Ohio: Rob Portman

Joining other GOP state chairmen in Washington for a meeting sponsored by the Republican National Committee, DeWine will vote no on a scheduled resolution calling on Democrats to rename their party the "Democrat Socialist Party."

"That sort of noise is unproductive; it is not helpful," DeWine said.

To Democrats, the re-branding resolution symbolizes the plight of a party stuck in the past and searching for a leader, its rebirth stunted by divisive voices filling the void, namely former Vice President Dick Cheney and talk radio's Rush Limbaugh.

"They've got to start offering real solutions," said Sherrod Brown, Ohio's Democratic senator. "Name-calling, telling the Democrats to change their name, it just hurts them.

President Obama's job approval has taken a dive in Ohio, a new poll released this morning shows.

"Not surprisingly, the honeymoon is over," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

"But the era of good feeling is still alive."

What that means is that the survey's new numbers for Obama 57 percent approval, 33 percent disapproval are still healthy, especially in a state Obama won by only 4 percentage points last fall, Brown said.

But it's quite a fall from the stratospheric numbers 67 percent approval, 16 percent disapproval in Quinnipiac's poll a couple of weeks after the president's inauguration.

"The huge numbers he had immediately after the inaugural are coming down to earth," Brown said.

State Rep. Tyrone K. Yates and Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune indicated that they are laying the groundwork for Senate bids. Meanwhile, two Cleveland-area Democrats, Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones and Chris Celeste, son of former Gov. Richard F. Celeste, also reportedly are interested in running.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher announced their Senate candidacies Feb. 17. Former U.S. Rep. Rob Portman of Cincinnati is the only Republican to enter the race.

Yates, a four-term House member who also is a former vice mayor of Cincinnati and Ohio assistant attorney general, said yesterday that he has formally established a Senate exploratory committee so he can begin raising campaign money.

State Rep. Tyrone Yates said Thursday he's already filed paperwork to establish an exploratory
committee and will enter the race.

Yates, in his fourth term as a state representative, joins Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner
and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher for the Democratic nomination.

Yates is a former vice-mayor of Cincinnati and former Ohio assistant attorney general.

Former Congressman Rob Portman of Cincinnati is the only Republican to declare for the race so
far.

Voinovich decided in January that he wouldn't seek another term, citing wishes to spend more
time with his family and an unwillingness to spend time raising money and campaignin