time I grew up it was surrounded by farms. West Chester now - I don't even recognize it any more," he said.

While he's gotten a few campaign contributions from Cincinnati, he hasn't had any fund-raisers in the Tristate or tried to raise money here.

"We may do that soon," he said.

To help him out - or just see what he looks like these days - check his Web site: www.schafferforsenate.com.

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The half-millionaires: The Republican party released the list of its 62 Super Rangers - people who have raised $300,000 for the party for this election.

No surprise, the list includes four of the top Bush fund-raisers from Cincinnati: Cintas founder Richard Farmer; old Bush friend Bill DeWitt Jr.; Reds owner Carl Lindner; and John Kern Jr., who works at the investment firm run by DeWitt. Not included, Mercer Reynolds, who is recruiting the Super Rangers. The only Kentucky rep is Louisville philanthropist Cathy Bailey.

That $300,000, incidentally, is in addition to the $200,000 each of those men have raised for the Bush-Cheney re-election club. The full list: www.gop.com/donorinfo.html

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Yes, we know, we know: The Los Angeles Times is the latest newspaper to drop into Greater Cincinnati to show how important the local turf is to the presidential election.

The June 28 edition had a story from Lebanon, featuring Tom Grossman, Warren County Republican chairman. It's about the importance of such "exurbs" to the election - especially in Ohio. The story finds Grossman registering voters at last month's Homearama in Deerfield Township's Chestnut Hill subdivision.

"Grossman estimated that he registered about 10 GOP voters an hour," the story reads. "'You don't have to guess about it. They're clearly Republicans,'" he said, interrupted routinely with screams of 'Go Bush' and 'All the way' from passers-by."

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