media attention

Lost in the forest of Democratic National Convention coverage here in Ohio was a report last week from the Columbus Dispatch which shows Governor Ted Strickland's efforts to better handle the business of state government are working.

The story, which ran on August 28, was headlined State Employees Save $2 million in Mileage Costs. Check out the first three grafs:

For once, there's good news about fuel costs.

State employees who use their personal vehicles for business drove about 5.2 million fewer miles in the past fiscal year than in the previous one, resulting in a $2 million reduction in mileage reimbursements, according to the Ohio Department of Administrative Services, the business arm of state government.

This year, employees who drive state-owned vehicles are shifting more to alternative fuels - ethanol and bio-diesel - and away from regular unleaded gasoline. The state bought 80,000 fewer gallons of unleaded gas in the most recent quarter, a state report showed.

Here's McCain campaign spokesperson Brian Rogers' response to Obama's hit on McCain today for not knowing how many houses he owns.

It hits just about every Obama-is-elitist hot-button known to exist, although, in a glaring oversight, the McCain campaign forgot to include Obama's and Michelle's educational pedigree:

"Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses? Does a guy who worries about the price of arugula and thinks regular people "cling" to guns and religion in the face of economic hardship really want to have a debate about who's in touch with regular Americans?

"The reality is that Barack Obama's plans to raise taxes and opposition to producing more energy here at home as gas prices skyrocket show he's completely out of touch with the concerns of average Americans."

The battle over who's the real elitist here is one that many Dems have wanted the Obama campaign to wade into, and now they're getting their way.

John McCain is ratcheting up his attacks on Obama over Iraq in a speech this morning, declaring flatly that Obama wants the U.S. to fail in Iraq because of "ambition."

In the speech, which is going on now, McCain accuses Obama of having tried to "legislate failure" in Iraq. He adds his familiar charge that Obama would rather lose the war than lose the election, and declares that Obama's desire to lose in Iraq is motivated by nothing but his desire to be president: