Tomorrow: Boehner, Blunt or Shadegg?

**UPDATES list with money Chabot just got from Boehner and Blunt**

At noon tomorrow, Greater Cincinnati could become home to the House majority leader, a position that ranks just under House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and would bring increased clout and attention to the region.

West Chester Rep. John Boehner is in a neck-and-neck race for the job that was vacated earlier this month by Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas. To win, Boehner needs the support of 117 House Republicans – a majority of the 231-member caucus.

Boehner, an 8-term Republican who has served as House Education and the Workforce Committee chairman for the last five years, claimed today that he has 50 public backers and more than 90 private supporters, including everyone in the Cincinnati area except Rep. Geoff Davis of Northern Kentucky.

Davis has pledged his support to Boehner’s top rival, Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who toured two Boone County manufacturing plants with Davis and appeared at a campaign fundraiser with him just before his 2004 election.

Blunt, the current House Whip who has been filling in as majority leader since DeLay was indicted last year, also flew into Cincinnati for a campaign fundraiser with Rep. Jean Schmidt of Miami Township during last year’s special election, but Schmidt said she’s backing Boehner, as is Rep. Steve Chabot of Westwood and Mike Turner of Centerville.

As of today, Blunt is claiming 97 public supporters and enough private backers to win the race.

The third candidate in the leadership race, Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona, hasn't released a list of public backers, but says his support number is around 50.

Here's a look at the $$ that local lawmakers have received from the would-be House majority leaders since 2000:

Schmidt: $10,000 from Boehner; $5,000 from Blunt; $0 from Shadegg.
Davis: $20,000 from Boehner; $15,000 from Blunt; $1,000 from Shadegg.
Chabot: $10,000 from Boehner; $7,000 from Blunt; $0 from Shadegg.
Turner: $25,000 from Boehner; $11,598 from Blunt; $0 from Shadegg.
Boehner: $5,000 from Blunt; $0 from Shadegg.
(Boehner hasn't contributed to either Blunt or Shadegg.)

Boehner said there is a momentum in the House to elect new leadership that gives him and Shadegg an edge.

"Something’s been changing over the last 10 days. Members, it seems, are taking a step back and taking another look," Boehner said, adding that at least one of Blunt’s public supporters has agreed privately to vote for him.

The GOP leadership elections will be conducted behind closed doors on secret ballots. If no one wins after the first vote, lawmakers would vote a second time on the top two vote-getters, a scenario that Boehner said could propel him to victory.

If Boehner wins, he would be the first House majority leader from Ohio since Rep. Nicholas Longworth of Cincinnati in the 1920s.

However, while a Boehner win would give the area added influence on bills before Congress, it wouldn’t mean more money for local projects. Boehner is one of a handful of lawmakers who refuse to earmark money for his district in the federal budget.