A good old-fashioned family fight is a frequent occurrence in the Democratic Party, but this year's race for Cincinnati mayor won't be one of them.
The party leadership, in a recent blast e-mail to the party faithful made it clear they won't be taking sides in the battle between two Democratic mayoral candidates - Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls and former council member John Cranley.
Caleb Faux, the Hamilton County Democratic Party's executive director, said neither candidate has asked the party for an endorsement.
"Democrats are obviously going to be divided over this, but the party doesn't have to get involved,'' Faux said.
Qualls and Cranley are considered the most likely candidates to survive a September primary and face each other in the November general election.
The Republican party has no plans to field a candidate. The only other announced candidate so far is Libertarian Jim Berns, who has picked up the endorsement of the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST).
In the e-mail, party leaders said that, in its e-mail and on the party website, it will promote events for both Qualls and Cranley "throughout this campaign season and our promotion of such events should not be considered an endorsement of either."
The e-mail included an advertisement for a Qualls fundraiser June 10 at the Christian Morlein Brewery in Over-the-Rhine. But it also included ads for a fundraising event for State Rep. Connie Pillich's run for Ohio treasurer and the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council's 43rd annual COPE fundraising dinner on June 21.
