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Chairs of Ohio's Two Major Political Parties Face Off

Politics often takes a summer vacation, especially in a budget year. But not this time. Last week, of course, Gov. John Kasich became the 16th Republican to officially join the race for the presidential nomination. And this week it appears he may make the first Republican presidential debate next week in Cleveland, where only the top 10 candidates will be included. A Republican who defeated now-ex Ohio Democratic Party Chair Chris Redfern last fall is out of office, and former Rep. Steve Kraus (R-Sandusky) could go to jail for theft.

It's been a busy few weeks in politics. Talking over some of the highlights and low points are the chairs of the two major political parties in Ohio - in alphabetical order, Ohio Republican Party Chair Matt Borges and Ohio Democratic Party Chair David Pepper.

Also this week, there are more concerns about the marijuana legalization issue with official growing sites that could be on this fall’s ballot. After around 276,000 signatures turned in by ResponsibleOhio were ruled invalid, the group had to submit additional signatures Thursday. ResponsibleOhio had turned in more than 695,000 signatures in June, but fell about 30,000 short of the required 306,000 valid signatures.  The group turned in 95,000 signatures on Thursday. And this week, Secretary of State Jon Husted named a special investigator to look into the signature discrepancies and is subpoenaing the campaign's director.