Ohio 1: the 'most competitive' race in the state?

A "Battleground Brief" memo went out to members of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) from executive director Brian Wolff this week listing three "races to watch" in the 2008 congressional campaign cycle.

One of them was Ohio's 1st Congressional District, where Republican Steve Chabot is expected to run for an eighth term in the House.

State Rep. Steve Driehaus is the Democrat taking on Chabot; and he's described by Wolff as a "strong fiscal conservative."

Ohio's 1st District, Wolff says, "is perhaps the most competitive in the entire state." The key to winning, according to the DCCC, "will be to make sure the Democratic base turnout is elevated."

"The presidential election should also help with with this race,'' Wolff said.

Some Democrats around here believe that the Democratic presidential candidate who could help Driehaus the most is Barack Obama. No other congressional district in the country now represented by a Republican has a larger African-American population than Ohio's 1st District. If Obama is the Democratic nominee, the theory goes, it would drive African-American turnout through the roof.