Since last fall, this race has been about one thing and one thing only: Jack Abramoff. Reported for months to be in the crosshairs of federal investigators looking into the Abramoff influence-peddling probe, Rep. Bob Ney held out for as long as possible before admitting guilt to conspiracy charges and making false statements, striking a plea bargain and withdrawing his re-election bid. That was too little, too late for the GOP. State Sen. Joy Padgett won a special primary, but with all the corruption charges swirling in Ohio, Padgett has struggled to distance herself from the party's woes.

Asked about the fallout from the Rep. Mark Foley scandal, Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown's Senate campaign spokeswoman Joanna Kuebler says, "It's huge in Ohio—it's huge everywhere." Brown's campaign points out that the scandal may be especially potent in Ohio because the state is home to Boehner, who along with others in the House Republican leadership has come under fire for not acting earlier to address the E-mails from Foley to a former page.

Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio today agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges and making false statements in the Jack Abramoff scandal. Under the arrangement, he will make his plea next month in federal court in Washington.

Republicans moved swiftly to replace beleaguered Rep. Bob Ney on the Ohio ballot, but their pick might be ineligible to run after all.

Just days after Ohio Sen. Mike DeWine launched a TV ad accusing his Democratic challenger, Rep. Sherrod Brown, of "weakening America's security" and featuring images of a smoking World Trade Center on Sept. 11, the Brown camp has struck back. "It's sad," says a narrator at the beginning of a response ad, which began appearing Tuesday and is paid for by the Ohio Democratic Party. "Mike DeWine exploiting images of 9/11 to smear Sherrod Brown."