My favorite candidate

Our friend Hugh Hewitt has performed a service in compiling a list of of the top 20 campaigns in which to invest between now and November. Hugh’s list is short on the congressional candidates who will help Republicans retake the House. Supplement Hugh’s list with Dick Morris’s most recent update to the House races he is watching for this purpose.
I want to add this personal footnote. My favorite candidate for office this year is Josh Mandel. Josh is running for the office of state treasurer in Ohio, where the top of the ticket is occupied by Republican gubernatorial candidate John Kasich and senatorial candidate Rob Portman. A link to Kasich’s site is on Hugh’s list; Portman’s is here. Kasich and Portman are both impressive candidates who have built up big leads according to the most recent polling. Their success should help Josh, but Josh may be the most impressive candidate on the ticket this year.
Joel Mowbray first brought Josh to the attention of our readers in “Star on the rise.” Josh is completing the second of two terms in the Ohio legislature. When Josh first ran for state representative, he wore out three pairs of brown leather shoes while knocking on 19,679 doors in his Democratic-leaning district. When Josh visited Minnesota earlier this year he brought a pair of the worn-out shoes along as an exhibit.
Josh is a Marine with two tours in Iraq to his credit. When he ran for reelection in 2008, Josh’s Democratic opponent tried to make an issue of Josh’s return to service during the surge. Joel covered the story in “Iraq war vet’s service attacked in Ohio campaign.” Joel updated his column for us here.

Josh recently appeared on NBC-4 Columbus to discuss his campaign for state treasurer (video above). He saves some good shots at his opponent for the end of the discussion. Please check it out.
Josh’s site is here; contribute here.