Aftab Pureval

Aftab Pureval, Cecil Thomas, David Mann.

Those are your top tier candidates in the May 4 Cincinnati mayoral primary. Not necessarily in that order.

And only two of them can survive the primary.

The Hamilton County Clerk of Courts says his office is taking steps to guard against fake documents. Aftab Pureval's announcement comes after a CBS News report that revealed 11 forged court orders claiming to be from Hamilton County.

The removal of Jeff Sessions as attorney general has some Americans worried about the Robert Muller investigation into Russian election interference. The activist group Move On called people to action Thursday night for the Nobody Is Above the Law movement.

It was supposed to be one of the closest U.S. House races in the country but, in the end, veteran Republican congressman Steve Chabot won a relatively easy victory over Democrat Aftab Pureval in Ohio's 1st Congressional District.

Nearly all the charges of about $30,000 in illegal campaign spending by Aftab Pureval's congressional campaign were dismissed today by the Ohio Elections Commission.

Only six days before the election, Democratic congressional candidate Aftab Pureval has fired his campaign manager and long-time friend, Sarah Topy, along with other unnamed staff members based on "new information."

Yes, there are a whole lot of candidates – and both major political parties – who really want you to take advantage of early voting in Ohio.

The Ohio Elections Commission has refused to dismiss an allegation that Democratic congressional candidate Aftab Pureval spent money from his clerk of courts campaign account on his congressional race.

The Hamilton County elections official who marked out the spending lines on campaign checks from Democratic congressional candidate Aftab Pureval will be docked two weeks vacation time as her punishment.

We are very happy to not have to decide if Democratic congressional candidate Aftab Pureval is guilty of misusing campaign funds, as has been alleged before the Ohio Elections Commission.

The Ohio Election Commission will do its own investigation into whether or not Democratic congressional candidate Aftab Pureval improperly spent money from his state campaign fund on his federal race.

That would be a violation of Ohio election law.

The deputy director of the Hamilton County Board of Elections said this morning she blacked out the memo line on four checks after Sarah Topy, Aftab Pureval's campaign manager asked her if it was legal to do so. 

Sally Krisel, a long-time employee of the board and former elections director, said Thursday morning that she believed it was legal. 

Krisel apologized to the board of elections and elections director Sherry Poland at an "emergency meeting" of the elections board held this morning.

Did you ever read a Superman comic book when you were a kid?

If the answer is yes, then you probably know all about Bizarro World, the cube-shaped planet where everything is upside-down and contrary to normal expectations.

Well, welcome to Bizarro World.

Some people find this hard to believe, but the race in Ohio's 1st Congressional District between Democratic challenger Aftab Pureval and Republican incumbent Steve Chabot really is one of the most competitive House races in the country.

Updated: 9:24 a.m.

This time around, TV ads featuring a stuffed toy duck squawking Aftab! – well, that just won't do it.

There is a three-foot stack of forms over at the office of Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes that contain 38,065 signatures.

Some are the legitimate, valid signatures of Hamilton County voters.

Some are not.

Democrat Aftab Pureval appears to be making headway in his bid to unseat U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, according to one of the nation's leading political publications.

Democratic congressional candidate Aftab Pureval, joined by former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, stood before about 125 supporters – mostly women – in a North Avondale front yard Wednesday to launch a "Women for Aftab" organization.

Hamilton County became the first in Ohio to launch a new technology-based warning system to help protect victims of domestic violence.

So, what does it mean when the professional tea leaf readers move a congressional race from a Likely Republican status to a Leans Republican status?

Well, we are about to find out.

That's exactly what Sabato's Crystal Ball, one of the nation's leading trackers of races at the state, congressional and presidential levels, did this week with Ohio's 1st Congressional District, which has been held by Republican Steve Chabot in all but two of the past 25 years.

Democrat Aftab Pureval said it best Wednesday morning when he spoke to a crowded room of supporters in Avondale: his candidacy for the 1st Congressional District seat held by Steve Chabot was "the worst kept secret in Cincinnati."

After months of speculation, the 35-year-old Pureval, who pulled off a stunning upset victory over a Republican incumbent in the 2016 race for Hamilton County clerk of courts, made it official in an enthusiastic rally at Avondale's Gabriel's Place, a non-profit involved in urban agriculture.

Let's be honest here.

Unless you are a practicing attorney or a judge, had you ever spent more than 10 seconds thinking about the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts office until a 34-year-old Democrat named Aftab Pureval seemingly appeared out of nowhere and won that office last November?