The Battle of the Steves is on!

Updated

It's official - State Rep. Steve Driehaus is taking on Rep. Steve Chabot in the 1st Congressional District.

Driehaus, the Price Hill Democrat, filed papers with the Federal Elections Commission Thursday, which allows him to go out and start raising money for the 2008 congressional election.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is reportedly high on Driehaus, mainly because he is what most of Chabot's previous Democrats opponents are not - a conservative-to- moderate Democrat who has a history of winning Republican votes on the west side. And, Driehaus is a dyed-in-the-wool, bona fide, bleeds-Elder-purple West Sider, and a member of a family that is larger than the Canadian army. His second- and third-cousins alone could give him an extra 3 or 4 percentage points at the polls.

Last year, Democrat John Cranley tried like the dickens to up-end Chabot, but fell short. He, too, is a native West Sider, but the people of Western Hills never seemed to believe it. He went to St. Xavier High School! What kind of West Sider chooses St. X over Elder?

Chabot's campaign also dropped not-so-subtle hints about Cranley's marital status, which, at the time, was single, by prominently dropping film of his daughter's wedding and family front-porch portraits into campaign commercials.

Did we mention that Steve Driehaus and his wife have two young daughters and a son?

This is going to be a beaut.