Roll Call: Pepper, Kearney rising stars

Roll Call, a respected Capitol Hill newspaper, reported yesterday:

BYLINE: Shira Toeplitz, Roll Call Staff
SECTION: THE FARM TEAM

First of two parts

If there ever was a state that exemplified the Democratic hurricane of 2006, it was Ohio. The same GOP that delivered the 2004 election to President Bush suffered from widely publicized corruption scandals in both the state and national Capitol.

As expected, many rising stars played a part in the the 2006 sweep that delivered almost every statewide office to Democrats. What’s more, term limits in both state legislative chambers — eight years in each the state House and Senate — ensure a new crop of pols are always coming up through the ranks ...

In the southwestern part of the state, Democrats see both Hamilton County Commissioner David Pepper and state Sen. Eric Kearney as part of their first string. Pepper lost the race for mayor of Cincinnati in 2005, leaving him with a loss on his record but higher name identification in the 1st Congressional district. Nonetheless, Democrats say Pepper is a great fundraiser.

Kearney, who is one of the owners of a chain of African-American news media outlets in the region, also is a possibility, but he is term-limited after 2010.

Even though party leaders recruited state Rep. Steve Driehaus (D) to run against Rep. Steve Chabot (R) in 2008, they could easily look to Pepper or Kearney further down the road if Driehaus loses.

NEXT WEEK: Ohio Republicans