Ohio: U.s.

Jennifer Brunner says that if she's elected to the U.S. Senate next year, one of her priorities will be to toughen the just-passed credit-card bill to limit interest rates consumers can be charged.

Brunner, currently Ohio's secretary of state, is running against Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher for the Democratic nomination.

Brunner lauded the credit-card bill's passage but said last week, "Until this bill becomes law next summer, Americans trying to pay down their credit-card balances will be at risk for being slapped with sudden interest-rate increases, excessive fees, double-cycle billing or charging interest on paid balances, and credit-card companies applying payments to low-interest balances before the higher-interest ones."

Brunner said Congress should quickly cap the amount of interest a company can charge, "so that the bill has some teeth and actually protects everyday Americans when it finally becomes law.

Taylor made her announcement at the Statehouse a week after informing the Ohio Republican Party central committee that she would not run for the U.S. Senate against former U.S. Rep. Rob Portman of Cincinnati in next May's GOP primary election.

"I want to continue the progress we've made helping to provide Ohio taxpayers with a more accountable and affordable government," Taylor said at a press conference.

Taylor said she "seriously considered" a Senate bid and denied receiving any pressure from the state GOP to run for re-election. Her decision, she said, was based on "where do I fit in to be of the best service" to Ohioans.

The auditor is one of five members of the State Apportionment Board, which will reconfigure Ohio's 99 House and 33 Senate districts for the next decade after the 2010 census.

Brunner also questioned the economic rationale that GM used to decide which of its dealerships
will remain open.

"When America's taxpayers are footing the bill to the tune of billions to keep these car giants
afloat, they deserve to know how and why the money is being spent," Brunner said in a release.
"While cuts may be inevitable in the process, decisions to manufacture cars overseas and sell them
in the U.S., while cutting jobs at dealerships who sell them, may be just short of ludicrous to
American taxpayers."

In her release, Brunner also noted that she and her husband own a GM truck and a Chrysler
car.

Brunner, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and state Rep. Tyrone Yates all have announced plans to seek the
Democratic nomination next May for the Senate seat that George V. Voinovich is vacating, and trade
and the future of the domestic auto industry are critical issues in the Democratic bastion of
northeastern Ohio.

Presidents wake up every day wondering whether terrorists will attack Americans and whether they will be judged to have failed to protect the homeland if that happens.

Presidents make decisions.

Members of Congress make speeches.

Is that unfair? Perhaps a little. Presidents can hem and haw and speechify with the best of them, and lawmakers sometimes take courageous, politically unpopular stands and cast votes that could cost them their jobs come the next election.

But being president has to be, no contest, the loneliest job in the world -- just look at the way they age (see the before and after photos of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as recent examples) during their time in the White House.