Cincinnati Councilman Sam Malone was indignant.

ELECTION SECTION

• Election 2004 page

His Equal Rights Not Special Rights Committee, which is campaigning against the gay-rights activists who want to repeal Article XII, had pamphleted every car in a two-block radius of the John Edwards rally in Bond Hill on Monday.

When Kerry-Edwards volunteers promptly removed the pamphlets and threw them in a sewer, Malone's crew took photographs of the dirty deed - and then cried foul.

"There's got to be some violation when you're touching someone's literature," Malone said. "That's basically like taking a yard sign out of somebody's yard."

He apparently hadn't read Cincinnati Municipal Code Section 714-25, which reads, "No person shall throw or deposit any commercial or non-commercial handbill in or upon any vehicle."

Gregory Korte

What's the number? The soft voice of an older man on the TV ad tells you that Judge Judith Lanzinger is the daughter of a carpenter, a wife, a mother, and a tough-on-crime judge.

The ad concludes: "Call Judge Judith Lanzinger. Thank her for representing what's best about Ohio."

OK, so what's her phone number?

Oops. The TV ad omits the phone number.

The spot is paid for by Citizens for a Strong Ohio, an independent group run by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

It is not allowed to tell viewers to vote for Lanzinger.

That, under Ohio law, would make the ad an endorsement, rather than just educational.

State political consultants are well-schooled in how to create ads that support or tear down a candidate without ever using the words "vote for."

A common tactic is urging viewers to pick up the phone.

Linda Woggon, vice president of governmental affairs for the Ohio chamber, said she wasn't aware of the missing number.

"That's a tag line we use for most of our ads," she said.

"I'll bring it up with our PR folks."

If you have the urge to call, Lanzinger's campaign can be reached at (614) 224-4512.

Jim Siegel

Expensive court seat: With the presidential candidates stopping by Ohio every other day, you may not have noticed that the races for Ohio Supreme Court are heating up on the airwaves.

The Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law is reporting that campaign spending in Ohio for three Supreme Court races is now at an estimated $470,000, more than 27 times the level of airtime spending at this point in 2002.

And that's no small statistic, considering more money was spent on Ohio Supreme Court campaigns in 2002 than any other state.

And while those that raised more won the seats, just how much did voters notice the ads?

A week before the 2002 election, the League of Women Voters of Ohio released a poll finding 42 percent of registered voters thought justices were appointed, rather than elected.

The hot issue in the court campaigns this year is tort reform - laws designed to curb frivolous lawsuits through caps in jury awards and other limitations. Past tort-reform measures have been struck down by the high court.

Muslim vote: Three groups are hosting a "Muslim Vote 2004'' town hall meeting Oct. 9 in Columbus and inviting national, state and local candidates.

There are an estimated 150,000 Muslims in Ohio, according to Jad Humeidan, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Ohio.

"Our polling shows that Muslims will support candidates who speak to their concerns, regardless of political affiliation,'' Humeidan said in a statement.

The group does not endorse candidates.

Other sponsoring groups are the Islamic Council of Ohio and the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections.