Republican former state lawmaker has claimed a seat in Congress

This seat was up for election after Republican Rob Portman stepped down, after being named U.S. trade representative by President Bush. This seat was won by another Republican, Jean Schmidt. But this race was won by only 4%. This was amazement to many. The Democrat running for this seat was a Iraq war Veit and didn't have the long campain that Schmidt had, nor did he have the same funding, and was not expected to win. But no forcasts thought that he would come within 4% of the win. The final totals were Republican Jean Schmidt had 52 percent (57,974 votes) and Democrat Paul Hackett had 48 percent (54,401 votes). This is a victory for the Republicans by holding this seat, but Paul Hackett's strong showing in a Repubican strong hold is only a good sign for the up comming 2006 midterm elections.

CNN

WCPO Cincinnati

(Update: CNN.com link broken)