Howard Wilkinson

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory spoke briefly to the Ohio delegates at their morning breakfast in Charlotte Tuesday; and got a good-natured laugh out of the audience with a joke.

"The dynamics of this election dictate Ohio will decide the election,'' Mallory said. "Hamilton County is the key to that. Cincinnati is the largest entity in Hamilton County. And I am the mayor of the city of Cincinnati.

"So, as mayor of Cincinnati, I am the most important person in the world,'' Mallory said, joining in the laughter from the crowd.

Ohio Senate Minority Leader Eric Kearney of North Avondale had a personal story about Barack and Michelle Obama to tell the Ohio Democratic delegation at its morning breakfast Tuesday.

Kearney told of reading newspaper story in 2003 about a young state senator from Illinois who was planning on making a long-shot run at a U.S. Senate seat in 2004.

"I went home to my wife, showed her the story, and said you have to read this,'' Kearney said.

Kathleen Sebelius, the Cincinnati native who Secretary of Health and Human Services, came to the Ohio delegation breakfast in Charlotte Tuesday morning telling her fellow Ohioans that they "are the key to this election."

Sebelius, a former Kansas governor who is the daughter of former Ohio governor John J. Gilligan, took up the question that Mitt Romney's campaign has been asking in campaign stops since the GOP convention last week - are you better off now than you were four years  ago?

"Are you better off?,'' Sebelius said. "You bet you are."

Kathleen Sebelius, the Cincinnati native who Secretary of Health and Human Services, came to the Ohio delegation breakfast in Charlotte Tuesday morning telling her fellow Ohioans that they "are the key to this election."

Sebelius, a former Kansas governor who is the daughter of former Ohio governor John J. Gilligan, took up the question that Mitt Romney's campaign has been asking in campaign stops since the GOP convention last week - are you better off now than you were four years  ago?

"Are you better off?,'' Sebelius said. "You bet you are."

Cincinnati firefighter Doug Stern, who appeared in TV commercials last year urging voters to repeal Senate Bill 5, will speak at the first session of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte tonight.

Stern, a member of Cincinnati Firefighters Local 48, will speak briefly sometime between 6 and 7 p.m. tonight.

His subject, no doubt, will be Senate Bill 5, the Republican-backed legislation which would have limited the collective bargaining powers of public employees such as police, firefighters and teachers.