The Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that the Ohio Democratic Party elected House Minority Leader Chris Redfern as its chairman Monday night.

Redfern is a former endorsee of this political action committee who voted for Ohio's concealed carry law.

From the story:

The 120 delegates were divided in their support of Redfern and Dennis Lieberman, the longtime chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Party. In the end, Redfern got 88 votes, Lieberman, 31. Steve Reece, a Cincinnati businessman, got a single vote.

"The work begins tonight," said Redfern, 41, of Catawba Island.

The story says that supporters of both candidates burned up the phone lines over the weekend, and the behind-the-scenes struggles have "badly splintered the party".

Redfern, who has been criticized because he will not give up his House seat, said he would relinquish his leadership position.

Both he and Lieberman pledged to work hard to unify the party.

Again, from the story:

...The 800-pound gorilla in the room Monday, though he wasn't present, was U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland.

Strickland, the party's presumptive nominee for governor, endorsed Redfern soon after former Chairman Denny White's resignation.

Many Democrats feared that a Redfern loss would severely hamper Strickland's candidacy at a time that appears to be a golden opportunity for the party to take back the governor's office for the first time in two decades.

Like Redfern, Ted Strickland is a pro-gun Democrat.

So can a 2004 endorsee of this political action committee and a pro-gun Federal legislator-turned gubernatorial candidate change the attitude of the Ohio Democratic Party toward our gun rights? It's looking more and more like Ohioans may get the opportunity to find out!

By Chad D. Baus

The Boston Globe is reporting that the Democrat party, long identified with gun control, is rethinking its approach to the gun debate, seeking to improve the chances of its candidates in states where hunters have been wary of casting votes for a party with a national reputation of being against guns.

According to the story, the Democrats' effort to soften their rhetoric on gun control is similar to the party's recent efforts to recast its message on abortion, maintaining their support of abortion rights but welcoming more Democrats who favor restrictions on the procedure.

From the story:

Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, who had been a critic of some forms of gun control during his tenure as governor of Vermont, has urged candidates to view gun control laws as state issues, allowing those in rural states to reflect the values of hunters and others hostile to gun control, while supporting restrictions in urban areas with serious crime problems.

And later:

Democratic Party officials say they expect their candidates to have a wide range of opinions on gun control, and insist that the national party's message of ''responsible gun ownership" is not hostile to law-abiding gun owners. But some Democrats from rural states say the party still needs to do more to be inclusive and sympathetic to gun owners.